Why are people still buying DVD players when HDDVD and Bluray are so cheap?

[ensyed]

Exactly as the title says. Because hi def players can still play and upscale normal DVDs.

 

[Abbeygoo]

It could be :

1. Lack of knowledge on the consumers' part

2. Not everybody has the TV to view HD material

3. SD DVD players are extremely cheap too when you can a decent Samsung / Toshiba for around £40 / £50.

4. HD players tend to be region locked

5. The cost of new HD / BD discs compared to SD

6. The fact that the format war has not yet been decided and many people will wait and see ......

Plenty of reasons for buying SD DVD for the time being .... although I agree with your point as I have both formats.

 

[GrahamC]

Because the media for them is more expensive, the firmware of the machines is still flakey and there are 2 of them. The machines are not cheap either, they are cheaper yes but not as cheap as SD by a long long way. I myself am in the market for a new DVD player and it's an 80% cert I'll go SD DVD with the lx50 Pioneer, just waiting for the news from CES in-case of something special.

 

[Deleted member 36193]

Sooner or later, one format will disappear. Maybe both will, as the delivery of hidef may just go to legal downloading.
There's no way I'm buying into hi def while there's a chance of ending up with more shiny beermats than I can use.
No doubt one day there will be an advance on the hi def options available now, and I think that may be closer than we think. I realise Sony and Microsoft need to get the money back on their existing offerings first, but they're not the only companies with R&D departments.
For me, buying hi def discs at the moment is a bit short sighted. Especially when hi def players can't play all my existing disc collection.

 

[Bernie Lick]

Until one HD format appears to be the winner I shall stay firmly SD.

Also, the fact that my SD is multi-region makes and can play content from a USB stick a big difference.

 

[Pavey]

A few times people have asked to borrow my films and when i have said, 'You can't, it's a Bluray/HD-DVD' the look on thier face says it all really, like i am talking Egyptian.

I think the average Joe just doesn't know of the HD formats yet. When do you ever see them marketed? Only when a crap film has been released on dvd, and the end of the ad will say "On Bluray disk also."

 

[wellladida]

not everyone has a hd tele it would be nice to no what percentage of the population do IMO i would say less than half.
then you have to narrow it down even more to people dont actually no about hd-dvd or blu-ray.
then to people who dont want to switch when they already have a dvd player and a nice collection of dvd's in SD.
and finally to people who actually care about it (IMO i prefer SD to HD)

so your left with a small percentage of people in a the end.

 

[Greg Hook]

It could be :

1. Lack of knowledge on the consumers' part

2. Not everybody has the TV to view HD material

3. SD DVD players are extremely cheap too when you can a decent Samsung / Toshiba for around £40 / £50.

4. HD players tend to be region locked

5. The cost of new HD / BD discs compared to SD

6. The fact that the format war has not yet been decided and many people will wait and see ......

Completely agree with those. With 5,2,1,3,6,4 being the order I would put them in. A casual buyer in HMV seeing the latest film for £5 compared to £30 on HD DVD. No contest at the moment. Until the high street stops trying to ripoff the consumer with the ridiculous price these discs are then things will not progress too quick.

 

[karl.g]

A lot of people are used to taking their content by illegal download. If they are not going to pay £5 for a good quality picture on DVD, how likely is it they will pay huge HD prices.

 

[gblades]

I have just got a new 40" HD TV and I went out and bought a new DVD player for £170.

The main reasons for me doing that are :-

1) First concern is to get something good for playing the media I have now which means SD DVD (region 2 and region 1) and audio CDs.

2) Upscaling makes a big difference to the quality of DVDs and the extra cost of blueray or hddvd I dont think is worth it.

I'll wait until either one format wins or dual format players come down to a reasonable price, are reliable, good quality, and dont have to have repeated updates to be able to play the latest media.

 

[Ekko Star]

A lot of people are used to taking their content by illegal download. If they are not going to pay £5 for a good quality picture on DVD, how likely is it they will pay huge HD prices.

I can't condone that kind of illegal activity. However, faced with a £5 original DVD or a dodgy problematic download, I guess (and hope) many with common sense would actually pay £5.

Part of HD's lack of inertia and take up is that SD's have fallen right down in price. For the enthusiast the extra detail and resolution achievable through HD is a big draw and worth the spend. For others it's not.

However, I would also say the quality delivered by normal SD is still far ahead of the mass public's expectation curve. This also represents yet another hurdle for HD to overcome.

 

[RobM]

They may be 'cheap' compared to when they first entered the market, but they are still expensive compared to SD DVD players. Even Upscaling DVD players that can play all sorts of digital content are cheaper.

Add to that, the fact that we still don't know which format is going to die off, so spending a decent sum of money on a HD or BR player that may be useless in a matter of months is short sighted and possibly a total waste of money.

Also, technology matures. The quality and feature set on a HD or BR player now isn't going to be as good as it will be in the near future. Just as the quality and value for money of DVD players improved over time, the same will apply with the new age of players.

Add all that together, and it makes much more sense to wait and see what format wins the war and wait until the technology improves. IMO, of course

 

[gblades]

However, I would also say the quality delivered by normal SD is still far ahead of the mass public's expectation curve. This also represents yet another hurdle for HD to overcome.

Very true. Just have a look at this article http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/01/03/lcd_monitor_shortage_prediction/
Many people are still upgrading their TVs to new LCD models and playing SD content on them gives a big improvement in quality.

Another factor I think is viewing distances. What is the most popular LCD size? I am guessing it is 32" or 37"?
How close do you have to sit in order to be able to easily see the difference in quality between an upscaled DVD and a HD DVD picture? I bet its a lot closer than most people sit.
I just dont see HD taking off for the average joe public until the player and media come down dramatically in price to the point where they cost only a little bit more than SD.

 

[Member 79251]

I remember paying £30 for a sd dvd Them days are gone.

Its to do with size for me, I can watch SD on any size of tv each has its own plus points regarding picture and sound. With HD i only have 1 tv in the house, that means the format is limited to how and when I view it.

My nephews got a very cool portable dvd player for xmas that they can bring any place they want ? How do you get that with HD ?

 

[dibdab]

The format war is what is putting me off. Don't want be left with a useless format like the laser discs.

 

[aniki]

Plenty of reasons for buying SD DVD for the time being

I import on average about 6 discs a month from various parts of the globe.
They arent available on HD & most probably never will be.
Therefore SD is 'where its at' for me

 

[J80FAB]

My nephews got a very cool portable dvd player for xmas that they can bring any place they want ? How do you get that with HD ?

I'm not sure if I've understood you correctly there, but if you are looking at portability with HD players then Blu-ray disc drives are available for laptops which you can take anywhere you want.

 

[jameshardy89]

It could be :

1. Lack of knowledge on the consumers' part

2. Not everybody has the TV to view HD material

3. SD DVD players are extremely cheap too when you can a decent Samsung / Toshiba for around £40 / £50.

4. HD players tend to be region locked

5. The cost of new HD / BD discs compared to SD

6. The fact that the format war has not yet been decided and many people will wait and see ......

Plenty of reasons for buying SD DVD for the time being .... although I agree with your point as I have both formats.

simplified perfectly, I think.

personally, I'd list 2. as the hugely predominant reason, followed closely by 6. and 5.

having just ordered my first ever HDTV (Panny TH42PX70B) a couple of days ago, I was seriously contemplating purchasing a HD-DVD player, as it was going for arond 180 quid at play.com, and came with 7 HD-DVD's, good reviews, etc.

Then yesterday night, I find out that Warner Bros. had gone Bluray-exclusive!

Thank god I didn't buy that player, eh...

the sooner one format wins, the better for us consumers.

 

[jameshardy89]

I'm not sure if I've understood you correctly there, but if you are looking at portability with HD players then Blu-ray disc drives are available for laptops which you can take anywhere you want.

ok, I see your point there.

but would the everyday man who knows nothing about electronics other than insert DVD, machine play, buy a bluray drive for his laptop, and then carry both things around?

 

[finallycruising]

I went for a £120 multiregion upscaling DVD player and will wait for the HD DVD / BluRay formats to sort out a 'winner'. Alternatively I'll wait for a reasonable multiregion 'universal' HD DVD / BluRay player to appear.

It may well turn out like the DVD-Audio & SACD formats where you need a player that can cope with both if you want to guarantee being able to play any hi-res / multichannel release.

I'll probably get Sky HD before any HD DVD player. P.

 

[echn111]

Not sure if this reason was mentioned...

A big reason is that it is important that people can play their existing standard DVD selection well and, the perception is that, for the money, good quality standard DVD players will upscale standard DVDs better than any HD player in the same price bracket.

That's why some people still pay £1500+ for a "standard" DVD rather than a similarly priced HD or Blu Ray player.

Anyway, that was my reason (or excuse) for going for a (much cheaper) Denon 1940. I was very much planning on staying with standard DVD... until I saw the highly rated (5 stars in WHFIS&V) Toshiba HD-EP35 HD-DVD Player selling for £269 and coming with 8 free HD DVD's and a free HDMI cable.

Sure it wouldn't upscale as well as those elite £1500+ standard DVD players, but neither will the Denon 1940. Perhaps the Denon might upscale a bit better but probably not that much more. Although it wasn't my original intention, as a "bonus", it can also play HD DVD's. And it's cheaper overall. So HD DVD here I come.

 

[karl.g]

The thing is, SD DVD has been amazingly successful from the beginning because it was a single format and understood by the general public. You would have thought the industry would have learned from this after beta/VHS as well. The real enthusiasts will of course buy maybe both for now to see better quality, but the only way to make it a real success will be to attract the masses. The whole HD thing is a bit of a mess with different studios supporting different formats. I really hope one or the other emerges a winner before it's too late and downloads take over.

 

[GrahamC]

I think it will be 10 years before this country has an internet structure that will allow downloads in a fasion that is acceptable to the public.

 

[packerbully]

and my new dvd machine has a Hard Disk for recording and playback.

 

[Jahlight]

Hi all, I've just bought the wife a mid priced Sony LCD panel as she wanted to upgrade the bedroom TV following re-decoration. Her choice really as far as make and model plus price. When I asked if she would perhaps like to consider a slightly more expensive Panny, Tosh or Sony model with higher spec' she asked why. She has already seen that the SD picture and upscaled DVD picture is a major improvement on the old CRT but is not bothered about high end performance when measured against cost as long as it looks good. When I asked if maybe we could get the Toshiba EP30 or 35 to compliment it; again she asked how much and then said why bother as her upscaling DVD player gives her quality and VFM at present. Another player at £170-£300 seems extravagant to her when measured against what she already perceives as good enough quality.Had the new HD player been under £100 she said,she would at least have given it some thought. So until they go down "I,ll enjoy what I've got!" she said. She walked away laughing shouting "How much?" when I told her how much the HD-DVD discs were....
I think this illustrates where the majority of the viewing public are coming from presently on this issue