High-Def revolution hurting DVD rentals?

High def DVD? DVD's don't look that great on my HDTV. I don't have an upconvert DVD player, but that is why I haven't been renting alot of DVD's. And it's pretty useless to buy and HDDVD player or a Blue-Ray player now, one for cost and two because hardly anyone has them available for rent.

I agree, no need to join either side for this high cost of entry. It's ludicrous that they are "beta testing" the consumers, and problems continue to be found in either format. Why buy HD-DVD and miss out on the Blu-ray only releases and vice-versa? I'm honestly glad I have an Xbox 360 so I can download or stream HD content, but it still defeats the purpose of my DVD HTIB system, so I would rather watch a DVD for the better audio experience. If people are anything like me, you feel like you can't win no matter what right now.

When are these other networks going to start broadcasting High Def? I have a paltry selection of about a dozen or so networks to choose from and even half of their content is not HD.

Yea!!But the DVDs look better then the regular Cable channel's i have a 50" Magnavox HDTV,and the DVDs don't look pretty bad.I have a samsung up conversion HDMI DVD player,and a Sony 5 disc DVD player.But i prefer my Sony DVD player Better.

The up conversion DVD player i just dont like,Ive never really been impressed buy the HDMI connections or the DVI.Component HDTV,and Progressive DVD looks pretty damn good.

Shitty Movies are hurting DVD sales also the fact for for a couple of bucks xtra you could own the same crappy movies at Walmart.

I guess I am a "Beta Tester" as I own the XBOX 360 with the $200.00 HD add on and a PS3 for Blu-ray movies. The quality is great but my local blockbuster has a very limited amount of movies and they don't add titles very often. There is no way I will pay $30.00 to own any movie either. As for upconverting, if you spent less then $175.00 at your local CC or BB you might as well by a $29 DVD player. I own a Samsung hd960 With DCDi by Faroudja and the pic quality is 100% better than those cheap upconverting players.

It's the internet that's hurting DVD sale not HD-DVD or blu ray

As it turned out to be the decade of the remake, maybe people dont want to rent that same old story again.

You could blame it on anything, but i think rihgt682 hit it on the head, internet content especially utubes replacing those board hours where u might rent a DVD.

Maybe the block bu5sters of the world should start to come up with a better system of rentals, maybe they should be looking at providing pay for view streamed content for the future instead of worrying about dwinderling dvd rentals.

jcur31-Really?Thats the same Up Conversion DVD player i Have.(samsung HD969 DCDI).I actually dont like the picture it gives out.It seems (shady).What TV do you use with it?

Bobby728:

I have a Panasonic TH-42PX600U. Every once in a while on a badly recorded original DVD I get a little shadowing but other than that I think the pic is great. My neighbor has the same TV but he bought some $79 dollar phillips and that looks like crap.

if Hdef was a standard standard and didn't have 6 or 7 modes and 2 or 4 cable types people would,Hdef is still a niche before "normal" people dont want to fuss with installing,they want to plug and go.

Besides the installation issues the price keeps most back its rather simple Hdef time has not come its merely a niche for the hobby crowed to fight over.

Actually chap its 4 main standard 720i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p although there is cinematic widescreen hd standard but ive need seen this mentioned many places.

But progressive/interlace scanning is nothing new and if you think back resolution wise, we have VHS/BetaMax, VCD, SVCD and finally DVD which in a round about way is similar levels of increasing resolution when compared to the levels of improved resolution onto hd.

On the cables u have 3 standards DVI, HDMI, component hd, and all can be gender bended into each other the same way you do with, scart, svideo and composite signals.

And finially i think if you look at the prices a lower spec screen is now not much at all, if you compare that price back 2 years i think you will find thats about how much a Tube based widescreen TV was.

So if anything the price is coming down, they are no more expensive than any of the 32" and above widescreen tv were a lil back.

Stop wining, go and buy one, go and find someone who has a 1080p video and actually has a screen which does 1080p without interpolation. Watch the video and then try go back to trying to watch DVD resolutions...... Its like having your eyes open for the first time, like where did all the quality go.... hehe

Originally posted by plazma247:

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Actually chap its 4 main standard 720i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p although there is cinematic widescreen hd standard but ive need seen this mentioned many places.

But progressive/interlace scanning is nothing new and if you think back resolution wise, we have VHS/BetaMax, VCD, SVCD and finally DVD which in a round about way is similar levels of increasing resolution when compared to the levels of improved resolution onto hd.

On the cables u have 3 standards DVI, HDMI, component hd, and all can be gender bended into each other the same way you do with, scart, svideo and composite signals.

And finially i think if you look at the prices a lower spec screen is now not much at all, if you compare that price back 2 years i think you will find thats about how much a Tube based widescreen TV was.

So if anything the price is coming down, they are no more expensive than any of the 32" and above widescreen tv were a lil back.

Stop wining, go and buy one, go and find someone who has a 1080p video and actually has a screen which does 1080p without interpolation. Watch the video and then try go back to trying to watch DVD resolutions...... Its like having your eyes open for the first time, like where did all the quality go.... hehe

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Ummm, well check ebay i got mine a while back, ok its a factory refurb but who cares pictures fine.

As for LCD, actually LCD has turned out to out perform Plasma in many case, lower power, higher resolution, cheaper to produce and now upto 50" lcd from sony and higher resolution that plasma.

Pixelated, think u just saw a crap one, mate my screen does 1080p native, it does a max of 1920x1200, if the video looks pixelated its either cus its a cheap screen or the source videos pixelated.

I would take a mondern TFT over an Plasma anyday, but if ur real smart wait for sed/oled or dlp, should start to appear this time next year, maybe before.

When that happens ur gona see LCDs and plasma drop, especially lcds, at this time your probably also gona see tube base screen disapear completely from the shops.

At this time bluray and HD-DVD are gona be nearly at full pace and maybe even come to a format conclusion but i think that will be two - two and half years away.

But i think that inside 1 - 2 years ur gona find that well over 60% of homes will have at least one HD capable screen.

I would say currently this is more like 3 - 8% of homes, the other factor which may play a big factor, well especially in the uk is the analogue turn off of all broadcasted tv and radio analogue stations will happen, this is to give way to digital. I can see many people who have been holding back changing at this point.

plazma247
from what I have seen from local retail shops the better LCD 20inch is 300+ not bad I figure its about 2 grand to get a Hdef setup going(with BR/HDvd) but the down side is BR/HD are 30+ a shot and theres no clear winner all of this adds up to a min of 5 years until Hdef is turely supported by consumers in general(hobbyists do not count),so until then I'd rather wait I am not that hard core a hobbyist to want to fool with it now..its abd enough I have to buy a 360 and PS3 :X

Hdef is still a niche its growing at a nice rate but its still to pricey and to easy to find older poorly made Hdef stuff.

Come on zippy, HD is here, the US has a large number of HD channels the UK has a growing number, Europe especially the netherlands have a fair number to.

the PS/3 and 360 are both here, both HD, u said u had bough them both, but cough ur not one of your previously mentioned hobbiests?

Virtually all screen being sold now are at least 720p capable.

As for player u can get a HD-DVD player for $300 now, but why do u need to invest in a hd media player yet, maybe u want the screen for HD gaming, HD TV, downloaded HD internet broadcasted content or just larger high resolution screen for you PC/Mac etc.

Im not sure hobbiest is the right word 2 use, i mean if u consider HD screens have been around for over 3 years would say to me its not the hobbiest buying them anymore. Plasma as a technology been round for 5+ and yes maybe those first time buyers of ho paid through the nose for those screens that bunt to the touch and lasted 2000 hours were.

Yes its a bit of a mine field out there, but this is largely because originally all HD screens would get stamped HD ready to make it easy, but in a price race some manufactures interpirated that as long as it downscales and does a resolutions of 720p/i nativly they would badge it as HD ready. These screens downscaling and then your are going to maybe get what you refered to a blocking, due to poor downscalers.

But my advice is if your gona go for LCD for pc get a min size of 23", which is as far as im aware the min size your able to get the 1080p, these can be got for $500

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Dell-2407WFP-24-...1QQcmdZViewItem

but thats only if its connected to a pc, on the component hd input ur gona get 1080i

but on the LCD tvs ur gona find one thats capable of doing 1366 x 768 for around $300 usd easy, that will give u upto 1080i

as i said just watch out for the over priced 720p screens that downscale like mad.

or go for something like :

http://cgi.ebay.com/42-HIGH-DEFINITION-L...1QQcmdZViewItem

if your wanting to have the full alakazam and run video from ps/3 xbox etc in at 1080p

Depends on what ur looking for...

I must admit I love my LCD HDTV, but wish I could get more content to show it off. The Xbox 360 has been a wonder for getting half of my content working, including some HD .WMV files I've d/l. Only problem is, most of the general public will be disappointed in the HD offerings by cable. Here were are primarily serviced by Armstrong and Time Warner and neither has a great lineup. Even the HD channels, such as ESPN, only broadcast half of their shows in HD. I think the public see this as a waste of money, and if it weren't $2-$3 extra dollars on top of my already pricey cable package, I would too. That's also considering you are using digital connections such as DVI or HDMI, because component will most likely stretch the screen anyways, which is ugly. Most people will get the best value from using over the air broadcasts, such as NBC, ABC, etc. which seem to have the best HD offerings anyway. Not to mention, I really hate HD-DVD and Blu-ray movies (Casino Royale for example) that do not have the 16x9 anamorphic pulldown and leave a freakin' letterbox'd widescreen. Grrr. Is this why I spent all this money for? To have the best TV, conections and content only to be subject to freakin' letter boxes on my HDTV?

Originally posted by SProdigy:

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I really hate HD-DVD and Blu-ray movies (Casino Royale for example) that do not have the 16x9 anamorphic pulldown and leave a freakin' letterbox'd widescreen. Grrr. Is this why I spent all this money for? To have the best TV, conections and content only to be subject to freakin' letter boxes on my HDTV?

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I'm well aware that DVD's and even HD movie channels still have the black bars... you would think with the adoption of HD there would be less need for the 2:35:1. Most network broadcasts, shows such as Lost or even the NCAA Final Four are broadcast in 16x9 (1:85:1) so why not feature films? I can handle older movies in this representation, but I just don't see why these "HD" formats aren't in 16x9 by default. I would say most HDTV's support the 16x9 pulldown, with the exception of some flat tubes.

First off I think we should realize that hig-def TV is different from film content. Most blockbuster films are shot in 2.35:1.

Secondly I think you're using the term "pull-down" differently from its original meaning. "Pull-down" commonly refers to methods of transferring film to electronic form. For example 3:2 pulldown is the method of converting film at 24 frames/second to 29.97 frames/second NTSC signal.

16:9 is coming, virtually all the DB HD-DVD movies out there are all formatted this way far as ive seen.

Not being in the US i can vouch for the broadcast, so are u saying that they are boarcasting hd letterboxed, doh that sux.

I think a large part of the problem with the broadcasters are just gettin to grips with using the new equiptment and in some cases they have very high quality upscallers just taking that old style broadcast and pumping it out as hd.

This is a problem i can see facing broadcasted content, it can only really be overcome as quickly as the studios and production houses are will to start mastering in hd, but broadcast quality HD cameras and editing squites arnt cheap eap.

Yeah you will see alot of movies on TNT or even HBO that are still letterboxed here and there. Castaway and American Beauty were on this weekend and they looked like widescreen versions of the standard movie... not high def at all :-(

At least it is getting better...