Poll: Are you happy being a Blu-ray early adopter?
By Darren Murph 
posted Feb 14th 2009 9:35AM
posted Feb 14th 2009 9:35AM
posted Feb 14th 2009 9:35AM
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will never buy another dvd myself, birthday / holidays ill take dvd's no problem. but i love blu-ray its just amazing 1080p is the future. if only we could get 1080p on cable
Amen!
What's with the choice " I still haven't WENT BD" ??!!
That sentence is so grammatically incorrect it sounds like something a red neck hillbilly would say.
Can't see myself buying one until our DVD player stops working. By then, ideally, it'll all be broadband-based.
Oh darnit, I thought the poll asked if I WAS an early blu-ray adopter. I feel like anyone who got a Blu player after the HD-DVD fiasco when Universal jumped ship isn't an early adopter at all.
Still have my XBOX360 HD-DVD Player hooked up to my Media Center. Thank you ArcSoft for still supporting it!
So do we all realize that this Summer it will be three years since Blu-ray launched? I think we are long past the early adopter stage.
BD for me. Why? The lossless audio is every bit, if not more important than 1080p video.
Certainly happier than HD-DVD early adopters, that's for sure.
I would say the early adopter stage ended when HD-DVD ended.
Burns11 @ Feb 14th 2009 10:56AM
"Certainly happier than HD-DVD early adopters, that's for sure."
Actually no, there's nothing "sure" about it & I very much doubt that - if you're going to be really really honest about it.
Go look at the various a/v forums, they're full of regular people extremely happy to have large and very very inexpensive high definition movie collections.
Most have both formats now
(so the 'we are no longer in an early adopting stage' comment seems perfectly fair & true).
I have yet to see anyone complaining that they have gotten the exact same movie content (occasionally, though not always, with a minor - if discernable at all, to most - audio change) at a fraction of the Blu-ray version.
Indeed some are still enlarging their high def collections with new HD DVD movies still available @ under $5/£3 - delivered!
I also note more than a few who mention they have a large number of HD DVDs and relatively few Blu-rays (which also reflects my own position).
Do I really care that HD DVD lost out?
Well if I'm being completely honest about it the answer has to be no.
HD DVD's ultimate failure enabled me to collect a very nice and large high def movie collection (many true cinematic classics) at a minute cost.
I see nothing in that to be moaning about actually
(it's actually more like obvious wishful thinking from the Blu-ray fans).
Sorry guys, I know you don't want to hear it but that is the truth.
I went HD-DVD because I already had a 360 and the add-on was the least expensive route. I only got Blu-Ray recently because I installed a drive in my media center. I only have two BR discs and about 25 HD-DVD. For enthusiasts, BR is the obvious choice now. But most "normal" people I meet have no idea what BR is or that there ever was an alternative.
My sideline these days is helping people setup their new "Hi-Fi" TVs. Most of these people have no idea...QAM, OTA, BR, HD-DVD...they still have VCRs and a few have DVD players. From what I see, HDTV is still struggling to get a foothold...Blu-Ray has a long way to go.
I would never have been an early adopter for BR since I cannot stand Sony's proprietary nonsense. And it's scary that Sony is making inroads into Digital Cinema. Anyone in the industry who knows what SDDS is (and what happened to the exhibitors investments in DCP2000 and 3000) should know better.
I currently have 3 HD DVD players and will be buying another one shortly. I've also gotten a lot of cheap HD DVD movies lately. Not like everything just stopped working. I'll be watching them for years to come. I still prefer HD DVD over Blu-Ray, I think HDi for HD DVD was better then the Slow JAVA garbage with Blu-Ray. I have 3 times as many HD DVD's then Blu-Ray. I really don't plan to buy very many Blu-Ray disc's, Not at current prices. Cheap HD DVD's, Hell Ya, why not. I also like the Red cases better then the Blue cases. Blue is to much of a Sony Playstation Color. I still say HD DVD was the better format and to bad it lost over to Blu-Ray. I also think Online Streaming like with Netflix, all you want for a low fee is the future if the Studio's don't get to greedy and screw it up like they have been with the Music which is only recently getting more Reasonable in price, service and Flexibility.
"HDi for HD DVD was better then the Slow JAVA garbage with Blu-Ray"
Ain't that the truth.
Still waiting for movies to hit $15 so I can really expand my collection. For now, I just buy the major hits at below $20 and Netflix the rest.
Thank God for Netflix! :)
You may be right on that one. Sounds more likely.
I still feels it's a wee bit of propaganda/sales talk though. No studios (except possibly Chinese ones) would support this format. So their only market could then be China.
So if they want to make a profit out of this it would be on the home market. Not very likely that they would make much more profit out of that.
I have no clue what's going on but this ancient post of mine seems to pop up in every bloody thread that I visit ???
I haven't even made a comment, yet, to this thread but just answered the poll.
I don't buy DVD's anymore. Netflixing DVD's and streaming and are both fine and digital rentals are OK in a pinch but we rent a lot so 4.99 and 5.99 for HD rentals add up quick.
But if I am going to own something I will wait for it to be on Blu-ray to buy a copy.
Overall I'm happy with my BD experience. If I could change one thing it would be the speed at which the releases are coming out. But I remember the early days of DVD too so its not really all that different.
Why not Netflix Blu-ray? Also not all Blu-rays are expensive you just have to look at Amazon and Fry's Electronics.
I do indeed rent a lot of Blu-ray discs from Netflix.
And I don't think I ever said Blu-ray discs were too expensive. Amazon and Best Buy always have good prices and that's where I buy all my BD's. I think you might have me confused with a few posters who make the specious claim that Blu-ray discs are "35 dollars".
Not too happy...
Not all movies are top quality many bordering with DVD upscaled version. Only the top tier movies are encoded in top notch quality. You have to pick and choose what you buy. This i not what was promised overall.
3 years in, and it's still too expensive. Real full functional players are $300+ if you want a medium/good one and discs are still at close to $30. Not to mention catalog titles.
No way to import favorite Blu-ray movies from Europe. Region control is a huge issue.
Too much lies and misleading information. Just let it freakin' be and concentrate on providing quality and prices and not fudging numbers and misleading with people with BS PR.
The classic example is numbers on Engadget HD here. Just look at how they are showing Blu-ray numbers now and it will be clear to you. As the hit the all time low, EngadgetHD turns off comments and Home Media sticking out of BDA's ass stops publishing that BS chart with revenue percentage because it's too low now and they now start publishing percentage in comparison to Blu-ray from LAST YEAR. LOL!!!! I mean can this get any more misleading and pathetic.
This is not how you get the format to grow and even though I enjoy it I am not at all satisfied with it to the fullest extent.
The next person posting about $30 discs is going to send me over the falls. Amazon. That is all.
I don't disagree that some BDs lack the quality one would expect, but that's no different than DVD - especially early DVD's. I have some early DVD's where the audio bit rate sounded so tiny I thought I was listening to my minidisc player over a CB radio.
Region control? sigh. Let's embrace reality for at least one point.
Bozster
Good post, but, I think Ben was just being very fair about the comments.
He could hardly claim to be a supporter of free speech/expression and ban only one 'side' for expressing a view every week when it is no more or less than what the opposing 'side' were doing every week with their view.
Clearly he himself agreed with one side in this but kudos to him for being fair & reasonable about it.
There will be plenty of other threads to have a clash of view about but the Nielson numbers thread is probably best left alone.
As you said it hardly prints an impressive picture.
You nailed it Bozster.
Transfers OFTEN don't live up to format expectations. This is a coffin nail.
While off-name players are being introduced with better prices, big-names are creeping up in price.
I too have noticed that revenue comparisons are now against 'last year's numbers'. Still a joke.
I have also noticed that the comments are turned off on non-stellar reports...why even publish the report if you're too embarrased to entertain comments?
And the media is just too highly priced at B&M stores...no arguments accepted! While Amazon is an option for moderately better prices, it is not the answer for the masses.
BD still has a long row to hoe!
MFM,
I disagree. Disabling comments for numbers just tells me one thing. He is either bitter or been instructed to disable them because a lot of people beside started questioning numbers and with full right to do so. It's not the first I've noticed that posts with links outright contradicting information posted were simply deleted. Do you really think that nobody would obviously notice the different way of presenting numbers now because the previous one didn't work so well. Now they picked to compare to previous year which is obviously going to be higher. It doesn't say how much market share is Blu-ray taking but how well it's doing compared to weak numbers from last year just when the format ended.
So now, he can post and spread the fudged numbers without anyone commenting on it.
It's not cool if you ask me, but not entirely unexpected.
Bozster you state that Blu Ray is at an all time low, yet it is up 60% over last year. I am confused by your fuzzy logic (and math)?
I totally agree Boz, locking threads and now changing the information is just an attempt to gag anyone with a differing opinion to the obvious fanboys who control this site, it's just more mis leading nonsense that doesn't do the format any favors.
bluray is awsome, both picture and sound. I havent watched a dvd since i've gotten bluray. Just want more popular catalog titles to come out soon. ex: Lord of the Rings (i've heard this year). Star wars. Jurasic Park series, and the pixar movies, to name a few.
Not really, but being an early adopter of HD DVD spoiled me with Hi-Def. Blu is just the only other available alternative, albeit a more inconsistent and expensive one.
Since I can't comment on the NPD numbers I'll do it here...
So what is the next format Home Media and the BDA are going to provide their charts in if Blu continues to lag below what they'd like them to be?
But everywhere you go, you hear about Blu-ray's adoption rate being higher than DVD's was. Hard to say it's failing when it's doing better than it's predecessor did.
T think that probably just says a lot more about the "everywhere you go, you hear..... " part of what you're saying.
It depends on which numbers you believe and what PR you're hearing.
DVD it has to be said did not begin it's life built in to a game console bound to sell in multi-millions fairly quickly
(even if it, the PS3, is a bit of a 3rd place flop in it's own market) .
In fact considering this just highlights how Blu-ray's initial growth (even if it does turn out to be a little faster than DVDs initial growth) is less than amazingly impressive.
There's a huge pro-Blu-ray PR effort going on to try and shape perceptions. That's all.
Unfortunately the truth (as has been pointed out) is that even now - 3 years in and counting - amongst the true mass-market Blu-ray is almost invisible.
Few care about what it offers, not when it comes requiring the costly additional audio kit or at the premium the hardware and movies demand.
"DVD it has to be said did not begin it's life built in to a game console bound to sell in multi-millions fairly quickly"
I'd just like to point out, one of the key players (pardon the pun) in the widespread adoption of DVD is the Sony Playstation 2. Back then, standalone DVD players were also quite expensive so not a lot of people were buying them. The PS2 was the most affordable DVD player at the time it was released. As with the PS3, it tried to kill two birds with one stone. The PS2 was just more successful. It was also fortunate that DVD didn't really have any competition to speak of, so there's no confusion/divide as with the HD-DVD/Blu-ray debacle.
i had a blu christmas. the sharpness isnt what impresses me though- it's the color fidelity! reds and yellows floor me every time. especially skin tones. oh yeah, and the most important part- detail in dark scenes. I watched hd cable, downloads, and my pioneer dv-400 for dvds a whole year before going blu. there's just no comparison.
That was definitely a big surprise for me, as well.
I guess it's hard to market "awesome color!" without the ad sounding like it came straight out of the 1960's, though.
Having bought both formats, I've mixed feelings.
Blu-ray sound and image (as produced) seem slightly better overall than HDDVD did, but HDDVD was FAR easier to use since there was a common interface. Since each BD studio has utterly different methods of control (Where's the menu? When can I access it? Auto-play or 10 previews, etc), I think BD movies are confusing for the average consumer to use.
So, am I happy to have high-def movies? Certainly. Am I happy that BD won? Maybe. What is holding up widespread adoption? Prices, or course, and the studio's incredibly stupid focus on features and glitz rather than on simple usability.
Happy with Blu-Ray quality? Yes.
Happy that I can watch movies that I like in High-Def? Yes.
Happy that my old DVDs look better on a big TV? Yes.
Happy with Blu-Ray disc prices? No. My collection is still very small and is likely to stay that way until prices come down.
Happy with the ridiculous restrictons on Blu-Ray playback? No. I had to hack my system to get my *purchased* Blu-Rays to play on my PC because my monitor was not compliant.
Happy with my ability to rip Blu-Rays for use on my portable equipment? No. Still a painful process. Just as above it's another of those situations where Pirates benefit over folks who buy legitimate copies. That's not the way it should be.
If it were not for Netflix, I would not own a blu-ray player. For only $12 more a year though, I get to watch a much better quality movie, and decrease the chance of the disc not playing.
See Bozter's post above...
I want the movies to come down in price inside the B&M stores.
And the twisting of the numbers by sites like bluray.com is just beyond unbelievable. IT doesn't matter if it falls down next week those guys will still find some way to spin it as "bluray growth".
Never fails...
I don't think I really cared about Blu-ray or HD-DVD until I got my PS3. And getting the PS3 made me want to get an HDTV because of hi-def gaming, but when I watched the Talledega Nights Blu-ray that came bundled with the system, I was really impressed with the quality.
I'm happy Blu-ray won the format war mostly because I'm glad that I don't have to worry about multiple hi-def formats for my PS3 and for my PC because I knew that eventually I'd get a next-gen drive, and the more compatible everything is, the better.
And it helped that my PS3 as a Blu-ray player gave me a big advantage for the profile updates. It's like getting some pretty sweet features for free.
It has been the best complement to my HDTV. Really avery HDTV owner that watches movies needs to get one. Their TV will thank them. Once you go Blu you don't go back.
bry2an @ Feb 14th 2009 4:46PM
"Once you go Blu you don't go back."
Which is great if you only like movies from an available range of about 900 - 1000 movies.
Otherwise it's a very very silly & very blinkered statement.
For most of us for a long time yet we have no real choice but to watch SD TV content
(even if it is upscaled).
The vast majority of movies (well over 100,000) are only available on SD DVD......
and as the move from VHS to DVD proves not everything will make the jump from DVD to Blu-ray.
Yes, but think of it this way, do the studios want to transfer a movie that only three people will watch? Alot of old movies arent worth it to transfer right away, but give it time, and you will see the content library grow. This is the same thing that happened with DVD. It just takes time.
Well that is one of the great things about Blu-ray players is that they play DVDs so for those movies that are not on Blu-ray you can still watch them on your Blu-ray alpyer. Also as for available titles if you noticed every week new titles are released so you will have new movies to choose from each week. If VHS is still important to you there is a VHS Blu-ray combo player hitting the market.
I'm in the Eh, not really range. Blu is great, when done right. Totally agree with MFM and other comments.
Some movies are fantastic in Blu. But then their are the rest, which just look like a rip off. Plus a problem is that companies are putting movies on Blu that don't need to be on Blu. We need action and CG movies in Blu... not old comedies and others.
Wow. As of my writing this, only 61.8% of those polled are "totally" happy with Blu-ray. Almost 40% aren't or haven't yet bought in. I'm really stunned. I expected more people to be in the totally-happy camp.
If the percentages are this low among Engadget HD subscribers (presumably high-def aficionados), what must it be like among the rest of the population?
Complete lack of interest if you ask me.
If they bothered to invest money in promotions and discounted prices and mastering better quality BDs instead of paying analysts and PR to spread nonsense all of us would be happy campers.
"Still haven't gone BD"
Fixed.
After owning HD-DVD prior to BD I can easily say that the better format isn't BD. Moot point though. I have a BD player with only 3 movies after 1 year of ownership. DVD is my preferred format for the time being.
Still spin up an occasional Laserdisc every now and then when I want to hear real surround sound quality (vs DVD).
I only recently noticed the blu sound benefit after upgrading 12 year old speakers to a 5.1 system with my onkyo 606. I doubt that many average consumers will drop the cash for an hdtv, decent receiver, decent speakers, and br player in 'this economy'. So right there most are missing out on the blu ray advantages.
If the disc prices don't drop, BR is toast, since only a small percentage of people are like me after watching 'bankok dangerous' and thought it was a good movie ONLY because the sound was so good. ;)
The rest will just be annoyed enough to stick with cable/satellite/streaming/downloads after the first firmware upgrade to their pricey player.
I am happy, though I wished I hadn't bought into HD DVD at all, and wished I hadn't supported it in 2007...
Regardless, I've been pleased with my purchases, and I'm buying movies... something I rarely did with DVD. Admittedly I havent sat down and watched many of my blu-rays but some of the newer ones (walle, dark knight) I made sure to watch them. I'm looking forward to getting an 5.1 AVR system in the next couple of months.
I gone blu about 1.5 years ago and never looked back. I have watched over 60+ BD movies now vs about