[N-I-C-K]

Anybody else waiting a few years before turning to High Definition.

I remember when I got my first DVD player. It cost £150 and that was classed as a budget dvd, just like Tesco sell dvd players today for £17.99.

My first dvd player was also huge. I still got the very same player today, altho it never gets used because it as problems playing quite a few modern day dvds. It can't handle interactive dvd games or dvds with lots of menus and hidden features. The first time I noticed this was when I bought The Matrix when it first came out.

So in a few years you've be able to pick up HD-DVD and BLU-RAY players in Tesco for less then £100.

[Jarrak]

The problem with the early budget players and in particular The Matrix was that there were short cuts being made in how the DVD standard was being adhered too, each camp blamed eachother.

Of course waiting a few years will mean spending less money and more content and with DVD going nowhere then there is no pressure to abandon a dying format. The stepup between DVD and HD formats (for the averae user) is not as big as from VHS to DVD both in terms of audio/video quality and convienence.

[banbury_oddball]

I thought the same, but to be honest, I paid £1400 three years ago for a 32" Toshiba Dolby Digital CRT with stand, video and DVD player from Comet. I got £250 for it back in October !

I paid £585 for my new Toshiba 32" HD LCDtv, so bargain to me, it's far superior in terms of picture quality working alongside my Sky HD box.

Granted it's £299 for a HD box + install etc but in my eyes once you have seen HD pictures you will be surprised when you watch SD pictures.

Blu-ray DVD players on the other hand are very expensive at the mo, and quite rightly I will be waiting until they at least halve in price.

[jer1956]

Quote:

Originally Posted by banbury_oddball

Granted it's £299 for a HD box + install etc but in my eyes once you have seen HD pictures you will be surprised when you watch SD pictures.

Since most TV is still SD implying HD makes you "intolerant" of SD is not a good selling point.

[son_t]

Quote:

Originally Posted by N-I-C-K

Anybody else waiting a few years before turning to High Definition.

I remember when I got my first DVD player. It cost £150 and that was classed as a budget dvd, just like Tesco sell dvd players today for £17.99.

My first dvd player was also huge. I still got the very same player today, altho it never gets used because it as problems playing quite a few modern day dvds. It can't handle interactive dvd games or dvds with lots of menus and hidden features. The first time I noticed this was when I bought The Matrix when it first came out.

So in a few years you've be able to pick up HD-DVD and BLU-RAY players in Tesco for less then £100.

It may be more than a few years... it all depends on the Blu-ray vs HD DVD format wars - who will be the winner so that everyone adopts the new format forcing the prices for HD players to drop.

When this happens then there will be a greater demand for HD TVs. ATM the sources of HD is fairly limited (Sky HD, Xbox360, etc) and are out of reach (say compaired to DVD) of most house holds. Of course there are the Blu-ray and HD DVD players but consumers are holding out as they don't want to buy a dead donkey (a la Betamax) and the PS3...

HD TV are being trialed on Freeview in London but it will be a while - if at all - before it arrives everywhere else. For one thing, analogue transmissions have to be switched off - the earliest being 2008...

So thinking about it this way... 2 years for HD sources and devices to sort themselves out and then another 2 years for prices to drop...

So yeah wait another 4 years to pick up a HDTV for £200 and HD DVD player for £50 in Tesco... I can't wait!

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Last edited by son_t : 11-01-2007 at 11:39.

[skinner]

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=36869

I am going to wait until later in the year I think.

[son_t]

But if you wait for new technology to come out - it only reduces the price of the current technology.

The new LCDs with just be as expensive as the current ones...

[meltcity]

Quote:

Originally Posted by N-I-C-K

So in a few years you've be able to pick up HD-DVD and BLU-RAY players in Tesco for less then £100.

Maybe. The HD-DVD Forum and Blu-ray constortium have gone to considerable lengths to make it difficult to clone the new players in a bid to prevent the price crash that happened to DVD. Will probably still happen though!

The thing is, it was the introduction of the budget players that made DVD so successful!

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Last edited by meltcity : 11-01-2007 at 20:22.

[N-I-C-K]

I see on Amazon you can pick up a HD-DVD player for £350ish.... sure I saw one of the first ones on PLAY.com for over £800... So won't be long before the £100 players are on the scene.

[Jarrak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by N-I-C-K

I see on Amazon you can pick up a HD-DVD player for £350ish.... sure I saw one of the first ones on PLAY.com for over £800... So won't be long before the £100 players are on the scene.

The first UK spec HD-DVD player is the E1, it's big brother XE1 had a RRP of around £800 but is being touted for pre-order around £540+ online.
Companies love to quote RRP and then make out they are doing you a favour by selling it cheaper

The first Sammy blu-ray player is going to be replaced with a second gen machine soon so it's price is already falling as existing stock is dumped before the new machine arrives.

[jer1956]

Quote:

Originally Posted by N-I-C-K

I see on Amazon you can pick up a HD-DVD player for £350ish.... sure I saw one of the first ones on PLAY.com for over £800... So won't be long before the £100 players are on the scene.

You get home and then find your favourite film is only on blue-ray!

[bobcar]

If either format is successful you will eventually see sub £30 machines just like for DVD.

Of course there's no guarantee that either format wil be successful, most of the public are happy with DVD and the only way either format will survive is if they become trendy like flat panel TVs. It won't be down to the picture quality, note the poor sound of MP3 compared to CD.

[Assa2]

The deciding factor in this Digital war will be another format war over in games console arena. It's no coincidence that Sony devised Blu-Ray while MS are heavily invlved in HD-DVD. Although the PS3 will incorporate a BR player while the XB 360 will need a peripheral player, it's cost of around £100 means the package is still cheaper than a new PS3 (at least at launch later this year). With around 10 million 360's shipped so far, there are plenty of people with an HD source already, and plenty who will buy a £100 (or $ / Euro / Yen equivalent) add-on to get HD films. Equally, Sony will sell at least 10 million PS3's in the first year.

No-one will win the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD war any time soon. LG have the right idea bringing out a hybrid player. Prices for the players will of course drop quickly, but not to under £100 while people still buy standard DVD films and players. The display equipment will likewise drop in price, but not to much below £300 for a 'budget' brand or £500 for a premium brand while people still buy CRT's for £150 - £300.

I myself will wait a while longer until I can go HD for around £1000:

Screen - £500
Sky HD - £200 (I hope)
XBox 360 - £200 (I hope)
XBox HD-DVD - £100

My main concern wll be the price of HD disks. I don't have a huge library of DVDs (300 or so), but I do not want to just dump them all. I've heard tell that even standard DVDs look good on an HD display, especially when upscaled. That might be a point to ponder when considering when to switch.

[Jarrak]

HD-DVD rental is already with us and Blu-ray will follow and since both formats are backwards compatible with DVD there really is no reason to dump your entire collection. Just cherry pick certain movies that will look exceptional in HD video and enhanced audio then buy new releases in the format of your choice.
The price of the disks isn't that bad even now with a limited market although as usual some UK stores are gouging the punters

[jbeavon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobcar

It won't be down to the picture quality, note the poor sound of MP3 compared to CD.

To be honest...i think your wide of the mark there. When going into shops where they have properly set-up HD displays, playing back true HD material...people generally seem to stand there in awe. Whilst people may not be buying into HD displays at the moment (mainly due to lack of sources to play back HD material), once the playback devices come down to a reasonable price, people will start to buy them.

You mention MP3's and CD's, well to most people, they can't tell the difference....and that's the key point. If people can't percieve a difference, they want spend money on getting something new. But the difference between SD and HD is something that is very easy to see.

Even my grandad, who has very limited eye-sight these days can see the difference. To quote him "I can see all the hairs on his hand", was his shocked response when he saw a properly displayed HD picture....and that was only 720p! Although I think the percieved difference between 720p and 1080p will be much less!

[Man_in_Spain]

I am all for waiting until HD is broadcast in 1080p, although that may well yet be years off.

The current 1080i or 720p stuff is not full HD and doesn't give a picture any better then my top end Thomson CRT.

I have seen 1080p, and that IS noticeably better.

[Jarrak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Man_in_Spain

I am all for waiting until HD is broadcast in 1080p, although that may well yet be years off.

The current 1080i or 720p stuff is not full HD and doesn't give a picture any better then my top end Thomson CRT.

I have seen 1080p, and that IS noticeably better.

Well I can't really see many agreeing that 625line PAL on a CRT looks as good as 720p/1080i on a HD display but if that's what you believe then that's fine by me

As for 1080p it's probably more of the case that the 1080p source material you have seen is not being encoded in real time and at a higher bitrate and as such should always look better than broadcast HD at any resolution.

SKY's 1080i is in fact 1080i50 so if you could get the video stream direct to a TV then it would really be no different to 1080p25. The problem is that you can not with the SKY+ HD box but thankfully those who capture SKY HD via PC solutions provide 1080p caps

[moggsy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Man_in_Spain

I am all for waiting until HD is broadcast in 1080p, although that may well yet be years off.

The current 1080i or 720p stuff is not full HD and doesn't give a picture any better then my top end Thomson CRT.

I have seen 1080p, and that IS noticeably better.

You've either viewed a particularly poor or poorly set up LCD/Plasma screen or you really need your eyes testing! A properly displayed 720p image will blow away any high end CRT displaying an SD picture. It's not really even debatable (though many have and will try).

[nick.king]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jarrak

The first UK spec HD-DVD player is the E1, it's big brother XE1 had a RRP of around £800 but is being touted for pre-order around £540+ online.
Companies love to quote RRP and then make out they are doing you a favour by selling it cheaper

The first Sammy blu-ray player is going to be replaced with a second gen machine soon so it's price is already falling as existing stock is dumped before the new machine arrives.

The cheapest I've seen the HD-E1 (HD-DVD Toshiba) is £300 on the dot, the price on www.dixons.co.uk changes daily and you currently get £15 off using SALE300 as a discount code, delivery is also free