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J0n

2:32 PM on 21 November, 2008

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Hmm...

I'm not sure about the statement - "Sure, a film on Blu-ray might cost twice as much as the equivalent DVD, but in my estimation at least it will look and sound ten times better so it's hardly an extortionate premium. Of course there are always those consumers out there who don't care about quality enough to pay for it."

I've got a 28" CRT widescreen telly, which has a surprisingly good picture when playing DVDs or some Freeview channels. So good that every time I go to a store to look at a LCD replacement I end up feeling that they are just not there yet. In any case I couldn't fit a TV much bigger than a 32" into my place so 1080p would probably be overkill. I'm sure I wouldn't notice the difference from a 720p TV at that size.

Until the whole package (of TV, HD Freeview and Blue-ray player) is at a decent standard (read:better than what I already have) for an affordable (read: reasonably cheap) price then, for standard definition TV owners like myself, there just isn't the incentive to upgrade.

I think that there are a lot of individuals like myself who will just keep on using what they have until they can no longer use it for some reason, like the TV breaks or someone gives them a 42PFL9803H for Christmas :)

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Wackywavinginflateablearmflailingtubeman

2:39 PM on 21 November, 2008

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"Personally I don't see the problem with the current pricing of Blu-ray dics. Sure, a film on Blu-ray might cost twice as much as the equivalent DVD, but in my estimation at least it will look and sound ten times better so it's hardly an extortionate premium."

I have to disagree. I'm impressed with the quality of my upscaled DVDs on my HDTV right now. I have seen how good blu-ray looks, but I won't be switching until the media further drops in price.

Even if I had a PS3 I wouldn't be buying blu-ray simply because of the price of the discs. If I walk into Zellers and see two DVDs of the same movie, one blu-ray, the other not and the blu-ray one is twice the price or more. That matters. Especially right now.

I'd rather have double the amount of DVDs for the same price of of blu-ray discs.

The quality is already amazing, don't see the value of the premium right now.

So enjoy your movies, I am!

P.S. Bigger comment box please!

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Orinj

2:41 PM on 21 November, 2008

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Do you know whether this includes PlayStation 3 units or stand alone players? Ages ago, Sony used PS3 consoles to bump up their Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD 'war' figures.

Band Of Brothers yes, Tropic Thunder no.

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Pbryanw

3:58 PM on 21 November, 2008

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Another one who's just got themselves an upscaling DVD player. To be honest, with the size of my TV - 26" - there's not much point in going HD with a Blu-ray player, even though my TV's HD-ready. Maybe if I had a 37" or bigger TV, I would be tempted.

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Nick

4:13 PM on 21 November, 2008

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Off topic completely but:

@Ohmz - if you use Google Chrome, you can easily expand any writeable text box so you can see as much as your comment as you want ;)

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AndyVandervell

4:25 PM on 21 November, 2008

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Hmm, nice. We're looking into making the boxes bigger btw. Afraid it's not awfully high on the list, but it is on there. ;)

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Wackywavinginflateablearmflailingtubeman

4:40 PM on 21 November, 2008

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Silly Nick! Chrome is for kids, Firefox is for adults. ;)

Andy, ok it's not high on the list but I hope some other things are like: full screen videos; being able to keep track of our comments via our profile like (*shudder* CNET!); better comments organization (like we can tell who we're responding to); and perhaps an attitude adjustment for the TR staff. Some of them come across as really arrogant. ;)

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AndyVandervell

4:44 PM on 21 November, 2008

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Duly noted Ohmz. :)

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bobsta

6:41 PM on 21 November, 2008

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Did anyone see the report out today that Sony are considering increasing prices of their products due to the poor exchange rate for sterling? If this happens, Sony are going to have real trouble shifting more Blu-Ray players in the UK market.

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rav

6:54 PM on 21 November, 2008

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lol. the site's got so much better since comments were added. sometimes when the story is just obvious from the headline i skip straight to them to save time.

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Shelly

7:44 PM on 21 November, 2008

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"Sure, a film on Blu-ray might cost twice as much as the equivalent DVD, but in my estimation at least it will look and sound ten times better so it's hardly an extortionate premium" - hmm not sure about that. How can it cost twice as much to produce a Blu-ray? I have a player but I'm happy waiting for films to come out on Sky HD rather than pay minimum of £20 for a film. Surely this is just greedy publishers feeding on the early adopters again - this has always seemed counter productive to me, slowing down adoption from the masses.

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ilovethemonkeyhead

9:47 PM on 21 November, 2008

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... the sony blu ray player in the article looks nice. stick on a massive volume knob and it'll be perfect :D

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StephenAllred

1:00 AM on 22 November, 2008

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@J0n "32" into my place so 1080p would probably be overkill. I'm sure I wouldn't notice the difference from a 720p TV at that size." Wrong. If you can fit a 32" max, you will sit close enough to notice the difference.

@Nick

Safari has done that for years.

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Beaky69

10:28 AM on 22 November, 2008

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In the same way that many people are happy to buy mp3 tracks at 128kb/s rather than buy the CD, I think many people are happy to stick with DVD for now...it's simply 'good enough'. Of course the high cost of Blu-ray players & discs are one thing, but the added expense of upgrading TVs and home-cinema amps to get the most out of the format is something else. Especially as DVD is a relatively young format still - only about 12 years? How long was VHS around for before it was replaced?

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starling

2:41 PM on 22 November, 2008

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"Personally I don't see the problem with the current pricing of Blu-ray dics. Sure, a film on Blu-ray might cost twice as much as the equivalent DVD, but in my estimation at least it will look and sound ten times better so it's hardly an extortionate premium. Of course there are always those consumers out there who don't care about quality enough to pay for it. "

EH!!? Silly statement! 10 times better!? A few titles maybe... Yet so many are a blatant rip offs and look awful! I do own blu-rays, but there's no way I would walk into HMV and pay £27.99 for a film a already have on DVD. No way.

Prices do need to come down or blu-ray will end up in the grave yard with all the other so called superior formats like laser disc, mini disc et al....

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Marek

10:12 PM on 22 November, 2008

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"Sure, a film on Blu-ray might cost twice as much as the equivalent DVD, but in my estimation at least it will look and sound ten times better so it's hardly an extortionate premium. Of course there are always those consumers out there who don't care about quality enough to pay for it."

Like many here, I also have a problem with this statement. I've owned a Sony BR deck for over two years now, and the majority of films that I buy are still SD DVDs. I'll only buy the BR version of a title if I can find it for sale within £3-4 of the the DVD. Why? Because while the picture is better, it's certainly nowhere near "10 times better". It's nice to have, but doesn't really alter the enjoyment I get out of any given film. I'm a fairly tech-savvy person, but even I can't justify paying double for what is essentially the same film.

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betelgeus

12:56 AM on 23 November, 2008

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agreed 10 times better is just primary school talk.Considering upscaling i think 10% better is closer.

take 300 on blu-ray,it was diabolicle,although stargate looks excellent.

Saying that though;hunt around and most new blu-rays are available for under £15,Anyone walking into woolies and paying £29.99 deserves to be shot.

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basicasic

10:10 AM on 23 November, 2008

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Even allowing for 'poetic licence' declarations like "but in my estimation at least it will look and sound ten times better" are just plain ludicrous. The problem with such statements is not just the fact that you have devalued the article with something patently false but it undermines the credibility of any article on this review site you (or any of the others) write.

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GherkingTR

2:09 PM on 23 November, 2008

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Another comment bashing the attitude/writing style of the content creators on TR?

I'm addicted to developments in consumer tech, and so get through a lot of articles on various sites - and TR is one of the best news and reviews sites I have come across (and they're based in the UK!). Sure the 'Ten times better' gag stands out a little, but perhaps trollers need a little perspective, and some insight into the blood, sweat and tears that go into managing and writing for a substantial tech site.

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Marek

6:15 PM on 23 November, 2008

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@ GherkinG

This is a public website that encourages feeedback and discussion through its comments system. I haven't read any comments on here relating to the article that I would consider "trolling". I don't think anyone is under any illusion as to how much work must go into maintaining a tech digest site, especially with the shear number of news stories due to the nature of the industry. The "10 times better" comment can probably be attributed to a real passion that the author has for technology, and it is nice to se such enthusiasm as opposed to cynicism, but in my opinion, it still damages the credibity of the article.

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Kerwood

8:29 PM on 23 November, 2008

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Well I suppose that the uptake on Blu-ray is slowed down by the pricing policies of the different supliers. First in line are the record and film production companies who think us mug enough to buy at £20+ something we may record in 6 months time in 720p on Freesat or Sky+.

Let's remember that those people claimed that it was piracy that was explaining the high price of CDs and DVDs. Well now, DHCP we are told is piracy proof, so what is preventing those companies from lowering their prices so as to make the format more attractive to more people and open a larger piracy free market?

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Jay4d0

9:21 PM on 23 November, 2008

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what annoys me the most is the fact blu-ray films are stupidly more expensive in the shops but far more reasonbly priced online take for-instance the film transformers at hmv instore its £25 (blu-ray), online its £15.99 but on DVD instore its £5.

its this massive difference in price that gets me and if they were considerably closer together i would be buying blu-ray left, right and center.

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Rsaeire

10:53 AM on 24 November, 2008

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I must say, I didn't think the statement that everyone is quoting, and I have no intention of re-quoting myself, would cause so much ire. Yes, saying Blu-ray quality is x times better than DVD is always going to be anecdotal, as there are so many variables involved in comparing quality. I would agree somewhat that HD, be it Blu-ray or HD-DVD, is 10 times better than DVD… for the whole experience involved, which includes picture, audio, extra features etc, but this my opinion, and I, like the author of the article, is entitled to my own opinion.

I don’t come and read Trusted Reviews to hear marketing blurbs, technical jargon quoted from a manual, or any other material I can easily find myself. I come here to read material from tech minded writers who give their own opinions on news, articles and reviews. Do I agree with them all the time? No. Do I roll my eyes at some of their statements? Yes. Do I generally enjoy coming to the website? Yes.

In addition, I wanted to address Shelly's post that that stated "How can it cost twice as much to produce a Blu-ray?" Who's saying that this is the reason they are charging so much? They BDA are trying to recoup their investment they put into the Blu-ray format, and will require higher prices on media in order to do that; not to mention the fact that the format was only launched in 2006, meaning we shouldn't expect rock-bottom prices right now. I think that we will see lower prices on media, sooner than when DVD came to market, however, in my opinion, the users stating that prices for Blu-ray movies are ludicrous, ridiculous etc, need to realise that these prices will come down when the BDA want them to come down, or are forced by the economy to come down, not because people complain. It is quite clear that people are buying Blu-ray movies in enough numbers for the prices to remain at roughly the same level they are now, and it will be interesting to see how the outcome of the current recession hitting the world markets will affect the Blu-ray format globally.

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Matt G Baish

11:56 AM on 24 November, 2008

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@Rsaeire: "They BDA are trying to recoup their investment they put into the Blu-ray format, and will require higher prices on media in order to do that"

For some reason this is a common `excuse` rolled out in the defence of the technology industry. For me it just doesn't wash. All new products require massive amounts of R&D capital but with a sensible business plan this can be recouped quickly with, obviously, premiums at launch (as with any new product) but then usually a fairly quick reduction in price 6 months or so to more sensible levels. Blu Ray discs are just too expensive at the moment. HD-DVD IMHO game up too early (PLEASE China Blue HD produce some cheap compatible content for us westerners ;^)) and as such has allowed Sony to keep prices artificially high. Stack em high - sell em cheap is the only way IMHO that you will convince the average consumer to make the switch. This didn`t happen with Laser Disc, SACD, DVD-A, miniDisc etc & hence none of them ever matured in to a proper mass market format.

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Rsaeire

12:29 PM on 24 November, 2008

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@Matt G Baish: Whether it's true or not, it doesn't matter. This is the information/reason/excuse, delete where applicable, that we are being given. The BDA will do what they want, how they want and when they want. Do you think I want to spend more money on an item that I would like to pay less for? I am laying out the information so people can see some of the reasons why we are being asked to pay more for Blu-ray media. I don't imagine Blu-ray will last the test of time, or will be anywhere near as significant as DVD, but I will still enjoy HD in whatever format is made available to me and that I choose to use.

Toshiba gave up supporting the HD-DVD format gave up because they had to. Without substantial studio support, they would have been releasing such a small portion of the latest movies, that it would have become a niche product for those who loved HD-DVD; it would have also lost Toshiba more than the billion dollars, approximately, they lost trying to win the HD format war.

Blu-ray is here to stay, and will remain as long as people keep buying the media. Without the economic crisis, I doubt that Blu-ray media prices would have been heading south anywhere near as soon as they no doubt will be soon.

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Matt G Baish

1:00 PM on 24 November, 2008

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@Rsaeire Yeah I know the reasons Toshiba pulled out - hence why I said `HD-DVD` gave up too early (rather than singling out Toshiba).

Anyway I personally didn`t really give a damn who would `win the format war` (although there was the very compelling point that HD-DVD and no region coding; I know many Blu Ray discs don't but why any at all?! It just doesn't make sense at all in a truly global marketplace) and was really waiting for something affordable that I could pay a reasonable premium for HiDef content. Ironically I plumped for HD-DVD *AFTER* they lost :) £3 a film for HiDef is well worth it (as cheap as renting; I actually managed to get the HD-DVD boxset of Robin Hood for about half the price of the DVD boxset - & that even though the HD-DVDs are dual sided with DVD on the other side - doh!)

Now if only BluRay discs would drop to 10% (15% max) of DVDs then I would immediately go out and get a BluRay player & all the box sets I would love to see in HiDef. Oh but (last I looked) Blu Ray players don`t output HiDef via Component - so that's another reason not to buy. Ho hum.

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