how much $$$ will a high-definition movie DVD cost?

[creamypanda]

how much $$$ will a high-definition movie DVD cost?

I wouldn't be surprised if the movie studios price them way higher than the current movie DVDs... but how much are consumers willing to pay?

For me, I think $40 will be the limit...

[cynthia]

Saw some prices in Sweden - somewhere around 35$ for the first versions. Can't remember if it was for blue-ray or HD DVD.

[drfsupercenter]

The question: what's the point of HD DVDs or Blu-Ray other than good storage? I don't have surround sound or a HDTV - just a 27" TV with two speakers - normal DVDs look great on my screen.

Another interesting note: My grandparents have an HDTV, and they were saying that unless their satellite programs come in HD, the picture looks fuzzy but DVDs look crisp and clear. Obviously DVD looks good enough on HD, why bother with HD DVDS?

[blutach]

Perhaps, drf, folks with a huge investment in their hardware, such as anonymez and nwg, might prefer even better resolutions than DVD offers.

Having a 27" TV, you may as well stay with DVD Shrink. But when you get to the "big screen", you will want better quality.

Regards

[drfsupercenter]

Well once I move into my own house in 10 years or whatever, I will consider that. For now, that's all we have.

However, normal DVDs look great on my grandparents' plasma TV, about 50" or so (widescreen).

Unless you got a hugely huge TV, I don't see a difference.

Also, I am sure HD DVDs or Blu Ray are gonna be harder to shrink and burn than DVDs. Plus that just means even more hardware to buy. :)

[LT. Columbo]

i can see why some would want it. but i think those kind of prices are ridiculous. that'll be the day i'd spend 40 dollars on a movie. these big hollywood tycoons and producers/studios and actors are making far too much money. this should all be boycotted IMO. someone needs to put a stop to this. people like tom cruise making 30 million for spending 4 months on a movie, 6500$ on a hotel per night going around saying how we need to give to the starving in africa and abroad---but what do they give? why not share that 30 million with them? oh well greed is one of the seven deadly sins.

[NightTran]

I like that movie Seven, do you LT

[blutach]

And I remember what happened to "Mr Greedy". But "Mr Gluttony" was the best IMO.

PS -- Agrees with the looie but will have a look at HD DVD when it really appears here.

Regards

[drfsupercenter]

I willl rent one from the library, by then they will make HD-DVD burners/readers for the computer. Then I will test on my computer.

[TNT]

You have to remember, that the price will vary depending on what country you're talking about. For example, while DVD's average $3 to $20 in the United States, in Japan, the price ranges from $5 to $50 and above. I remember buying a Japanese Laser Disc for $100 (The going rate at the time), when LD's in America were going for $20-$25. That being said, I don't expect Blu-Ray Discs to go for more than a $30 street price in the US. If it's any higher than that you can expect to see the same thing happen to Blu-Ray & HD-DVD vs. DVD as happened to SACD & DVD-A vs. CD.

[drfsupercenter]

Kinda depends on where it is released first. If it is here first, then when it finally hits Japan, it might lower in price here. No guarantees, don't quote me on that. :)

[LT. Columbo]

I like that movie Seven, do you LT

love it. just got it not too long ago. seen it about 7 times now too:)

[drfsupercenter]

It's showing on TNT soon... is it good?

[LT. Columbo]

it's bloody excellent. but you're not allowed to see it. it's for adults. even the tv version will have frightening scenes. unless you want horrific nighmares for months--i'd skip it.:toast:

[drfsupercenter]

LOL! It is rated TV14 however... maybe they took those parts out? Is it a horror movie?

[LT. Columbo]

not a horror. mystery/suspense/thriller kind of thing. brad pitt and morgan freeman are 2 cops trying to find a demented serial killer. go to IMDB and check out the trailer.

[drfsupercenter]

IC. I think I will :)

[LT. Columbo]

tell me what you think about it or if it looks to scary for you;) but do it in the monster movie thread.
this thread has been hi-jacked enough.

[NightTran]

I am very sorry if I was the one guilty, you are a good detective LT

[cynthia]

Time for a new hijack... :P

If you want to be able to backup an AACS protected disc of yours - you need to get around the encryption. Wonder who will be the first one to do that. :)

http://www.nanocrew.net/2006/01/08/deaacscom/

[anonymez]

Unless you got a hugely huge TV, I don't see a difference.

search the forum for the 'want hdtv today' thread. if you by any chance have a dvd of any of the screenshots i have posted in that thread, resize up to the same res & compare them. though opinions will be respected, if you say there is no difference you are a liar (as opposed to "I see no difference" :) ). unless something is terribly wrong, HD will look better on any pc monitor and plasma/lcd/big display.

it all comes down to how much you notice the quality, how big/good your display is (or how picky you are). personally i have to tolerate dvd's, i've gotten used to hdtv (even if its upconverted). dvd's now look terrible to me.

as for the prices of the HD/BR dvd's, i can say i won't be buying anything of the sort till i feel "secure" in my investment. that means compatibility will all movies released by all studios, ability to back up all movies, decent/reasonably priced players/media, etc



i dare you to find ANY regular dvd on the market whose quality even comes close to mpeg-2 hdtv (or even highly compressed x264)

[drfsupercenter]

But on a 27" TV... it looks fine.

Even my grandparent's 50" HDTV it looks excellent.

[anonymez]

everybody has a different definition of "looks fine" and especially "looks excellent". :)

[drfsupercenter]

:rotfl:

Seriously, DVDs look great on my crappy system. When my camera (finally) comes in next week I will take some pics so you all can pity me :)

[admin]

For 1080i/p HD, I don't think you will be able to notice too much improvement (over DVD) on anything smaller than 42" (the increased pixels may be there, but you probably won't be able to see it unless you sit really close to the TV).

1080i HD using MPEG-2 @ 12 Mbps actually looks worse than a 9Mbps DVD upscaled to 1080i - the upscaled DVD is less sharp, but has much less artifacts. 1080p HD using MPEG-2 @ 20 Mbps (nearly the maximum bitrate that can be used if the movie is to fit onto 1 Blu-ray disc) won't look the best either, so MPEG-4 AVC (can deliver the same quality at half the bitrate) is a must. Unfortunately, we won't be seeing MPEG-4 AVC disc (at least blu-ray ones) for some time yet.

As for the cost, it will definitely be more than DVDs, I wouldn't be surprised if it was double the price. As for blank media prices:

At the 2006 International CES, Panasonic made several announcements in regards to pricing of BD-R/BD-RE media. A single layer BD-R will have the retail price of $17.99 (USD). A dual layer BD-R will have the retail price of $42.99. A single layer BD-RE will have the retail price of $24.99, while the dual layer variety will retail for $59.99.

[tigerman8u]

That's alot of $ for media. I think my 1st experiments will be to try to span a hd movie over sl media

[drfsupercenter]

OMFG $25 for one disc?!?!?!? No way man! DVD+R's for me!

I do remember when DVD burners were $400, back when I bought my computer (which is why I didn't get one), and they only burned at 2x. And DVD-R's were like $3 each, but $25, that is just too much!

[LT. Columbo]

that is insane. dvd-5's all the way for this fella.

@drf

OMFG

i'm shocked!, do you kiss your mother with that mouth? :rotfl:

[drfsupercenter]

Of course not! Just an acronym... here it means "Oh my freaking God" not what you guys interpret it as LOL

[LT. Columbo]

how silly of me. freaking. of course. :fan2:

[drfsupercenter]

Leave it to you adults to interpret things in a nasty way... Tsk tsk! :D

Actually many kids at my school talk that way, I am one of the "cleanest" (languagewise) there :)

[TheFuzz]

I'm new to the forum site here, bu find the info amazingly in-depth and helpful. I for one, will probably buy a Blu-Ray player when they come out. I have always been an early adopter and the difference in PQ will/should be amazing.

That said, I tried upconverted players and was thoroughly unimpressed. However, take a mediocre player such as a Panasonic RP91 and mod it to SDI, then feed that to a video processor and WOW, now that is quality! That is what I use now on my plasma and it looks nothing short of amazing!

[TNT]

Sorry, what's SDI?

[anonymez]

SDI is a digital interface, like DVI/HDMI. its usually used when a person wants their scaler to do the de-interlacing rather than the dvd player. IIRC its also allows longer distance than DVI/HDMI.

also no copy protection on them

bloody expensive to mod one here, like $600

[TNT]

Thanks!

[photo_angel2004]

You have to remember, that the price will vary depending on what country you're talking about. For example, while DVD's average $3 to $20 in the United States

Where are you finding DVD's for $3.00, is that new or used?
most DVD's in stores in my area are $9.99-$22.99 unless they are used DVD's from blockbuster even then they are some times 2 for $12.00 or 3 for $25.00.

Walmart has some older movies on DVD that a crapy and single layer DVD's even those are $5-$10.

[LT. Columbo]

just a few days after christmas and actually on a regular basis i see new dvd's at walmart(but old crappy b movies that no one wants or has heard of) for $1-$3. i like to buy from pawn shops though. whats wrong with buying a used dvd i say. i got one hour photo for $5. they had 5 copies. the first one i looked at was scratched beyond belief. i asked the clerk "did you take this to a bench grinder"? can't believe they were trying to sell it. but further down the line, another copy--pristine condition. plays good, backed up good.

[TNT]

Where are you finding DVD's for $3.00, is that new or used?

I was referring to Walmart as well. I picked up Lethal Weapon 2 for $3.44 over the holidays. But then again, I've also bought DVD's at a Dollar store as well. I recently found a Pilates DVD for my wife that originally retailed for $15-20.

[drfsupercenter]

Hehe I like just asking for them for gifts
"ask and thou shall recieve" :-D

[photo_angel2004]

I was referring to Walmart as well. I picked up Lethal Weapon 2 for $3.44 over the holidays. But then again, I've also bought DVD's at a Dollar store as well. I recently found a Pilates DVD for my wife that originally retailed for $15-20.


WOW I must be living in the wrong area our local Walmart never goes that low and we no longer have any dollar store in the area. I feel so ripped off now. LOL !:toast:

[drfsupercenter]

*cough* eBay and/or Amazon marketplace *cough*

[rubber knob]

anonymez. the Panasonic dvds77 has a DCDi chip by faroudja. I'm told it is one of the best upconverting proccesors. I'm seriousley concidering picking one up and a Monster HDMI400/DVI cable. Do you really think that they are not worht it? I'm sure that some players are better than others. I also don't wanna spend over $500.00 and not be happy. Let me know your thoughts.

[anonymez]

hi rubber knob,

looking at its specs, seems like a good choice, the price is right. a friend of mine has one, so i have seen it in action (480p), didn't notice any macroblocks on his 32" LCD display. possibly a little biased here, but not at the same level as HTPC :P

definitely do NOT get the monster cable. outrageously overpriced, no PQ increase. dvi/hdmi is an uncompressed digital signal, no matter which brand. use the one supplied, or go with something cheaper

[TNT]

Anon, now you've opened up a can of worms. Don't get me started on cables! So, I will only say two things about them. 1) Yes, cables make a difference in audio quality and video quality, sometimes a big one. 2) The quality does not necessarily correlate with price.

[anonymez]

Yes, cables make a difference in audio quality and video quality, sometimes a big one

it really depends on the type of cable, eg a standard coax cable (for analogue/digital tv) definitely does make a difference. high quality (shielded) cabling will make the signal much more reliable, especially against interference. also lower loss, which means better signal strength

no doubt monster cables are of high manufacturing quality, have warranty, etc. but imho any improvement in PQ seen using a "monster" cable over the one supplied/cheap one is the placebo effect. especially when dealing with uncompressed output like dvi/hdmi. unless you're in an area with lots and lots of interference, no difference. as you said: :) The quality does not necessarily correlate with price

[TNT]

Agreed, keep in mind there are other cables out there besides Monster. Although, I like their M1000 video cables. Honestly, with their cheaper line, I don't see much of an improvement either. I'm a big believer in silver cables.

[rubber knob]

It pains me to get an inferior cable. Talk about using the cable it came with is out of the question, I wouldn't even use it to strangle my dog. MOnster cables are expensive but it is only to stop people from trying to give away there brand that has such a high respect. If you want to carry their cables they have to be sold at a certain price point or Monster will cancel your contract. Sorry but I'm with TNT on cables. It's a very soft spot.

Thanks anonymez for the reply

[TNT]

For those on a budget, you can get respectable quality from Gold cables from Radio Shack. Doesn't have the glamor of higher priced cables, but does a decent job. ;)

[admin]

The latest on Blu-ray movie prices: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060208-6136.html