Anyone have Blu Ray yet?

bdgbill · 2007-12-29, 04:28 PM

I have not been particulary excited about the whole Blu Ray thing as yet. I have been waiting for the format war to sort itself and for prices to go down.

When I was in Circuit City the other they were playing one of the "Pirates of the Carribean" movies from a Blu Ray DVD on a 60" Sony XBR Plasma. It completely blew me away. The picture was so real that it made the movie look fake. You could tell from what direction all the stage lighting was coming. You could see the makeup on the actors faces. It really made the scene look like a movie set.

Wal-Mart and Best Buy in the US have run a couple of $99.00 specials on Blu Ray players. I may be in line next time they do this.

whurlston · 2007-12-29, 05:31 PM

I've had the first gen HD-DVD player for a long time. I just recently got LG's dual format drive for my HTPC. I was really waiting for the BD specs to be finalized but for $300 for a drive that plays both, I quit waiting.

$99 for a set-top BD Player? Jump on it.

bogyver · 2007-12-29, 05:47 PM

When was this 99 dollar sale on bluray players, I cant have missed that, are sure it wasn't the sale in the beginning of December on hd-dvd players.
Just want to check because if I missed a good deal I would be kicking my self for a week.
I already took the plunge and bought a second generation hd-dvd player, the pictures are awesome.
I want to go dual format so I can get more movies in hidef

whurlston
how long did it take for you to get your 5 free movies, I sent in my rebate form in the beginning of October and still haven't gotten anything back, maybe I'm just expecting them too early

mvallevand · 2007-12-29, 07:03 PM

whurlston Wrote:I've had the first gen HD-DVD player for a long time. I just recently got LG's dual format drive for my HTPC. I was really waiting for the BD specs to be finalized but for $300 for a drive that plays both, I quit waiting.

Are you happy with the LG so far? It is on sale right now for under $250 CDN with shipping and I've had it in and out of my shopping cart since Christmas.

Martin

whurlston · 2007-12-29, 11:16 PM

bogyver Wrote:whurlston
how long did it take for you to get your 5 free movies, I sent in my rebate form in the beginning of October and still haven't gotten anything back, maybe I'm just expecting them too early

I got my HD DVD standalone before the 5 free movie deal. I don't believe the deal includes the LG computer drive.

mvallevand Wrote:Are you happy with the LG so far? It is on sale right now for under $250 CDN with shipping and I've had it in and out of my shopping cart since Christmas.

Martin

I love the LG. It was the perfect finishing touch to my setup. It actually wasn't much of a choice for me because my HTPC case only had one drive bay that I could use but after having it, i would not trade it for anything. Playing any format in one drive has just been awesome. The only downside to the drive (not actually an issue with the drive itself) is that I'm using the PowerDVD software that was included. I'm soon going to have to work on a HD DVD/BluRay plugin for GB-PVR. Smile

Fatman_do · 2007-12-29, 11:50 PM

I doubt there were any $99 blu-ray players. That is about a $200 discount.

I have had a Playstation 3 about a month after launch, and have watched many Blu-Ray movies on my 50" Sony SXRD rear projection TV (Blockbuster Online has Blu-Ray rentals). Latest ones were Flags of our Fathers, and 300. I should be getting Pirates soon.

I have not compared Blu-Ray vs. normal DVD upscaled by my PS3 to tell the difference. The scaler on the PS3 is very good IMHO, Transformers looked nice on that (HD-DVD only).

Koenie · 2007-12-30, 10:16 AM

Funny to see that most of the HD talk comes from the US. Here in Europe there is much less HD going on - probably because PAL has a little higher res than NTSC and thus people don't feel the need so much Big Grin

-.

I will simply sit out the wait for the war to end I do not want another Betamax or + - CDR issue Cool

. By the time the war is over the player will be for free anyway Smile

.

cameluk · 2007-12-30, 03:13 PM

Europe is a bit further behind not due to PAL/NTSC but due to the cost of discs

Shops in the UK sell HD or Blu Ray for around $50 :eek:

I'm into HD DVD as there is no region coding so I can purchase my films from the US for half the cost including delivery

Waiting for the Samsung dual HD DVD/Blu Ray player to be more readily available in the US and get one shipped over to play US region Blu Ray

mvallevand · 2007-12-30, 08:57 PM

Thanks whurlston, hopefully I should have mine this week. cameluk's comments apply to blank HD media too which is why I am not interested in any burning just yet.

Putting it all in perspective, my first 1x CD burner was about $800 and getting quality burns was a challenge.

Martin

bdgbill · 2008-01-02, 01:24 PM

Wal-Mart and I believe Circuit City have had a couple of "secret" sales of Blu-Ray drives for $99.00.

Here is one of the old blog posts about it.

I did not know the combo drives were so cheap now. This is really what I have been waiting for. I'm sure that eventually the HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray choice will be about as important as the DVD- vs. DVD+ is today.

I wonder if these companies realize the billions they have thrown away in delaying implementation of high def DVD's with their stupid war?