Last year when this was first announced, I applied for my coupons on 1/1/08.
I've been blogging about this for a year and a half at http://williambryson.blogspot.com/ (shameless plug), it's no surprise.
for years to come. Everyone has a huge collection of DVD's, and no one is going to spend a fortune upgrading to Blu Ray, except an elite few.
Besides, with a quality DVD Upconverting player (DVD Upconvert), most people can't tell the difference.
works great from here, but I have half a dozen or more broadcast towers within 60 miles of my home. That combined with a powerful antenna and converter box means I can pull in almost 30 channels.
There are a lot of great online resources to help with the transition. tvfool.com is great resource for understanding where you are in relation to local broadcast towers.
I blog about the transition in my free time (shameless plug - DTV Transition.
There are many reasons why HD won't be embraced for years to come.
For instance, with digital television, it says right on the program "Broadcast in HD". Now, whether you have an HD receiver, or a digital converter box, you're seeing this message. The average Joe who just went from analog television to digital television converted to analog with a converter box thinks he's watching HDTV. After all, the image quality is so much better than analog television, he reckons it must be HD.
And cable/satellite providers are making it worse as well, advertising HDTV for programs that are barely standard definition.
And the average Joe has amassed a huge collection of DVD's over the past decade or so. Try to convince him to upgrade to all Blu-Ray movies to watch them in HD.
This is really sad because there is already so much confusion among the population about the digital television transition.
I'll keep tracking the dtv transition progress on my blog (http://williambryson.blogspot.com/) and help visitors with their questions. The questions I receive reflect the mass confusion that exists about this whole process.
But scum like this should be nailed to the wall IMHO.
Maybe it'll be ready in a few years for mass adoption. Blu-Ray is not now ready for prime time.
I avoided the whole HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray war (http://dvdupconvert.wordpress.com/) and, with Blu-Ray's prices still being sky high with features being limited, I'll keep avoiding Blu-Ray for the near future.
Maybe Sony will pay attention if HD-DVD sales actually increase following its demise.
I still wouldn't upgrade to Blu-Ray just yet. Prices will be dropping big time in the next year AND current Blu-Ray players don't support firmware upgrades (except PS3's), rendering them obsolete once the next standard comes out.
to NOT be an early adopter of new technology. No Blu-Ray or HD DVD here, just a sweet 1080p with a quality DVD upconvert player (http://dvdupconvert.wordpress.com/) so I can enjoy my existing DVD collection.
I can only speak from my experience; my Oppo does a significantly better job of upconverting than my television. I believe it comes down to the quality of the hardware in the television vs. the hardware in the upconverting DVD player.
Yes, it appears Blu-Ray is currently on top on this war.
But until this Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD war thing is over, I'm enjoying my DVD Upconverting player. It may be 09 before I consider going any further than that.
Good info to have, thanks. I agree about Toshiba, I don't buy their crappy products.
All signs are pointing to Blu-Ray now.
Still, I'm holding off on upgrading beyond DVD upconversion until the final nail hits the coffin.
Yes, but what if HD DVD wins and Blu-Ray goes the way of BetaMax?
Call me cynical, but I do believe re-buying everything is exactly what the marketers of these products want us to do. It happened in the audio world: 8 track, vinyl, CD, digital, and we've seen it in the video world: VHS, DVD and, now, HD DVD/Blu-Ray.
Or, perhaps, there is enough room for both Blu-Ray and HD DVD to survive in the marketplace.
For now, I'm waiting out the Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD war and loving my DVD Upconverting Player. The resolution is not as great as Blu-Ray or HD DVD, but it's an acceptable compromise. Besides, I can't afford to upgrade my existing DVD collection to either Blu-Ray or HD DVD discs.:(
A few, here and there. There are a couple of shows in primetime I enjoy (i.e., The Office). Our local PBS affiliate has 5 local hd channels and occasionally plays something intersting.
Don't get me wrong, tv is pretty much all crap. The difference is cable costs money, whereas dtv is free. Free crap is better than crap that costs money.
I think if more people in the US knew what they could get for free, they'd be all over this. I was amazed, after cancelling cable and living on 2-3 analog broadcast television for a few months, that I could get 30+ crystal clear channels over-the-air. Sure, I miss the daily show, but it's not worth $45/month or so that cable charges.
I'll stick with free, over-the-air digital television as long as it is available, and keep blogging about it.
Slashdot Mirror
Last year when this was first announced, I applied for my coupons on 1/1/08. I've been blogging about this for a year and a half at http://williambryson.blogspot.com/ (shameless plug), it's no surprise.
for years to come. Everyone has a huge collection of DVD's, and no one is going to spend a fortune upgrading to Blu Ray, except an elite few. Besides, with a quality DVD Upconverting player (DVD Upconvert), most people can't tell the difference.
There are a lot of great online resources to help with the transition. tvfool.com is great resource for understanding where you are in relation to local broadcast towers.
I blog about the transition in my free time (shameless plug - DTV Transition.
For instance, with digital television, it says right on the program "Broadcast in HD". Now, whether you have an HD receiver, or a digital converter box, you're seeing this message. The average Joe who just went from analog television to digital television converted to analog with a converter box thinks he's watching HDTV. After all, the image quality is so much better than analog television, he reckons it must be HD.
And cable/satellite providers are making it worse as well, advertising HDTV for programs that are barely standard definition.
And the average Joe has amassed a huge collection of DVD's over the past decade or so. Try to convince him to upgrade to all Blu-Ray movies to watch them in HD.
DVD Upconversion won the HD format war http://www.dvd-upconvert.com/.
Oh, and I hate Sony.
I don't care what you say, free, over-the-air local DTV is the way to go. http://williambryson.blogspot.com/
This is really sad because there is already so much confusion among the population about the digital television transition. I'll keep tracking the dtv transition progress on my blog (http://williambryson.blogspot.com/) and help visitors with their questions. The questions I receive reflect the mass confusion that exists about this whole process. But scum like this should be nailed to the wall IMHO.
I avoided the whole HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray war (http://dvdupconvert.wordpress.com/) and, with Blu-Ray's prices still being sky high with features being limited, I'll keep avoiding Blu-Ray for the near future.
Maybe Sony will pay attention if HD-DVD sales actually increase following its demise.
I have a huge DVD collection and I'm sticking with my DVD upconverter for now! http://dvdupconvert.wordpress.com/
is slammed into the coffin, I'm sticking with my DVD upconverter (http://dvdupconvert.wordpress.com/ ).
Afterwards, perhaps Blu-Ray. . .
to NOT be an early adopter of new technology. No Blu-Ray or HD DVD here, just a sweet 1080p with a quality DVD upconvert player (http://dvdupconvert.wordpress.com/) so I can enjoy my existing DVD collection.
I'm not touching either HD DVD or Blu-Ray. One has to be completely dead before I invest in the other.
I'll stick with my DVD Upconvert player for now (http://dvdupconvert.wordpress.com/).
The end is near.
The frustration inspired me to create a squidoo lens where I can complain about my experience with this stupid XBox 360 red ring of death problem.
http://www.squidoo.com/Xbox-360-Red-Ring-Problems/
Should we all simply expect any and all new Microsoft products to break?
For now, I'll just enjoy my DVD collection on my DVD Upconvert player (http://dvdupconvert.wordpress.com/).
http://williambryson.blogspot.org/
I can only speak from my experience; my Oppo does a significantly better job of upconverting than my television. I believe it comes down to the quality of the hardware in the television vs. the hardware in the upconverting DVD player.
But until this Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD war thing is over, I'm enjoying my DVD Upconverting player. It may be 09 before I consider going any further than that.
http://dvdupconvert.wordpress.com/
I'm very happy with my DVD upconverter.
http://dvdupconvert.wordpress.com/
Good info to have, thanks. I agree about Toshiba, I don't buy their crappy products. All signs are pointing to Blu-Ray now. Still, I'm holding off on upgrading beyond DVD upconversion until the final nail hits the coffin.
Call me cynical, but I do believe re-buying everything is exactly what the marketers of these products want us to do. It happened in the audio world: 8 track, vinyl, CD, digital, and we've seen it in the video world: VHS, DVD and, now, HD DVD/Blu-Ray.
Or, perhaps, there is enough room for both Blu-Ray and HD DVD to survive in the marketplace.
For now, DVD Upconverting works for me.
http://dvdupconvert.wordpress.com/
For now, I'm waiting out the Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD war and loving my DVD Upconverting Player. The resolution is not as great as Blu-Ray or HD DVD, but it's an acceptable compromise. Besides, I can't afford to upgrade my existing DVD collection to either Blu-Ray or HD DVD discs. :(
Have you looked at what is available in your area online (such as http://www.titantv.com or www.tvfool.com)?
I blog about this, and other related stuff as I find it fascinating!
williambryson.blogspot.com
Good luck!
Don't get me wrong, tv is pretty much all crap. The difference is cable costs money, whereas dtv is free. Free crap is better than crap that costs money.
In the end, it's all crap.
williambryson.blogspot.com
I'll stick with free, over-the-air digital television as long as it is available, and keep blogging about it.
williambryson.blogspot.com
There were problems with the site yesterday morning (1/1), but it appears to be working fine now.
Talk about government waste all you want, the alloted money is going fast.