Is Blu-Ray Worth It?
HD-DVD’s and Blu-Ray – both are more likely to be on heard on your evening news than to actually be in your living room – have finally ended their competition war, with Blu-Ray taking the upper hand. In case you are unfamiliar, both HD-DVD’s and Blu-Ray DVD’s are the next step up from the traditional DVDs that many of us are accustomed. Technologically speaking, traditional DVDs are viewed in 420p vs. 1080p that Blu-Ray produces. Now that HD-DVD is out, it is logical to think they will soon replace our somewhat aged DVD players. However, this transition will take longer than you think, and for good reasons….
Price
Blu-Ray players have a low end of around $300 and a high end costing about $1k (for the true un-frugal ballerz), but the average Blu-Ray player will cost about $400 – hardly justifiable considering the dropping price of LCD and Plasma TV’s. On top of the $400 price tag to own the player, Blu-Ray discs are expensive too, averaging around $30.
UpConversion DVD Players
Another reason Blu-Ray will take awhile to become our watching norm is upconversion DVD players. These relatively inexpensive players cost around $70-100 upconvert a traditional DVD signal of 420p to 1080i/1080p. Although this upconvert is not considered “true HD,” a viewer gets basically the same picture as with Blu-Ray, with differences hard to actually see with the human eye.
Rentals
DVD rentals are everywhere, you have Blockbuster, Netflix, Redbox, and various privately own chains, the ease and low cost of renting DVDs is almost single handily enough to stop people from switching to Blu-Ray. Although you can rent Blu-Ray discs at a few places, the cost is higher and the selection is smaller. Not to mention the huge collection of DVDs some of you may have acquired over the years and would hate to consider useless by making the expensive switch Blu-Ray.
Overall
DVD technology is deeply entrenched in our entertainment environment. It will be difficult to uproot such a robust format that still has a lot of life left – especially considering the emergence and popularity of upconversion players. Blu-Ray has potential, but only until we have exceeded the capacity of regular DVDs. $
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It’s like any new technology these days though, it’s PRICEY to start; look at computers how they’ve morphed from being 20k beasts to buy in the early 80s to buying a fairly decent laptop now for under $500. If it is new, it’ll cost.
Out of the technology realm, look at organic food! It’s new, and sure enough, it costs…