Is an expensive Blu-Ray player worth it right now?

[Gerrardasnails]

hunnyy:
I entirely agree, Big Chris, with your point about getting into Blu-ray now; it is the future (for a while at least!).

My contention is that it is better (for most folk) at this point in time to opt for one of the better "budget" players, circa £270 - £400, rather than players in the £600+ bracket, as I'm sure players will get better and cheaper over the next couple of years. Replacing a machine in a couple of years will not hurt so much if you've been "sensible" about the budget in the first instance.

I think if you are really into the whole AV game, upgrading is inevitable. However, even the first Pioneer that cost £1k a year or so ago and has been superceded by the LX71A which is £400 cheaper(!), still offers a brilliant picture. I've paid £300 for a machine that decodes all the audio formats, is the latest profile, has analogue audio and delivers an awesome picture. In five years time, it will be old but it will still play BD and they will look great. We've lived with dvd players for years now before a change in format, I think BD will have similar or longer.

 

[Anonymous]

Blu ray will only come down in price if they begin to sell in the same quantities as dvds. If you go to most retailers such as hmv or zavvi you will still see people flocking towards the dvds and just a handful of people looking through blurays. The quality of the picture and sound maybe better, but people tend to look at their pockets before they look at picture and sound quality.

Bluray being successful is dependant on a variety of factors.

1) First of all blu ray being sucessful depends on whether a large scale of people purchase HiDef Tv's. TVs are coming down in price but a majority of people do not own a LCD or plasma screen and still use CRT. Theres no point watching Bluray on a CRT tv, so people will purchase a dvd instead.

2) DVD is very versatile, if i own a dvd i can borrow it to friends and family, i cant do that with a bluray disc because not many people will have the tech to play it.

3) Its relatively cheap to buy blank dvds and burn music files, video files and data files to it. Its difficult to purchase a bluray burner just yet if at all.

4) Dvd players can be purchased for next to nothing. Will every person who owns a dvd player replace it with bluray? I do not believe they will because of price and current financial climate.

5) DVD movies can be found for as little as a couple of pounds. Will someone who owns a large collection of dvds want to replace hundreds of films with bluray? I mean my collection of dvds is worth around a grand, i cant see myself replacing that with bluray, the cost would be enormous.

These are just 5 reasons why it will be hard for bluray to become the next big thing, the list could go on and on and on.

What it all boils down to is for it to succeed it will need to explode like dvd did and i really cant see that happening until you can pick up a bluray movie for a fiver, a bluray player for around £50-£100. The manufacture of cheap portable bluray players as u get with dvd players. For it to become cheap more people will need to buy it, and more people will only buy it if it is cheap.

With technology moving so fast, the winner is likely to be digital downloads as broadband becomes faster and cheaper, a large majority of people already own PC's, and most monitors can already handle atleast 720p. My old CRT monitor easily deals with 720p resolution. With that in mind i find it difficult to see how bluray can go up against dvd now, and digital downloads in the future.

I maybe be wrong, and if i am then im happy to hold out till bluray really kicks off.

 

[professorhat]

Ginder:Will someone who owns a large collection of dvds want to replace hundreds of films with bluray? I mean my collection of dvds is worth around a grand, i cant see myself replacing that with bluray, the cost would be enormous.
Hi Ginder, I agree with quite a few of your points, but the point above is made all the time and still doesn't make sense to me. Why do people feel the need to replace their DVD collection? I also have a huge DVD library and have no intention of replacing it with Blu-Ray - that would be madness. Unlike VHS, DVDs work perfectly well on my Blu-Ray player so there is no need to replace them. My Blu-Ray collection now exists as an extension of my DVD collection.
You're correct though, the reduction in disc price on the high street is key. Most of us here are savvy enough to know to shop around on various sources on the internet which ensures most of my Blu-Ray purchases have been around the £10-£11 mark which I think is a reasonable price for, what is in the main part, a new film. For some reason, the average high street shop still seems to think they have to charge in the high £20 figure and sometimes in excess of £30 for the same disc and then wonder why they hardly sell...

 

[Oldenbroke]

With almost every purchase of AV kit, I have ummmed and ahhhed for months and months,

but in the end I have had to bite the bullet and buy what I wanted to end the torture of not having!.

There will always be a bigger or better machine, or newer machines with more knobs and functions.

At the end of the day a decision to buy has to be yours based on how badly you want it

and whether you can afford it. I would advocate buying the best you can afford at the time

and get on with enjoying it. As sure as death and taxes it will be cheaper in time, and bettered,

but why should that stop us enjoying it now? If you want it and can afford it, buy it!

I am in the same boat as many, desperately wanting to join the BD club, but can't decide which player,

don't like the price of discs etc etc, but like the Prof says it will add to my DVD collection, not

replace it, and I (and my family) will definitely enjoy it. Well, that convinced me....where's my

credit card!?