Originally posted by mr.movies:

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And since you thrive in the past you will always have this dilemma and by the way your argument doesn?t change either and also gets tiresome as well.

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Quote:

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Yes, the XD-E500 costs more than the average cheap brand DVD players, but it's not as expensive as other top of the line players, and those who do have large DVD collections, investing on the XD-E500 is worth it, specially if they wish to avoid investing more money on a BD player, which will do at most a decent job upscaling DVDs, and avoid repurchasing movies on BD they already own on DVD.

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Originally posted by ematrix:

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I just love when you guys attack others that differ your oppinion, specially when it comes to disregarding anything that's not Blu-ray, or calling people hypocrital, when in fact I have been fair, objective and consistent on my position.

DVD was a huge revolutionary step from VHS, because after 20 years of broken VCRs and chewed, filled with fungus VHS tapes, you could get movies on a disc the size of a CD, which are easier to handle and store, and less expensive at that time, than larger LD movies.

Yes, not only did I have several VCRs, but also a large VHS movie collection. Now I have an even larger DVD movie collection. The reason why I upgraded to DVD wasn't because it looked and sounded better than VHS, but because it offered multiple languages and subtitles, or additional content, all of which you couldn't get from VHS, and mainly because I wanted my movie collection to endure, and DVD is a more reliable media than VHS ever was... that's the keyword... BETTER MEDIA.

Multiple languages and subtitles, additional content, etc.?... DVD has been offering that since a decade ago. Web connectivity, pop-up trivia tracks, etc.? DVD has done that before and users showed little to none interest for that... so what has to offer Blu-ray so you can say it's revolutionary?

I'm sorry, but Blu-ray is not revolutionary at all. It still uses optical discs as media, granted with higher storage room, but isn't more reliable or easier to handle and store than DVD, as even with Durabis they aren't impervious to scratches, heat exposure, etc. and there are less expensive options for digital storage room, that are more reliable than optical discs.

Despite this, the reason why most people worldwide, are still content and preffer DVD, it's because is a well established FORMAT and MEDIA, with players, recorders and blank media, and in some cases, even movies at affordable prices available everywhere. In a manner, DVD has became the VHS of the 21st century. If people like it, there's no reason why should they stop using them.

BD is just an slight upgrade from DVD, but not a substitute for DVD, since besides a overall minor improvement in sound and picture, anything that BD has to offer, has been offered on DVD before. Nobody is denying that BD offers a higher picture resolution and a slighter higher audio quality than DVD, but overall DVD still offers a very high quality in picture and sound.

The only reason why anybody needs to purchase a upconverting DVD player, is to watch their DVD movies on flat panel screens, and this has nothing to do with their native resolution, rather that they have a hard time matching picture quality compared with traditional CRTs. Yes, I have even seen BD movies on screens that offer such awful picture, that looks you're playing a worn out VHS tape or a poorly encoded VCD disc.

But you keep insisting that if you own a flat panel screen, or planning to get one, should use it to watch BD movies only. Once you buy your screen, it's yours to use it as pleases you. If you preffer to use for BD movies, or for DVD movies, that's everybody choice and you should respect that.

Yet precisely because I remember the ordeal that was, and the huge spending involved to upgrade my entire VHS movies collection for DVD counterparts, that I refuse to do so again, and I'm sure that I am not the only one that feels the same. You can pull the "Amazon" card all the times you like, it doesn't change the fact that around the world, BD players and movies are priced much higher than within USA.

Even so it's not that BD players and movies are expensive, but that the overall minor improvement isn't enough for me to face such ordeal, and investment to upgrade my entire movie collection again, not even part of it, I have better and more important things in which to spend my money, than to repurchase movies I already own... again I'm not the only one that feels the same, and you should respect that.

But you quickly disregard the XD-E500 as "too expensive"... too expensive compared to what? Too expensive compared to other low brand upscaling DVD players, or most BD players, that at most will do a decent, but not a superb job? Too expensive compared to other top of the line upscaling DVD players, that do a superb job but actually are priced higher?

This is a matter of choice, and overall $150 isn't much of an investement for Toshiba's XD-E500, which will allow those who own a flat panel screen, to enjoy a sharper, richer, more detailed picture from their entire DVD movie collection, while saving thousands of dollars that you would had spend on upgrading those movies to Blu-ray.

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