Confused About DVD Formats?
Question:
Nor do I want to be. I don't even have an HD TV because my cable company does not offer enough channels in HD to justify the added cost.
I have a conventional SD DVD player and love it. Will standard DVD formats be discontinued in the near future so that I will be forced to buy a new player to watch new DVD's? If you don't have a HD television and a HD receiver, non of the HD DVR or Blu-Ray technology applies to you, correct? Would I be able to play DVD-HD or Blu-Ray DVD's in my SD DVD player? (Oh, and my player is progressive scan if I ever get an HD television.) It's actually a DVD player/VCR combo, we paid almost $200 for it.
Jeff
....
Don't worry about it. They will not discontinue DVD.
I think standard DVD format will be around for quite a few more years because the entertainment and electronics industries do not expect everyone to run out and buy new equipment. Stores still sell VCR format movies so don't fret about the HD stuff for now.
Nope, it's gonna be a looong time before anything changes with DVD, Because the new HD formats Blu-Ray Disc and HD DVD don't really have a large standing in the market, and you can't play Blu-Ray in a standard DVD player, you would have to buy a Blu-Ray player in order to play BRD's.
DVDs are safe for a while still. Not enough people have HD format tvs.
However, eventually DVD's may fade out. When that happens, you will be happy to know that most BluRay and HDDVD players will still play on SD TVs. Granted the players are more expensive, the disks are more expensive, and you will be missing a lot. You might also see what looks like letterbox on everything you see (channels and disk players will need to be adjusted to fix the aspect ratio).
But you should be alright for a while. By the time DVD's start to fade out, it should be safe to buy an HDTV since the price will drop and Cable will (or should) have more HD channels. (also consider satellite, I am not a fan of it but it has more HD channels)
You're fine as is. And really, your position is a common one. I have Blu Ray and HD-DVD and it's great. But I don't expect either to ever really replace DVD anytime soon. They're essentially niche markets for those with high end equipment.
Eventually prices will fall on the HD formats and the prices for new players will be the same as for DVD players. And eventually people's DVD players will break or otherwise need to be replaced. And people will buy either a HD-DVD player or a Blu Ray player (depending on what's still available). And slowly this will happen in mass and people will starting buying more HD formatted discs. But it'll take a long time and studios will still support DVD until they can't make money off it. But you won't see anything happen anytime soon in this regard.
Without an HDTV, getting Blu Ray or HD-DVD doesn't really benefit you. At best you're getting something for the future for when you do get an HDTV. And even then, you'll need a 1080i or 1080p TV to get the full benefits of HD formats.
More Questions & Answers...