Opinion: Are DVD's obsolete compared to Blu Rays now?

shira

Shinigami
Okay, I was only wondering because I was looking to buy Kamikaze Girls and noticed I had options - a 2 disc DVD for £5, or a Blu-Ray version for £12. Now, I don't think £12 is too expensive (especially since I do love the film),but given the chance to save £7, i'd happily take that.

The other issue is, I couldn't play the BR disc on my PC, i'd need to use the PS3. This isn't a major issue, however I was wondering, is there a difference in playback quality between a PS3 and a purpose built Blu Ray player?

I only ask because, I don't want to go stocking up on DVDs, just to find that people only really use Blu Rays now. Heck, I watch/buy so few films, it wouldn't hurt to go for the Blu Ray, but, I'm also in a financial pinch, so I try to save money where possible.

So, in conclusion, should I buy the Blu Ray (£12) or the 2-Disc DVD (£5) bearing in mind the content is identical!
 
DVDs aren't really obsolete if the market is dominated by them still. I'd go with DVD on most occasions because it's cheaper and I don't have a big enough TV to get the best experience from BDs.
 
The PS3 is actually one of the best BD Players around. Easily topped the others when players were new, and still does the job fantastically. I only ever buy BD myself, and mainly try to go for them when they are full-on spectacle - Star Trek looks wonderful - if I don't, I'll wait for it to show on Sky Movies. That being said, if I do care a lot for a film or show, getting the BD is absolutely the answer.

Get the BD. Depending on how much you care about it. You might want to read some transfer reviews, however.
 
Jayme said:
The PS3 is actually one of the best BD Players around. Easily topped the others when players were new, and still does the job fantastically. I only ever buy BD myself, and mainly try to go for them when they are full-on spectacle - Star Trek looks wonderful - if I don't, I'll wait for it to show on Sky Movies. That being said, if I do care a lot for a film or show, getting the BD is absolutely the answer.

Get the BD. Depending on how much you care about it. You might want to read some transfer reviews, however.

Well see, I really love the film, and rarely buy buy films, but those I do have (mainly live DVD's of bands) are all DVD's. For the sake of me being fussy over organization, this will require a new shelf dedicated to Blu Rays xD

Also, where can I find some 'Transfer reviews'? Could you drop a link?
 
Okay, there's a few: here, here, here, here and here.

The general consensus is that although it vastly improves on the DVD, the directors flare and intentions take away a lot of points they would normally grade on. There is still a lot more detail to the picture and because of that and the lack of compression artefacts, its a worthy transfer over the DVD. If you want my opinion, due to the colourful nature of the film, it'll certainly be more striking in HD. It's the type of film I would buy for it.
 
The PS3 does indeed remain quite close to the top of the tree, I believe, thanks to its inherent processing power and ease of firmware updates.

Anyone who saw the DVD playback on firmware 1.0 will know how crucial this has been, haha.
 
No. I have a blu ray player and recorder now, but Blus are the exception.

I only go for films I feel will benefit from the Blu treatment, like Scott Pilgrim, Dark Knight, Transformers. Effects heavy films with lots going on.

I'd also never buy a 2d animation in blu ray as I mentioned on the Manga cancelling FMAB Blu topic.

I find with a good player DVDs can still look brilliant (indeed the HDMI cable with my blu ray made my old Blade DVDs look fantastic)

I've also no interest in Blu rays of comedy series etc, only where the increase in quality will add to the film. In action movies etc the detail makes it more visually arresting. High detail doesn't make a joke any funnier.

Ultimately DVDs are now massively cheaper so with a handful of exceptions I'll still be going DVD.
 
With interesting camera work, it makes comedies better. The Office looks "better" in HD, but it doesn't look stunning. I'm fine with that in standard for the most part, but more quality comedies look far better in BD. I wouldn't consider for a second purchasing something like "Community" on DVD. "Glee" is another one, due to its shakey-cam, being in HD improves a lot (so does its lossless audio).

In fact, I've gotten to the stage where even watching boring comedies (to me) like The Hangover would look (and does look) blurry as hell in SD. "Juno" would be a no go. As would... all films now, really. I'm only ever going to consider buying it if I truly love it and if I truly love it, I want it in HD.
 
Sparrowsabre7 said:
I'd also never buy a 2d animation in blu ray as I mentioned on the Manga cancelling FMAB Blu topic.
This, to my mind, is *nuts*.

I can't decide what's more wrong - thinking that there is more detail in special effects than there is in the *real world*, or thinking that animation drawn in "HD" somehow doesn't benefit from being reproduced at the original resolution.

Please, please believe me when I say you must simply have not been in the right environment, or had the right source materials, to see the benefit that HD can bring to animation.
 
I totally think opening up specialist storage shops is the way forward. The largest catalogue of HDD, flash memory, etc in every store - and online!
 
I'd say they certainly aren't even close to it yet. But they will become so in a few years time. Most UK households are without a bluray player, or it is a PS3. In any case blurays film watching on the PS3 has only occurred on 30% of consoles sold in the UK!
 
They'll just stop producing DVDs when BD gets cheap enough. That's the only problem at the moment, blu-rays are too expensive for smaller companies to be using. The digital switch-over is taking forever, so its not like its rapidly going to happen. Sadly.
 
I don't think they can replace dvds completely.

I was watching kick-ass about two weeks ago and while it does look nice, when it came to Hit-girls c-word scene. The blood looked far too fake, CG blood looks far more believable on regular old dvd, but in Blu-ray it sticks out far worse.

On the reversal of that I picked up the Minority Report on Blu-ray, since the dvd had the misfortune of coming out quite early on when DVD's were still rather new, the transfers is great, crisp picture.

Some films such as the old (1981) clash of the titans, look like nothing has been done with them on Blu-ray.

Providing its a very visual film with no blood I'll most likely opt for the blu-ray, but I like to have all bases covered and go for combi-pack where possible.
 
Omaru_SD said:
but I like to have all bases covered and go for combi-pack where possible.
I always wondered who purchased "combi packs" I wondered if people did it then gave 1 or the other away as a present...
 
Combi-packs are definitely what I keep being tempted to pick up, as it's for those that have a DVD Player, but now they will at some point upgrade. Also for households that have say a Blu-Ray in one room, and DVD player in another.

The other reason BDs are still not taking over DVDs is that not everyone has a HDTV yet. When DVDs came out, you could hook them up to the same set you used with your TV for the most part, whereas for Blu-Ray Players, you need to upgrade your TV as well.
 
ilmaestro said:
I'd be pretty surprised if they hadn't been superceded by downloads/streaming within five years.
They better get laying fibre-optics sharpish then. It's quicker for me to travel to Leeds by train, buy a BD, travel back and watch it than it is for me to have to constantly wait for streaming video to buffer in 1080p.

I think BD would have been replacing DVD by now if we hadn't gone into a recession at the very time they were trying to push the technology. As a single person with no dependants who can spend all my money on myself (FTW) I don't buy DVDs any more unless they're considerably cheaper in price and there's no BD available. Which means I do still buy a few anime titles on DVD; I'd sure as hell rather be buying them on BD though.

I used to give away the combi-pack DVDs before they started putting extras on them to discourage people from doing that.
 
Stuart-says-yes said:
ilmaestro said:
I'd be pretty surprised if they hadn't been superceded by downloads/streaming within five years.

I hate downloads, it means I can't have the actual medium on a shelf and technology always finds some way to be a pain in the ass.
Yes, I don't think physical media will have been done away with, but I think DVDs will have been replaced as the cheapo option for Joe Tesco who is the person who will be staying away from BD for the longest.

ayase said:
ilmaestro said:
I'd be pretty surprised if they hadn't been superceded by downloads/streaming within five years.
They better get laying fibre-optics sharpish then. It's quicker for me to travel to Leeds by train, buy a BD, travel back and watch it than it is for me to have to constantly wait for streaming video to buffer in 1080p.
Oh, I only meant in First World countries. Not Yorkshire. :p
 
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