Time to sell my dvd collection?

I'd hang on to your collection.
Unless you're anal (don't really know what that means) and want everything "just so" (no bastard formats lying around).

The fact that you purchased these DVDs means you have some interest in their content. Even if you only watch them on a rainy afternoon, they will be there for you.
Also, I find OWNING something gives me an excuse for NOT watching it if I stumble onto it channel surfing. I can't tell you how many times I've been sucked into watching "The Alamo". Since I own it, cut WAY back!

Finally, new DVD players can upsample to 1080i.
This adds lots of value to existing libraries.
I watched "Road to Perdition" and was AMAZED by the detail and texture in the clothing worn by Tom Hanks & Paul Neuman in the church basement scene! Great stuff!

I have plenty of DVDs but can't really think of more than a score that would benefit from HD treatment.
The film source just isn't that good.
Shooting a film in HD is really an infant art form.
I.E., the really great HD films havn't even been created yet.

Keep them disks!

Tvad, thanks for the heads-up, and that valuable link. Maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought that when the upcoming Blu-ray format was first announced, it was NOT going to be back-compatible with current DVD's. Is this correct, or is the count 0-2 ?

I would wait a few years for this new craze to catch on.

If you don't use the DVDs anymore, it might be best to get rid of them while you can. The movie studios and music companies make a lot of money by selling the same thing over and over again. You may have bought an LP, then a casette, then a CD (maybe even an eight track tape, a MD and an SACD or DVD-A), all of the same thing. Perhaps you have a VHS of a movie, which was then replaced with a DVD. So too, you can be sure that DVDs will be re-released in the "new and improved" format to boost sales of the back catalogue. Get rid of the DVDs while you can.

By the way, a DVD holds about 4.7 GB of data. A HD-DVD holds about 15 GB. A Blu-Ray disc holds about 25 GB. The new formats are therefore an improvement over DVD, but much more so for Blu-Ray. People who see both new formats side by side note that the Blu-Ray is far superior in picture quality, as it should be, since it holds more data. I hope that Blu-Ray wins the upcoming format war for this reason. HD-DVDs advantage is being first to market. However, it is so late that this advantage is being squandered. Also, Blu-Ray has a trojan horse advantage. The new Playstation 3, which is due for release before the Christmas shopping season, is supposed to be Blu-Ray capable. Given the dominance of this game console, that will be a huge advantage for the Blu-Ray camp as it will be in people's homes, unllike HD-DVD, which will necessitate buying a different disc player.

New HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players will be backwards compatible with current DVDs. However, it is my understanding that current disc players cannot be realistically modified to play the new format. The two formats are also incompatible with each other, as we all know. However, Samsung, who are in the Blu-Ray camp, have announced that they plan to make a player that will play both new format of discs. This is very far sighted in my view, because consummers are likely to sit out the format war in fear of choosing the "losing" format player, as occurred with Beta and VHS. If a manufacturer makes a player that can play both, it will get a huge jump in the market as consumers will choose a player that allows them to hedge their bets on the winning format.

if you think the studios have alreadt invested in hd mastering for their films...think again. baby steps on some....up conversions on those which are probably not going to look any better in hd.....some won't make it to the new discs at all.....if it lost money on standard dvd, that's all she wrote.