Blu Ray or Oppo?

As for the 'not a sure thing', who do think will put $10 billion into an alterative at this point? Only Microsoft has that kind of money and they a betting on an on line approach.

You're assuming somebody will put $10B into it and I'm saying they won't. Sony is playing with themselves again and the buying public's mind is wandering.

There was never a burning interest (except with us cinephiles) for a really high-rez video disc format. Much of the buying public thinks DVD *is* HD, and a lot of the so-called HD programming on cable is really upconverted 480p.

1080p Blu-ray fed into a 1080p display IS stunning, and noticeably better than typical resolution in a movie theater, let alone standard def DVD, upconverted or not. The public needs to be shown that there's a difference and that the difference matters. That window of opportunity is disappearing fast, and people will settle for cable HD and upconverted std-def DVDs.

I was at Blockbuster the other day, and they currently have a wall of Blu-ray disks. Someone must be renting them or they wouldn't dedicate that much space for this format. Blockbuster online also has about 100 titles in the HD DVD format. My feeling is that the general public is holding off on the Blu-ray until the street price drops below the $200 price ceiling. The software also needs to come down in price. In the last 6 months, almost everyone I know has purchased flat panel tv's as they feel the price has become affordable. They will also purchase Blu-ray when it hits the "magic price".

I see new Blu ray titles released every week on Net flix. They have nearly 500 Blu rays to choose from. AS mentioned above..some one is renting them..a lot of some ones. Sony released its new BD Rom drive earlier this year. You can get a Blu ray drive for less than $150.

Down loads may become the future, but for Blu ray quality...we have a ways to go. The info held on these disc is massive. Trying to down load this to watch..you'll need some serious download speeds to watch in real time.

It will be years before this is possible nationwide. Cable and telephone systems are still trying to get the speeds acceptable for basic DVD downloads.

I've watched several movies in real time online. They are watchable..close to cable TV quality. But they are no where near Blu ray...sorry.

Not too mention the DRM mess you run into trying to download the movie to even watch it. NetFlix instant movie viewer allows me to watch movies only on one of my PCs and the other it won't. There's definitely some kinks to be worked out with this instant download stuff.
I'd rather drop a disc in the drive and be done with it.

I really think Blu-ray has overestimated the value of 2.0 to the average movie watcher. I wish they would ditch 2.0 and just concentrate on getting cheap, basic function players to market. I rent blu-ray discs via Netflix and it seems most new movies are available in the blu format. I tell'ya, after you get used to blu-ray, its hard to go back to plain ol' dvd.

Just picked up a Sony 350 Blu and am quite stunned . My Runco outputs only 1080i but it is vastly superior in picture quality to my Meridian G98 dvd player... Micro detail is eye candy and it makes watching your old favorites a new experience . Im an old lazer disc guy and take it from me , at this price ...its time to jump in .