Blu Ray or Oppo?

This has been a really interesting thread to follow...it's been really cool to see everyone's opinion. I hope that continues.

I am not a Sony fan by any means and was hoping that HD-DVD would win the format war. That didn’t happen, but something very interesting did: prices for Blu-Ray movies have not come down. What’s the deal with that?!

IMO Blu-Ray believes they have locked up the market so there is no pressure on them. Like others here, I believe Blu-Ray will be the shortest lived format we’ve seen. Right now the players are expensive, and receivers and surround sound processors that decode the new sound formats are really expensive. Most “average Joe’s” won’t go with the six channel output (or even know you can do that).

With all this going on, the picture quality is the main thing driving the masses to buy blu-Ray. At $25/movie at my local Costco, there’s no way I’m going for it. So it’s a waiting game…will the receivers and processors come down in price? Sure they will. Will the software/movies come down in price? Sure they will. But what is going on in the meantime? Many of us are loosing interest, and somebody is working on the next format + delivery method.

Aktchi—my advice (if it isn’t obvious by now) would be to get an Oppo…if you have $400 burning a hole in your pocket and you can’t find another toy, get a PS3. Either way don’t look back—enjoy your purchase..

-Sam

"I was at Blockbuster the other day, and they currently have a wall of Blu-ray disks"

The three Blockbusters in my area do not have a full wall of BR discs COMBINED...I am in the same zone as Calldr, $4 for 20 at BB and Oppo to play em. First, I would never pay retail for BR discs. Secondly, there really aren't that many titles out there. My initial thinking was to hold out till the format war was over and BR units and discs dropped in price. Now we are several months down the road from the demise of HD DVD and nothing has really changed. 2.0???? Who cares, they aren't selling enough of the current generation players. Its Sonys dog and pony show. Unless someone like Oppo gets in the game with an affordable player for the mass public, its only matter of time before this format goes the way of SACD, etc.......

I equate the Blu ray format to Plasma TV. Less than 10 years ago, a 42 inch would run you 10 grand. I'm sure there are many that thought this will never catch on. Low and behold ..what has happened?

Why on earth would I buy an older DVD 480i movie, when the same movie will most likely be broadcasting over the air for free at a higher resolution? Prime time TV is already broadcasting at a higher resolution than a standard DVD.

Why would you buy the movie to begin with? Rent it.. dub a copy for your collection and send it back. Hard drives are plentiful and cheap. It is no different than using a old dual head VCR to make copies. Except you can have hundreds if not thousands of movies on your hard drives. The quality is no different than dropping a disc in a player. You can stream the movie to any TV on your home network. Or watch several movies simultaneously in different parts of your home.

DVR receivers or cable boxes are setup to do this already to some degree. Except you pay some one else to store the movie for you.

I'll put money on it, some of you that are negative towards the Blu ray format still have walls of CDs that will become obsolete as well.

I'm not buying the argument that the Blu rays are over priced to own. Who buys movies anymore? Rent a copy ..rip it to HD and you can watch it any time you want too. The software to do this is already on the net for purchase.I think you guys fail to see the younger generation does things a little different than yesteryears....think Ipod!

You're thinking old school guys. Time to step in to the 21st century now. Great discussion by the way. ;-)

Aktchi,
I was ready to buy ... the prices had fallen considerably and I wanted one that was as up to spec as possible. Earlier models will not play the latest DVDs without an update . I wanted to spend as little as possible before I bought a statement piece for my system . At 399 its clearly worth the money.

I agree with Gmood1. I was about to buy a BluRay player when I got an AppleTV as they upgraded the firmware. Although it's not 1080p, the new HD movies look and sound great, and I fully expect the next update, or a future one to get resolution to 1080p. I already own a ton of classic movies on DVD, so why buy Casablanca, Citizen Kane, or Pulp Fiction again on BluRay? From now on I will just rent movies from iTunes or the like when I want to watch them. I think BluRay was doomed from the day iPod/iTunes went commericial