Pirate's Cove

But, is that really the question?

I have previously looked at purchasing a high def DVD, oh, I guess, back in September or so. That was a more serious look, as, as far back as 2006, there was no way I was going to spend that much on a DVD player. I like movies, but, wasn’t going to happen. But, with the drop in pricing, I was more interested. Particularly within the past few weeks, since I could easily pick up an HD player for $200 or a Blue Ray for $300.

Would it be worth it? Now that the prices are reasonable, consider what is available. Different studios use different brands. If I want to get two of my favorite movies, Serenity (which is a huge HD seller, BTW) and Pirates of the Caribbean (go figure!), I would have to buy both Blue Ray and an HD players. Most movies are not available in both formats, and certainly not newer ones. If I want to get the Battlestar Galactica DVDs, HD. The Terminator: Judgement Day, is Blue Ray. The Harry Potter series (not that I care) is available in both, though, that is the exeption, not the rule.

None of the Star Wars are available in either format, nor is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. You would think that they were made for high def. Oh, well.

Players that do both HD and Blue Ray are expensive. Maybe one day they will either come down or one format will reign supreme, such as the war between BetaMax and VHS.

I almost did get the HD player, though, until I learned that they do not play DVD +R/RW disks. I could not find one that would. So, if you take video using plus disks, you are hosed. And since DVD players can be used as CD players, if you burned in CD +R/RW, you are similarly hosed. What I have read on forums is that most really will not play plus at all.

Most of the Blue Ray players will do plus on CD and DVD, so, there is a benefit.

But, let’s go to the experts, CNET

If you’re on any kind of a budget and still want to enjoy the beauty of high-definition movies on disc, you’ll have to decide between HD DVD and Blu-ray. The question now becomes: which is the horse to bet on? At this point in September 2007, from the perspective of the editors at CNET, the answer is still: neither. As much as we enjoy watching HD movies, we think the industry’s failure to offer a single DVD successor makes it impossible to recommend either of the two rival contenders. As such, CNET is recommending that you refrain from buying any Blu-ray or HD DVD player–or movies–in the immediate future. We’ll revisit this opinion as soon as events warrant.

They then provide quite a few reasons why.

So, the question then becomes: I really want to see my disks in the same visual format as the high def 1080i channels. What do I do?

After several days of checking the forums and such, the best thing to do is get a DVD player that upconverts to 1080i, or even 1080p. Realistically, most TVs do not do 1080p, so do not worry about that, plus, from what I read, viewing tends to be better with 1080i. And, you can get one cheap. I got a Phillips for $40 at Walmart, had it for about 4 days now, and it rocks! Quite frankly, WalMart has the best selection, and multiple under $50.

You can actually see the difference between 480 and 1080, particularly with an HDMI cable (I do not use one with the cable box. If I did, I could not make letterbox programs on 4:3 channels full widescreen. Component cables are fine)

Of course, I had to go and get a programmable remote, since I now have a CD player, 1080i TV, cable box, audio receiver, and DVD recorder (yup, I’ll still use it), all with remotes, of which some functions do not work with the programmable cable remote. Combined 6 into 1.

If you try out an upconvert player, let me know!