Min and I bought our first DVD player in the Fall of 1999 when we found out that one of our favorite movies was not going to be for sale on VHS. Yup, "10 Things I Hate About You" is the film in question.
We logged on to 800.com and bought an RCA DVD Player and a few movies.
Anyways, we've been die hard DVD fans for nearly 9 years and have watched many movie. We still have that first player and it's still going strong (we decommissioned it in February --- more on that later). The exact number of movies we currently own is not known (we try to build databases of this stuff... but we can never get far enough into it to really know, well, that and it scares us to find out)... but the last count was somewhere over 500 (and that was after selling off about 70-80 a few years ago to thin it out).
Anyways, there have been battles brewing over the last 18 months over the next format for movies: Hi-Definition DVD or Blu-Ray technology.
Both of these formats allow for a high storage capacity on disc, and faster transfer rates, allowing for larger pictures and better sound delivered through the players. To make a long story even longer, the industry was split between the two formats:
In HD-DVD's corner we had BCI, Dreamworks, Paramount Pictures, Studio Canal, and Universal Pictures, and Warner... not to mention Microsoft (XBox 360).
On the flip-side, Blu-Ray was supported by Sony (Playstation 3), Lions Gate, MGM, Miramax, Twentieth Century Fox, Walt Disney Studios, New Line, and Warner (playing both sides of the fence).... so when Toshiba backed out of the HD-DVD hardware game in February 2008, and started to support Blu-Ray, the HD-DVD format was confirmed dead.
That's when I made my decision... I was going to buy an HD-DVD player.
Pretty stupid, I know, but hear me out.
We bought an HDTV last year and bought a Panasonic DVD player that would upscale a DVD's image quality to simulate the HD picture. It's pretty good, but not perfect. The cost of the new HD-quality players was too high, so I figured I'd stay out until a winner was named.
Fast forward to February 2008, and the announcement that HD-DVD was dead, and a note that I read on a movie forum that I visit that read that Costco was clearing out their HD-DVD players for $79.99 and in the box came two HD-DVD movies (The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy) and an HDMI cable (the cable used to connect the player to an HDTV)... not to mention a coupon for 5 more HD-DVD movies by mail.
Plus, the kicker was, the HD-DVD player was also a great upscaler for DVDs. So we moved the Panasonic player upstairs, decommisioned the old RCA player, and installed the Toshiba HD-DVD player in the bedroom with the HDTV.
It took a few months, but the freebies came in: The Rundown, U2: Rattle and Hum, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, The Italian Job, and Troy (The Directors Cut). Also, since the format is not longer being supported, the price on the movies themselves dropped to DVD price levels and we picked up a few more titles, including the Discover Channel's Planet Earth series. WOW! It's pretty.
Anyways, I was content with that until, I heard through the grapevine that Wal*Mart was up to something.
A "Father's Day Sale" with an evil twist: Buy any Blu-Ray Player get a $100 Gift Card for FREE!
That did it.
... and
Now I have all three formats: DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray.
I made the comment to Mindy that I wanted to start getting the new releases on an HD format starting with the releases in 2008, and wanted to get away from DVD. So we decided that that was a good thing, and now we can.
With Blu-Ray being the it thing these days, there are sales everywhere, and we have been able to get several movies for a better than average price, so I am stoked.
Anyways, to welcome to the new player to our home, we are going to watch National Treasure and National Treasure: Book of Secrets this weekend.
The kids are excited...
... but not as excited as I am.
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