TNG DVDs being "discontinued by the manufacturer"

[LOKAI of CHERON]

For all the hype, the truth is that a good percentage of consumers can't really tell the difference between DVD and Blu-Ray quality.

Not doubting your word, but do you have any links to back that up with? I often find this kind of "throwaway" remark comes from those who simply have no interest in new technology (fair enough of course) and have no solid comparative experience to base it on.

IMHO there's no "hype" involved - Blu-ray provides significantly increased picture and sound quality over DVD. Try watching even the best encoded DVD's on anything between a 50-100" screen and I believe you'll find the proof would certainly be in the pudding.

 

[bbailey861]

NOOOOOO! I was afraid this was going to happen. I'm only up to season 3 on dvd. Pisses me off immensly. The dvds are already far over priced and I'm gonna guess the bluerays are even more.

eBay is your friend...I think (not sure if eBay and Canada are on friendly terms, but...)

Yes, eBay is the perfect choice. Right now on eBay.ca, a quick check on TNG DVDs popped up 171 results.

 

[CoveTom]

Not doubting your word, but do you have any links to back that up with? I often find this kind of "throwaway" remark comes from those who simply have no interest in new technology (fair enough of course) and have no solid comparative experience to base it on.

IMHO there's no "hype" involved - Blu-ray provides significantly increased picture and sound quality over DVD. Try watching even the best encoded DVD's on anything between a 50-100" screen and I believe you'll find the proof would certainly be in the pudding.

Do I have a statistical survey to back me up? Well, no. Everything I'm saying is based on anecdotal evidence.

As an example, I have a Blu-Ray player. It was given to us as a gift. I've bought a couple BR discs. However, I play them on a standard def 27" TV. So, naturally, the picture quality between the DVD and the Blu-Ray is not really any different.

Now, I fully understand that's a limitation of the TV, not the playback technology. But look around and I believe you'll find there's still a significant percentage of the population who are, in fact, not watching their movies at home on a 50-100" screen and have no intention of doing so in the foreseeable future. Our next TV will be a high def one, but it will likely stay in the 32" size ballpark.

My point is simply that you have to remember that there are lots of people out there who, either because they can't afford it or aren't interested in it, aren't watching movies in a way where the difference between DVD quality or Blu-Ray quality is significant. That wasn't the case when we went from VHS to DVD. Virtually every TV out there saw a dramatic difference in quality between the two. But because DVD is of good quality to begin with, you have to get into real high quality viewing and listening equipment before you start to truly realize the benefits of Blu-Ray.

I just don't think the general public is there yet.

 

[Mott the barber]

Here we go again. The 50-80 bucks for a Blu-Ray player and the dramatic increase in quality, in my mind, totally outweighs any arguments to keep the DVDs in production. Not sure why so many are still reluctant to upgrade when the whole point of the HD project was to increase the visual quality!

 

[CoveTom]

Here we go again. The 50-80 bucks for a Blu-Ray player and the dramatic increase in quality, in my mind, totally outweighs any arguments to keep the DVDs in production. Not sure why so many are still reluctant to upgrade when the whole point of the HD project was to increase the visual quality!

In your mind. Not in a lot of consumers' minds. Did you see my post upthread:

http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=7140313&postcount=36

The $80 cost of a Blu-Ray player may not seem like a lot to you but that's versus $15 for a DVD player, and $65 is a lot of money to a large number of people. Plus, paying $5 to $10 per disc extra is a lot of money to a lot of people as well.

 

[MacLeod]

BR will eventually take over from DVD just as DVD took over from VHS. Sure it might take longer but it will happen. Stores used to have maybe 1 metre of BR now they have far more as time passes more and more space is given over to BR whilst the space for DVD decreaes.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Here we go again. The 50-80 bucks for a Blu-Ray player and the dramatic increase in quality, in my mind, totally outweighs any arguments to keep the DVDs in production. Not sure why so many are still reluctant to upgrade when the whole point of the HD project was to increase the visual quality!

In your mind. Not in a lot of consumers' minds.

It's not Paramount's fault if a lot of consumers can't see the obvious increase in quality.

 

[MacLeod]

Just imagine what will happen the day, the manufacturers decide to stop building DVD players. Because one day most of them will. It might reach a point where they are making so little money of them that they decide to cease production.

 

[Bamarren]

I've honestly been looking for an excuse to upgrade to a bluray player for ages now, and now that TNG is making an appearance in HD...I really cant see why not!

Recently saw some of the films in HD in a friends house and the differences is unreal, stunning visuals alround.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Just imagine what will happen the day, the manufacturers decide to stop building DVD players. Because one day most of them will. It might reach a point where they are making so little money of them that they decide to cease production.

I actually thought that was already starting to happen. There aren't many regular DVD players on the shelves in stores around here.

 

[CoveTom]

Here we go again. The 50-80 bucks for a Blu-Ray player and the dramatic increase in quality, in my mind, totally outweighs any arguments to keep the DVDs in production. Not sure why so many are still reluctant to upgrade when the whole point of the HD project was to increase the visual quality!

In your mind. Not in a lot of consumers' minds.

It's not Paramount's fault if a lot of consumers can't see the obvious increase in quality.

How arrogant sounding. "If you consumers are too dumb to see the benefits of what we're giving you, that's not our problem."

News flash: It is the job of the seller to provide the products the customer wants. It is not the job of the customer to adapt to what the seller wants to sell.

I don't deny that there is a quality difference between Blu-Ray and DVD, particularly on large TV's like the 50-100" ones being discussed above. However, in a difficult economy where people are struggling to put food on the table, I am saying that upgrading to a Blu-Ray player is not exactly foremost on people's minds, and for the average Joe sitting at home with a 30" standard def TV, it doesn't matter anyway.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

It is not the job of the customer to adapt to what the seller wants to sell.

Actually, yes, it is.

Paramount can sell whatever DVDs or Blu-Rays it wants. The consumers can buy, or not buy, them. That's the end of it, really.

If Paramount thought that standard DVD versions of TNG-R would sell, then by definition, they'd make them. The fact that they have not, means that Paramount considers any money they might make from it, not worth the expense incurred in making them. That is how every corporation (that sells products) operates. It's not arrogance, it's business.

 

[BillJ]

I have a 32" and a 40" inch HDTV, the difference between Blu-ray and DVD is huge.

 

[Mott the barber]

In your mind. Not in a lot of consumers' minds.

It's not Paramount's fault if a lot of consumers can't see the obvious increase in quality.

How arrogant sounding. "If you consumers are too dumb to see the benefits of what we're giving you, that's not our problem."

News flash: It is the job of the seller to provide the products the customer wants. It is not the job of the customer to adapt to what the seller wants to sell.

I don't deny that there is a quality difference between Blu-Ray and DVD, particularly on large TV's like the 50-100" ones being discussed above. However, in a difficult economy where people are struggling to put food on the table, I am saying that upgrading to a Blu-Ray player is not exactly foremost on people's minds, and for the average Joe sitting at home with a 30" standard def TV, it doesn't matter anyway.

In the US at least, the "average Joe" does have a high def TV. I read just the other day on (I think Engadget) that 75% of US homes have a HDTV...which is not that surprising to me (not intending to sound arrogant).

 

[MacLeod]

Wasn't there a time (until fairly) recently that films came out in both pan and scan and widescreen?

When other markets had long abanded the pan and scan releases in favour of Widescreen or OAR.

 

[LOKAI of CHERON]

Well, for anyone who's interested, here's a chart demonstrating the "value" of HD on various screen sizes. On a 32", you'd see the full benefit of 1080 resolution at approximately 4ft.

 

[Dream]

Wasn't there a time (until fairly) recently that films came out in both pan and scan and widescreen?

I can't help but laugh at those poor suckers that bought pan and scan. Those poor bastards might have hundreds of useless coasters right now!

 

[RoJoHen]

In the US at least, the "average Joe" does have a high def TV. I read just the other day on (I think Engadget) that 75% of US homes have a HDTV...which is not that surprising to me (not intending to sound arrogant).

I obviously don't know how things are around the entire country, but this doesn't surprise me at all. Everybody I know that owns a TV owns an HDTV and watches Blu-Rays or streams with Netflix. When I go to stores like Best Buy and Target, 90% of their movie selection is Blu-Ray and the DVDs are pushed to the back and out of site. Blu-Ray has become the standard.

Hell, even RedBox around here stocks mostly Blu-Rays, and those are just rentals!

 

[Mott the barber]

In the US at least, the "average Joe" does have a high def TV. I read just the other day on (I think Engadget) that 75% of US homes have a HDTV...which is not that surprising to me (not intending to sound arrogant).

I obviously don't know how things are around the entire country, but this doesn't surprise me at all. Everybody I know that owns a TV owns an HDTV and watches Blu-Rays or streams with Netflix. When I go to stores like Best Buy and Target, 90% of their movie selection is Blu-Ray and the DVDs are pushed to the back and out of site. Blu-Ray has become the standard.

Hell, even RedBox around here stocks mostly Blu-Rays, and those are just rentals!

Exactly.

 

[MacLeod]

Wasn't there a time (until fairly) recently that films came out in both pan and scan and widescreen?

I can't help but laugh at those poor suckers that bought pan and scan. Those poor bastards might have hundreds of useless coasters right now!

Maybe, unless they have the DVD/BR or TV display it in WS.