Attention early adopters!

[highdefw]

Originally Posted by Gremal

Yes, I mean YOU. All of us who own blu-ray discs are early adopters.

If you've never been an early adopter before, you might not know that:

* Product doesn't always materialize when you'd like it to.

* Format wars aren't won overnight.

* Release dates are subject to change.

* Retail store clerks often seem clueless about the product or title you're interested in.

* Distributors are sometimes late with new releases.

* Product may even be faulty/have quality control issues.

That's all NORMAL. If you can't deal with it, you have no business being an early adopter of any format or new technology. For those of you who are running around like chickens with your heads cut off, freaking out over every delayed title or bump in the road, stop and think for a minute. Ask yourself if you're really cut out to be an early adopter. If so, please use a more rational, long-term perspective of the first few years of Blu-ray rollout. If you can't see that perspective, maybe you're not cut out to be an early adopter. Most people are not.

Early adopters have to deal with higher prices, market uncertainty, technological glitches and cancelled or delayed releases. Again, that's NORMAL. Those who can't deal with such problems should focus on a mature technology that's been around for a decade or more like DVD or CD. The release dates rarely change, prices are low and there is no format war for you to stress over.

well said

[Joe Cain]

I've never been an early adopter before. Nice to see it all all laid out, Gremal. Kudos.

[TorpedoShockwave]

Why are companies holding back because of us in the US? Blu-Ray is selling great in other regions, such as Japan, Europe, and Australia. Blu-Ray is leading by a long shot at those regions. While here in the US, it is leading by 2 to 1, or sometime 3 to 1, it is still winning. Can they not see this, or they want us in US to decide.

[shadowmoon]

Just think that we are beta testers lol. We test things out, report back with issues, company fixes them, find a cheaper way to make the product, then hopefully the rest of the population will buy it Im used to it

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by TorpedoShockwave

Why are companies holding back because of us in the US? Blu-Ray is selling great in other regions, such as Japan, Europe, and Australia. Blu-Ray is leading by a long shot at those regions. While here in the US, it is leading by 2 to 1, or sometime 3 to 1, it is still winning. Can they not see this, or they want us in US to decide.

Toshiba makes royalties off every DVD sold. They see the writing on the wall, all they're doing is playing a waiting game with the BDA. When the BDA offers them a % of royalties they'll take it. Now me personally, looking at sales worldwide with BD leading everywhere, and the way Q4 is shaping up I don't think the BDA has to offer them a thing.

[ground chuck]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

I agree that I see a lot of members "freaking out" over every little thing. The HD-DVD camp seems to be even more full of this, but I think that's because they can see that their format preference is lacking and has no long term future.
I only wish the Blu-ray supporters would see this too and stop jumping to conclusions and the like over such things. It is distracting to see false reports, assumptions up the wazoo, claims of victory by CEOs, and the like.
The format war is likely to be a longer one than previous battles because so much is riding on the HD format, since it is to be the standard in home theaters in the future and could someday outsell DVDs (potentially).
Until the victor is more apparent to the average consumer; who is still bombarded with misleading news, FUD, and misinformation; we should not jump to conclusions too quickly.
Yes errors and delays are annoying, but it is a learning process for a new industry and with each delay and error, the distributors learn something new. Eventually these will stop, but until then, we will have to be wary of our purchases and not expect everything to be on-time and infallible.

amen

[fupduk2]

It's just another "upgrade" with all the bells, whistles and glitches included.

[Terjyn]

Originally Posted by Manco

For the intellectuals here, there is actually a science to all this called Diffusion of Innovation.

"A first theory of innovation diffusion was formalized by Everett Rogers in a 1962 book called Diffusion of Innovations. Rogers stated that adopters of any new innovation or idea could be categorized as innovators (2.5%), early adopters (13.5%), early majority (34%), late majority (34%) and laggards (16%), based on a bell curve"

Diffusion of Innovations

I'd say that according to this we are Innovators, not early adopters.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by Bullseye

Shouldn't we be called pioneers.

Only if Pioneer backs blu-ray.

[tiger roach]

Originally Posted by Bullseye

Shouldn't we be called pioneers.

Visionaries!

I agree with the OP. I can only watch so many movies in a week anyway, so I'm enjoying what we have.

[Lee Christie]

I have to early-adopt, I was spoiled I remember making my parents spend £400 (thats about US$800) on a DVD player which by today's standards is a piece of junk, slow to respond to button presses and even poorly constructed.

This time around I'm a little older so I had to pay for my own darn Blu-ray player

I really hope Blu-ray pulls through, I remember converting all my music to Mini-Discs years ago, having to input the track titles by scrolling through a.. b.. c.. d.. e.. with the remote while the song copies from CD to MD at 1x speed. Now all my music is all on iTunes, and I don't think I've heard anyone speek of MDs in year.

If in a few years, my Blu-ray Discs are sitting in the bottom of a closet next to my VHS tapes, crying, wondering why they've been put in there next to those losers... I'll be really mad. (of course the VHS tapes will be thinking "well at least we WON our format war"). With Paramount going to the red side, I'm starting to suspect I'll need to tell those VHS tapes to make room.

[Aaron]

Originally Posted by Lee Christie

I have to early-adopt, I was spoiled I remember making my parents spend £400 (thats about US$800) on a DVD player which by today's standards is a piece of junk, slow to respond to button presses and even poorly constructed.

This time around I'm a little older so I had to pay for my own darn Blu-ray player

I really hope Blu-ray pulls through, I remember converting all my music to Mini-Discs years ago, having to input the track titles by scrolling through a.. b.. c.. d.. e.. with the remote while the song copies from CD to MD at 1x speed. Now all my music is all on iTunes, and I don't think I've heard anyone speek of MDs in year.

Hehe, I have an MD player of my Dads. But no MDs.

[Lee Christie]

Originally Posted by Aaron

Hehe, I have an MD player of my Dads. But no MDs.

I sold my blank MDs to my friend who kept using them for a while after I'd moved on, but I dunno what happened to my player, It's spirit is probably hanging aorund somewhere.

[radagast]

Originally Posted by tron3

Only if Pioneer backs blu-ray.

Newsflash: Pioneer is solidly in the BDA camp.

[mix1031]

I haven't purchased one of the new advanced DVD players yet, but I will in the next 6 months, after moving into a new house and buying a new screen and receiver. After reading hundreds of posts from those of you who know what you are talking about, I just can't wait!

From someone who is a newbee, why shouldn't I buy a new combo player that reads both formats rather than just HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. If HD-DVD dies as a format, I'm really not "out" anything since the Blu-Ray format is still functional on the device, right?

I'd appreciate any feedback from anyone who has considered or already bought the combo/versatile technology. My understanding is that more of this will be available in the near future.

[Mr. Blonde]

As an early adopter i don't feel like i am even going to regret things IF LD-DVD (lol) manages to win. The differences between normal dvd's and high def (blu ray) movies are big enough to have made this an interesting/worthwhile venture to have gotten into.

[gvortex7]

Originally Posted by Bullseye

Shouldn't we be called pioneers.

No, we're trail blazers. Pioneers are the companies that invent "innovative" technologies.

[reiella]

Originally Posted by Mr. Blonde

As an early adopter i don't feel like i am even going to regret things IF LD-DVD (lol) manages to win. The differences between normal dvd's and high def (blu ray) movies are big enough to have made this an interesting/worthwhile venture to have gotten into.

Exactly, if you can't accept that all you'll ever have for the platform are the titles that are available now, you shouldn't get in it. At least that's my perspective. Alot less likly to get burned.

And of course I break it too, seeing as how I can't get FF13 for my PS3 yet .

[SpikesBluBlooded]

After watching the format war from the sidelines for what seemed like an eternity, I finally decided that blu was going to be the winner in the end, and in January of 2007, I finally broke down, bought a HD TV (Sony XBR 60" DLP 1080p) and a player (Sony BD-1), and have been thrilled with the format ever since. Have there been some frustrations? Sure, some, but in the end, it was worth it, just as it was when I bought my first DVD player (sometime I think about 10 years ago?). I see things shaping up for blu a lot faster than they did with DVDs, and no doubt a few years from now all of us will be talking with friends and co-workers about how things were "back-in-the-day". Hang tight fella's, it's going to be a bumpy ride, but a fun "won"...

As far as the request for information goes regarding a combo-player, I'm pretty sure you can find what you're looking for on any of the tech sites, or within the newbie section. From what I've "heard", you give up a little bit from each format to be able to accomodate both, but that's here-say (sp?). I think, though, that I can say with absolute certainty that no combo player can handle the audio streaming that a straight blu player can. Having said that, I'm sure someone out there will either correct or confirm this... Let the replies begin!

[Lee Christie]

Originally Posted by mix1031

From someone who is a newbee, why shouldn't I buy a new combo player that reads both formats rather than just HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. If HD-DVD dies as a format, I'm really not "out" anything since the Blu-Ray format is still functional on the device, right?

Because say you were to buy a combo player, ignoring the fact its increadably expensive, say you bought about 50 Blu-ray Discs, and 50 HD DVDs, then when the war is won you'll have 50 usless discs.

Why?... Because even though you currently own a player for them, it'll be unsupported, start to become old and ugly, and when it breaks down you'll have trouble finding a replacment device that reads the losing format. (ever tried to find a Betamax player?... well I haven't but I'm guessing it's difficult)

So I'd say, either pick a camp or stick to DVDs. That's just my opinion.