DVD Reviews Versus Blu-ray
Dear Gary:
I am writing to you in response to the question posed in your October issue regarding coverage of DVD versus coverage of Blu-ray Disc releases. I apologize for the delay in my response, but this is an issue I feel passionately about, and I hope it is not too late for my opinion to be considered in your decision.
I have been collecting films since about 1982. I started with VHS but quickly discovered LaserDisc and never looked back. Four hundred discs later, I moved to DVD and purchased another 400 or so films over the course of about ten years. Last April, I bought a PlayStation®3 and vowed not to buy another DVD again.
When I was collecting LaserDiscs, the players cost me between $499 and $999. I bought about five of them over the span of my LaserDisc ownership. The movies themselves cost me between $39.99 and $105.99. The best ones, such as the Criterion Collection, were all in the $70 to $100 range.
When I hear people complaining about the price of Blu-ray players and movies, I can’t help but chuckle in my recliner as I read their posts across on-line forums and in news stories. Sure, times are tough, but do people know the value this format is bringing to our senses? Ten years ago I would have paid $999 in a heartbeat for a video player of any kind that could deliver the quality that Blu-ray offers. 1080p24 video and uncompressed audio are truly the best thing to feed our home theatre equipment. Because of Blu-ray’s ability to offer more for your image and sound than any cable or satellite provider can deliver, and because I suspect most of your readers are movie buffs, as I am, I think you should drop DVD coverage like a hot griddle handle.
This new format offers the cutting edge of what home theatre enthusiasts can achieve with their investment. Your readers are influencers. People who read Widescreen Review regularly, as I do, probably have a tendency to tell their friends and family why something is worth the investment. Continuing to review DVDs gives legs to a format that has seen its best days eclipsed. Of course, people with the cheapest 32-inch generic-brand 720p LCD they can afford are going to struggle to see the difference between Blu-ray and an up-converted DVD, but that doesn’t mean the difference isn’t there, or that most of your readers won’t see the difference either. To the contrary, Widescreen Review has always catered to a crowd that is more likely to notice the difference in technology and invest in something a little better to make the most of it. Your publication has always been the best source for reviews of the latest films on home video formats. I strongly recommend that you review Blu-ray only. The format has slowed its growth in part because of misinformation and continued suggestions that Blu-ray isn’t really necessary.
I look forward to your reviews, as I have from the days when I collected LaserDiscs. I’m done with DVD and hope that together, people like me and publications like yours can work to encourage readers to make the switch if they haven’t already.
In short, dump DVD coverage. Do Blu.
Kurt Heiden
Editor-In-Chief and Publisher Gary Reber Comments:
I totally agree with your assessment. To think that one can own a movie that costs in the tens of millions of dollars to produce is truly incredible. And, as well, to be able to assemble a library of fabulous movies and concerts and other educational faire is wonderful. And all this for relatively little money to speak of is an opportunity that one can now enjoy via the medium of packaged videodiscs.
Still, if Blu-ray is to achieve the mass-market acceptance that the DVD format has achieved, it will be because the players and content will be made more affordable with less pricing differentials between the two.
Our plan is to feature more Blu-ray Disc titles in future Widescreen Review issues in recognition that the format represents “the best that it can be” in picture and sound performance and that no matter how good the DVD looks and sounds, the Blu-ray Disc will perform better.
You can E-mail Widescreen Review @ editorgary@widescreenreview.com