Of course, this would mean that the manufactures wouldn't be able to sell you multiple optical disc players for each room… so there is a conflict of interest there. But the company that can develop an EASY to use system that is just a matter of plug and play and bob's-your-uncle, will make billions.

Wishful thinking or the future? Both I'd say. It's just a matter of time.

Any improvements to DVD has a huge impact since DVDs have far more titles than Blu Ray, and most people watch movies in relatively small screens thereby negating much of the advantage of Blu Ray movies. Furthermore, many Blu Ray movies lack the pure eye candy factor of even HD Channels such as HD Theatre as they tend to be grainy (which is how film is!)

At this point I don't believe the problem is hardware price as much as it is people being satisfied with DVD and having a comfort factor in it. No one that I know of is even considering a Blu Ray player,let alone buying titles on a regular basis!

I understand that the best upconverting isn't truly as good as Blu-ray. However, if one is not ready to buy a Blu-ray, I would like to better understand upconverting. I basically understand what upconverting dvd players do, and that there are differences in internal chips and quality of the upconversion process. My question:

If you have a pretty high-end, new, 1080p TV (50K:1 contrast, 120Hz, etc), does the internal upconverting that the tv itself does get a benefit from also having a good upconverting dvd player? If so, can that be done for $150?

Would appreciate some insight, as I have got a lot of mixed info on that. thanks.

Blu-ray disc sales have been consistently dropping over the last three months, despite a net increase in players. People are buying Blu-ray discs, realizing that they can only play them on their Blu-ray set up (no watching of movies on the TV in the bedroom or kid's TV or whatever), realizing they cost more than DVDs, and realizing the quality difference just isn't that dramatic. They're actually turning back to DVD.

It's also important to realize that $200/$100/$50 Blu-ray players are not going to fix this: buying a player is only one part of upgrading to Blu-ray, you also have to spend hundreds – some would say thousands – of dollars on new TVs. 90% of the population does not own a TV capable of showing any difference at all between Blu-ray and DVD.

Without radical enhancements to ensure Blu-ray is more than an HD format, Blu-ray is dead in the water as a mass market format, though it may carve out a niche like Laserdisc did. Systems like the XDE probably will not make much of a difference in the long run, Blu-ray is inherently too flawed to work in its present form.

That's not to say it can't be modified to work, and if I were the BDA I'd be doing serious work on making it integrate into a more modern, post-optical-disc, view of how people expect media to work. Unfortunately thus far, given the online features that were in HD DVD and are supposedly being proposed in DVD2.0, it looks like the only group that “gets it” are the DVD Forum, and the spat between them and the BDA means it's improbable we'll see progress here any time soon.

For more on my views as to what needs to be done for a real next generation mass market media format to succeed, my blog entry here explains it in more detail: https://squiggleslash.multiply.com/journal/item/159/Blu-ray_DVD_2.0_and_Freedom-loving_Geeks

http://media.digitaltrends.com/digital-trends/samsung-bd-p1500-blu-ray-dvd-player/“ title=”http://media.digitaltrends.com/digital-trends/samsung-bd-p1500-blu-ray-dvd-player/“ target=”_blank” ref=”nofollow”>http://media.digitaltrends.com/digital-trends/sams…

Here is a video review. Might want to hold onto your Oppo or Toshiba upconverting player.

The point is, 80% of the people who go out and buy a flat panel TV (lcd or plasma), they don't know what HD is. They *think* they are watching HD when they switch the viewing mode to 16×9 and watch normal SD on cable.

If their old, non-upscaling DVD player dies. They may be perfectly happy with the quality of an upscaling DVD player. Most of those same people think that a blu-ray player is just a dvd player that makes your dvd's look better, so why buy one for $500 plus when you can get an upscaling dvd player for $100. It's all about education and understanding the technology, which most consumers don't get yet, especially since all the confusion between what HD DVD and Blu-ray were/are.

I have to agree with Rob and Sammy here. As a mother of 3, and an avid movie lover, I still can't justify the price of a Blu-ray player. I wanted something under $200 from a reputable manufacturer. Funai and Sylvania are not that.

I also do not want to go digging arounf Amazon looking for Blu-ray movies under $20. I want the new releases for under $20, not an old release of Animal House.

I do think Blu-ray is for the future, but based on the research I have read, we are years away from it becoming the norm.

As per the movies, at this point all the new releases are on Blu Ray, and you can still play ALL your DVDs on these HD players -upscaled.
As per the BR movies, shop around, like on Amazon. You can find tons of movies for under $20 now.
Toshiba is clearly fighting a battle of the past to try desperately to cling to their good ol' DVD licence fees.
$170 or $150 (it was released at $170 on Amazon), the XDE is still too expensive, specially to -DEGRADE- average DVDs. Go check on AVS forums, they tested the player thoroughly and it's not pretty.

Blu-ray movie selection sucks, you can pick up a nice upconverting DVD player for $200 and get any movie you want for under $15 bucks.

HD DVD lost because of lack of movie support, they actually sold more players than Blu-ray.

Rob hit the nail on the head: Blu-ray DOES look better, but most people will be more than happy with an upconverting DVD player, simply because they would not know the difference.

I'm sorry, but wasn't this the EXACT same reasoning why HD DVD was destined to destroy Blu-ray? You were wrong then, and logic suggests you are wrong now.

Please…

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1057160&page=10“ title=”http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1057160&page=10“ target=”_blank” ref=”nofollow”>http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=10…

Is it the “best” upscaler on the market? Who knows. But what I and many others see is a nice “perceived” improvement in contrast and detail from 8ft onward. I liked it so much, it has replaced the HD-A2 as my main SD upconverter. If you already have a PS3, Oppo, or newer BD player, the XDE is probably not needed anyway.

The unit sells for 149 MSRP not(160-170), and will most likely be lower come Xmas.

In no way should XDE be considered a threat to BD, BD is still the absolute best way to enjoy movies from here onward. But if anything, it's like when VHS came out with “HQ” technology, it just gives a little “oomph” from your old collection, while you slowly build your new BD collection.

The “Good enough” didn't make HD DVD succeed, neither has it prevented Blu Ray from taking off despite the boatloads of cheap DVD upconverters already present on the market.
Toshiba has made a “good” upconverter that is very much alike (on good DVDs, the quality of their process on mediocre DVs – and there's a lot of them out there- is HORRENDOUS) the $200 Oppo,s just as you notice.
You might want to notice that at $160-170, their player will have a hell of a time trying to position themselves against Blu Ray players (real HD) which are expected to get to the $250 (or lower) mark by the end of the year.

You were wrong on the HD DVD, you are also wrong in thinking that Toshiba will make a significant difference with a product that is, after all, just another upconverter (it does not include their “famous” SRT technology, which has since busted, as it is not a real time upconversion process).
Too little, too late, Toshiba is just setting themselves up for yet another failure.
But what's another few Billion yens lost, mmh?