I have too jumped on the new technology: Streaming. While it may not actually be "better" in terms of quality (compared to blu-ray, it's often better than DVD) it has reduced my purchases of new titles significantly. And thank god for that! At most I had around 5000 titles and it was a bigger problem to house them, not to mention moving them which I was forced to do. But never again! I have since got rid of all my HD DVDs and many of my blu-rays and quite a few DVDs (mostly TV series) so I'm now down to about 3500 titles. I plan to slim this down even further in the future as the availibility of streaming titles increases and I only plan to buy movies which aren't available in streaming format.

I'm one of those people who has a home theater system which costs more than I make in 2 months. The audio is quite good, but the TV is underwhelming because I had to buy one in a hurry a few years ago when my low-end Sanyo tube HDTV broke after I had it about a year and a half. Once I get a high-end Panasonic plasma later this year, I think I'll be ahead of the local theaters.

I've always gone for significant better quality at reasonable price.

Around 1986 this meant going from LP's to CD's. Being able to hear music without high frequency noise, ticks and scratches was a blessing. Double dipped just about every LP I had, some bought anew but a lot by ripping and burning to CD (and still have the LP's because this means the rips are legitimate copies for Dutch law). After the rip it can't degrade further...

Last century I had a small collection of VHS tapes of movies I really liked, but never really collected apart from the Babylon V series. In 1998 I bought my first DVD as a try-out for the DVD player in my new PC. The DVD prices at the time were shockingly high (~NLG 70, approx. € 40-50 adjusted for inflation), so it wasn't until 2000 I bought my first cheap but regionfree DVD player and started buying DVD's. Never bought a VHS tape since. Upgraded to a 32" flatscreen CRT and in 2002 to a 40" plasma. Upgraded the audio section. Bought a PS3 for BR player (best quality for lowest price in the first decade of this century), also have 3D capable player as well now.

Today I have a 55" 3D lcd and it performs brilliantly with BR's. However... where a DVD still has a decent video quality on a 40", I found it noticably not-so-good on a 55". Mind, not as bad as a VHS on a 32", but... Anyways, the 40" is still in my storage, so a back-up is present.

That said, I've doubled dipped in the past more because of better editions (more featurettes etc) than for other reasons. I try to double dip from DVD to BR only when the nature of the film seems to promise a really better image. Yes, DVD shows its limits on a 55", but it remains viewable.

What I did not do was upgrade for pure technology reasons. With CD's around I never bought into the digital audio cassette. Way too expensive in hard- and software. I think I bought only one or two SACD's when my DVD player (a Pioneer) was able to play that and only because I expected a really better sound experience (Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon). Similarly DVD audio. Nice to try, but dead ends. I didn't buy my current TV for the 3D but for the size (larger screen, smaller total outfit) and because prices were reduced at a local retailer. For the most 3D, IMO, is an overpriced extra. But OTOH, nice to have.

As for the future, manufacturers have announced 3D to be still born (as in 'we see the public not buying in droves') and will focus on 4K. Which is also currently at absurd prices. IMO they live on another planet, because they want absurd revenues while not recognising that the public's sweet point for buying is way lower than their expectations. Anyways, I estimate 4K will only shine on 80" or even larger displays. And houses in Europe are not build for that sort of huge sized appliances, so unless there is an as-yet unknown gamechanger, I expect 4K to be a dud too.

I guess if I had endless money I’d replace everything possible on Blu-ray, but I don’t so I can’t.  Whilst I’ll admit to having replaced a few DVDs with BDs, the number is very small, probably under 50.  There are so many new films etc that I’d like to have, so I’d rather spend my money on these than replace DVD versions of things with Blu-ray ones.  I’ve so many I haven’t even watched yet and with a tiny number of exceptions, I’m probably only ever going to watch most of them a few times in my life.

Considering how many discs I actually watch, vs. the number I buy (I consistently buy more than I watch), I’ve found myself starting to wonder if I’m actually going to be alive for long enough to watch all the ones I’ve already got anyway, never mind any more I buy, or BDs I get to replace DVDs.    So there's your happy thought for the day.

It's interesting to note how we seem to use lots of names here for Blu-ray, blu-ray, bluray, BR, BD, (and there're probably some "blue" and "HD" variations about too), yet a DVD is always a DVD!

Quoting Pantheon:

Quote:
I'm exactly the same with my books: I've got over 2000 and I don't think I'll ever get to re-read them all in my lifetime; I just can't seem to get rid of them! 

I'm very much in the same boat! 

Quoting Pantheon:

Quote:
Recently I read a post from someone saying they don't own a blu-ray player. I was amazed (given how cheap they have become) for someone who comes into this forum (the fanatical movie collector!) to not have advanced to BD.

What about everyone else? Have you gone blu?

Nope.

Don't have Blu-ray simply because there's very little released that I buy that's actually on BD.

No blu for me, either.  I keep thinking maybe I should, but I have yet to encounter a compelling reason to bother.  I suppose if the format finally gets some exclusive titles I might finally take the plunge.  Otherwise, it just seems like a waste of money to me because I know I'll be someone who ends up double-dipping.

The thing about DVD is, I didn't start collecting because of the image quality, I started collecting because a format had finally arrived which allowed me to purchase once, and use forever...plus movies were finally being presented in AOR.  Given that, blu is simply a refinement of DVD in my eyes, and I can easily do without.