The Price Of Going Blu
I find myself gauging my age by how many times I've had to change media formats. First it was the cassette tape to the CD, then the VHS to DVD, the CD to MP3, and now I can add one more conversion to the list - DVD to Blu-Ray. Every time I have to upgrade equipment, re-purchase, and replace all of my current collection with the new format, I always wonder if it's really worth the price of upgrading. Cassettes to CDs was easy since most of my cassettes were just hand-me-downs from my brother. Ripping my entire CD collection was painless for my wallet but took up much of my precious free time. Then there's the act of replacing all of my family's VHS tapes, which I'm still working on. And right when I thought I was about done swapping out my old movie collection for a new one, another brand spankin' new format appeared - BD.
I have to admit out of all the formats and iterations of different media I have seen, BD is probably my favorite. It has great storage capacity (no more 50 disc Anime collections), being able to go online right from from the disc is great, and you can't beat the high definition detail that it brings. But there is a huge downside to BD like no one seems to use it's great storage capacity (they still only put 3 episodes on a disc), going online is a pain because you need to register for each distributor, and the biggest drawback of all is the price.
Granted with all new formats, they are initially quite expense. Blu-Ray Discs started at around $35 when they first released but now that they have been out for a while (and won the format war) they are . . . still $35?! What's wrong with this picture? Blu-Ray has been out since June 2006 and three years later the price is still the same. Granted, I can find older titles for $20 and places like Amazon.com and other online retailers sell them for as low as $15. But for me to pick up the newest release on BD, it's still $35 at any of the local retailers. So how much is too much when going Blu?
My other dilemma is what to do about all those DVDs I've been acquiring. How many should I upgrade to Blu-Ray and how many should I just leave alone? For the most part I've only been getting the newer titles and movies I don't own on BD. There are those great action flicks though that probably look and sound ten times better on BD. The Bourne Trilogy is one of my favorites of all time and I'd love to pick up the snazzy three-in-one bundle. But since I already own all three on DVD, I'm a bit hesitant to shell out extra cash for movies I already own. Even if I traded in the DVDs, they probably wouldn't even cover the tax on the new set let alone help pay for it.
Another genre I think Blu-Ray makes better is animation. Being able to see a movie/show in its original aspect ratio as well as the crisp look and clear sound makes me drool just thinking about it. I've picked up a couple stand along Anime movies and have found that it does wonders to the genre. But Anime, even on standard DVD, isn't cheap. You are looking at anywhere from $25 to $35 a pop just for a single disc with 3 to 4 episodes. And because publishers haven't seemed to take advantage of BD's large capacity, you are still seeing the same amount of episodes on each BD. The price is horrendous as well. Samurai 7 box set on DVD goes for around $40 but Samurai 7 box set on BD goes for $150. That is an amazingly drastic price difference for the same amount of episodes and bonus content. Hopefully with Blu-Ray players becoming cheaper this year, we'll see a price drop in the actual discs as well. Because right now for me, the price is too high for me to go Blu.
