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Adapting

Borrowing Nick's copy of Adaptation this week, I'm reminded of my trepidation towards Blu-Ray DVDs. No, it's not like I tried to watch a Blu-Ray DVD on my regular DVD player. Rather, it was a reminder of short-lived attempts to make higher quality DVDs.

I watched Adaptation in Superbit, a format that stripped away supplemental features for a better-looking picture. Not many DVDs were produced in this format, and the format was discontinued. Frankly, I didn't notice a spectacular difference between my other DVDs. I wondered if this was only really noticeable on high-end DVD players and TVs. Even after all these years, I still think my Monster cables make my DVDs look great.

This leads me to my current thoughts on Blu-Ray. As amazing as they look on the TVs I see at Best Buy, I'm yet to be convinced I should replace my regular DVD collection with Blu-Rays. I doubt I will replace my entire collection when I eventually purchase a Blu-Ray (and Region-free) player. It just doesn't make sense to me right now.

I'm happy to hear that most Blu-Ray players make regular DVDs look better. It's not like regular DVDs are being discontinued. On top of that, it's not like the difference between VHS and DVD. DVD had way more advantages than VHS. Not only were the movies in widescreen, you could skip around chapters, and you didn't have to rewind anything when you were done watching a movie.

Granted, Blu-Ray has more promise than Superbit or even DivX, but still, it's a little too much of a risk in my head for the time being.

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