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Do you care about the HD formats?
There's a war going on, but does anyone care? No, I'm not talking about the war in the Middle East, I'm talking about the war taking place at electronics stores across the country - the Hi-Def war between Blu-ray and HD DVD.
Both sides play up any advantage they have, tossing around sales figures, studio support, standalone player sales, anything that makes their side look like the winner. The problem is, the market right now is so small compared to DVD that it's all a bit meaningless, at least for now.
How many of you have taken the plunge and bought Blu-ray, HD DVD, or both, and how many of you feel DVD is good enough, and have no plans to upgrade to one of the HD formats?
Gord
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Oct 9, 2007 2:30 PM
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Sort of. I actually prefer to get all of my shows and movies via the internet these days. I'd like to be able to download individual episodes of shows if I want instead of buying a whole season on DVD. Certain shows, I'm going to want a whole season therefore I care about having BLU-RAY-ROM just for the storage capacity. I want to have LOST in HD...but I'm probably just going to record it myself. I really don't have any interest in HD-DVD or BLU-RAY players. A PC media center is going to take over eventually. (And they do EVERYTHING you want for your TV now.) I wish people would go ahead and get on the bandwagon.
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Oct 9, 2007 2:50 PM
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I'm personally waiting. A few months ago I was gonna make the jump and go with Blu-Ray (since it has Fox/Disney and since paramount/warner brothers were going with both formats). But the day before I was gonna buy the PS3, Paramount went HD-exclusive, and I decided it was stupid to buy a DVD player that would only play 70% of the movies I wanted to buy.
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Oct 9, 2007 2:54 PM
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As soon as combo-players or drives become cheaper (under $200) it doesn't really matter which format "wins" (if there IS a winner at all). That being said, I got the XBOX360-HD-DVD-drive to watch HD-DVD as the drive itself was cheap enough. The quality sure beats DVD but you need a large screen or projector to really appreciate it.
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Oct 9, 2007 3:11 PM
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No. For multiple reasons. Until they can pick one format, I won't even think of adopting. I'm not getting the next Betamax. I also do not like that both the current offerings have a built in downgrading option if you do not use HDMI. I bought 2 early HD TVs with DVI and because the media companies cannot prevent where the signal goes and how it's used over DVI, the standards allow for them to downgrade the picture quality. They have said they won't use that feature, but it was developed and put into the standards for a reason. That's a threat to my fair use, and will prevent me from adopting. Or at least that's my layman's understanding.
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Oct 9, 2007 3:13 PM
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When Sony lowered the price of the PS3, I bought it for the Blu-ray DVD capability. I was very upset when Paramout decided to switch exclusively to HDDVD. I was so looking forawrd to buying Transformers on Blu-ray. Unless the price of HDDVD drops even more, I will be sticking with Blu-ray. I am looking forward to LOST on BD.
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Oct 9, 2007 3:15 PM
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Yes,
I would like Blu-ray format to win the battle, for the simple reason that it is a better. The Blu-Ray drive can store more information, and therefore if care is taken -- it will produce a better quality product (video/sound).
I also use the DVDs to backup computer data, lots of data (terabytes) - so the more data a format can store the better.
To that end, I will not buy any HD-DVD product right now -- for fear of pro-longing the battle.
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Oct 9, 2007 3:18 PM
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Gord, I'm waiting for the winner before I buy an HDTV, because I know once I get one, I'll want a DVD format to match it. I just wish they would hurry up and decide. I would love to see a blog on which is you chose and why. I've actually been meaning to e-mail you and ask you to do a blog on that.
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Oct 9, 2007 3:26 PM
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I bought a Playstation 3 because of the Amazon deal with 8 free blu-ray movies. I will not be buying an HD DVD player, nor will I be buying any more blu-ray disks until the format war is settled. Nor will I replace my existing DVD library (600+) with high-def disks, because they are already as good or better quality than when originally screened (either at the theater or on television - older series, that is).
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Oct 9, 2007 3:27 PM
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We have seen so many formats come and go. Albums, 8 tracks, cassettes, CD's, minidiscs, video discs, laser discs, beta, vhs, and the list goes on. Now they want us to switch to a differnt format that they once again can't decide on which should be the standard. I made a choice to replace all of my VHS tapes with DVD years ago and have since built up a huge library. I know that I for one am not going to replace them again with another format. I realize that both formats will support the regualar DVD format...so as for new purchases...I am going to wait it out and see which survives. The only way that I foresee both surviving is if players are made that can support both formats. LG Electronics makes such a model. The big draw back is the cost $1049.99.
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Oct 9, 2007 3:28 PM
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I got the XBox 360 HD-DVD add-on drive as it was much cheaper than any Blu-Ray option. Also, I like to import TV shows from the UK that are not available here, and I wanted to leave that option open for HD TV from other countries (Blu-Ray has the annoying region coding.)
HD quality is much better than DVD if you do the side-by-side comparison (without a comparison, you probably wouldn't care).
However, some of these TV on HD retail prices are ridiculous! (Lost and ESPECIALLY Star Trek!) I'm sure it really doesn't cost that much more to produce the HD discs than regular DVD.
I wish all of these studios would just go format neutral. I would like to own shows such as Weeds or Lost or Prison Break in HD, but I refuse to pay another $500 for yet another player that I don't have room/connections for, just to be able to play Blu-Ray discs.
I don't understand why these studios refuse to go format neutral. Seems to me it would make more sense to get as much money out of both camps while the war wages on!
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Oct 9, 2007 3:56 PM
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I have actually been following the war since it started, and i can say the format that should win is HD DVD, and I can say that without reservation since I have both formats and have over 100 movies and TV shows in my HD collection to date.
I bought a title that is available in both formats 300 and that for all the space Blu-Ray has at there disposal, they don't have some of the special features that the HD DVD version has. and to date i have see nteh studios that are backing Blu-Ray movies that are only the movie with no special features, when the DVD has a 2 disc with many extras.
I think HDDVD offers a better qualaity of sound atleast on 300 it did over Blu-Ray.
I hope that HDDVD is the winner in this format war.
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Oct 9, 2007 4:18 PM
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I am in no rush. When the DVD format first came out, I had the first players available because the format was so much better than cassette. To me the HD format does not give that much improvement over standard. When there is a clear winner I will purchase that format.
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Oct 9, 2007 4:20 PM
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I haven't bought either HD format, and until I buy a PS3, I don't have that much desire to buy either. Any old TV shows that were shot in standard definition aren't going to be improved that much on an HD player, and there are very few movies or shows that I care enough about the difference at this point (the exception being something like "Planet Earth," which I pretty much would only buy in an HD format). I do have a Sony LCD and watch a fair amount of HD content on cable, but as far as my home collection, I'm not to the point where it really matters.
Like a lot of people, it seems obvious to me that between LG's (and soon Samsung's) dual format players and Warner's "Total DVD" discs, the format war is likely to be over before it really makes any difference, just like the DVD+-R fight that completely fizzled a few years ago. Once the dual players are under $300 (probably in the next 18 months), I'll see how things are panning out and go from there.
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Oct 9, 2007 4:25 PM
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HELL NO, i do not care about the high-def war. Its not over, a winner has not been announced, and it costs way too much to be enjoyed.
The war is bigger than HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. New players are coming (or here): CH-DVD and VMD.
Until a real winner is announced in another five years, it would be foolish to move before that. Each format has the chance of going VINYL, 8-TRACK, BETAMAX, and VHS.
IN THE END, THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE...
--
RED9
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Oct 9, 2007 4:26 PM
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