Despite all the news about the next generation format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, how many of us are really jumping to replace our DVD players? Personally, despite the improved resolution of each format, I've stuck with the Oppo 971H up-converting DVD player, a component that has lived up to its promises and then some (the unit's DCDi by Faroudja feature, all-region capabilities and the DVI-HDMI connection to the HD LCD have made for some movie watching). I absolutely love my HD broadcasts via Dish Network, yet I've got hesitations about whether it's really worth committing to either of the newest high-definition formats at this juncture.
Do You HD?
But with the upcoming release of Discovery Channel/BBC's Planet Earth series on high-def formats, I'm now wondering whether I should make the leap to one of the higher resolution formats, so I can take in the glorious visuals of the series in full high-definition. The idea of watching the series on anything less than 720p seems just plain wrong.
Unfortunately both formats are still priced just out of range of an impulse purchase, and both formats suffer from a painfully limited selection. The Playstation 3 with integrated Blu-Ray capabilities is a beast of a machine, but the price and lack of killer app games hasn't convinced me to give up my hard earned dollars just so I can watch Night at the Museum in HD; the XBox 360 with the additional HD-DVD is another worthy option, but I've always been one to avoid component add-ons of any sort. There's been plenty of news online about a possible $300 priced high-definition player coming via Wal-Mart (no definitive news whether these players will be HD-DVD or Blu-ray yet), but even at that price point, I think I'd rather have one of the gaming machines to play double duty. Alas, I think I'll wait just a little bit longer as I did with a high-definition display. Sometimes it works for the best to just let the dust settle, lest I end up with another dead-end technology like the laser disc player like I had years ago.
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If Blu-Ray wins the format wars Sony will choke as much profit out of it as they can which can only hinder it's usefullness.
view Mat's profile
(excuse the missed comma)
view Mat's profile
I'm boycotting HD-DVD and BluRay until the major studios drop this you're-buying-the-format-not-the-content prickishness. I'm aware that decrypting my DVDs to watch them on other devices (or store them on HDs) or watching a DVD on Linux is not quite legal in the US, but it's possible. I'm not going to embrace a new format that's even more cumbersome to use properly just because the picture's better.
view Ondrej's profile
I "chose" HD-DVD, just because I already had an Xbox 360. I I was really shocked when I saw how much of an improvement HD-DVD movies were over standard DVDs. I am sure the same is true of Blu-Ray DVDs.
Blockbuster online has HD-DVD movies available for rent for the same price as standard DVDs, so the cost difference in media does not affect me (I rarely buy movies).
That said, I certainly understand why those without game consoles are waiting out the format wars.
view Eric M's profile