It's a good time to be a film buff. As if standard DVD players hadn't already elevated at-home movie watching to a near-theater quality experience, the advent of High Definition TVs with the accompanying Blu-ray and HD DVD players has turned movie night into a sensory overload of sound and imagery that virtually surpasses real life (depending on how near-sighted you are).
What was gearing up to be an ugly format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD – reminiscent of the VHS versus Betamax battle of the '80s – has been settled in early 2008 with several defining events happening in quick succession. Most notably:
Warner Home Video dropped its previous neutrality and pledged to do business exclusively with Blu-ray from May 2008 forward.
Announcements from Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Netflix indicate that they will deal exclusively with Blu-ray.
The seeming last straw: Toshiba, leading manufacturer of HD DVD, announced that it will cease production of the players.
While most analysts have confidently declared "advantage Blu-ray," we will nevertheless review both systems, as there are well over one million HD DVD players out there – not to mention innumerable discs – that will continue to go to good use for the foreseeable future. Of course, there's the very slim chance that this is another "Dewey Defeats Truman" debacle.
Types of Players
You only have three options when shopping for these players:
A standalone HD or Blu-ray player
The combo player (which would be the ideal if it didn't usually cost more than the combined price of buying both standalones)
The wildcard "gamer option" game systems that also plays these next-gen DVDs
Blu-ray vs. HD
Same, but different. The original dilemma was that Blu-ray and HD DVD were competing and, sadly, incompatible formats. The predicament was further exacerbated by the fact that the principal differences between the two formats were invisible to the average consumer (unless you can intelligently compare and contrast red-laser and blue-laser standards).
Bruce Willis or Russell Crowe? Further consumer consternation developed when it became clear that investing in one player meant inexorably siding with one format. This wouldn't have been much of an issue if movie studios hadn't also decided to choose sides. A film could have conceivably been released in HD format and never in Blu-ray format and vice versa. At the time of writing, Blu-ray has undeniable superior studio backing, meaning a larger film catalog, though notable HD DVD holdouts included Paramount and DreamWorks. As of early 2008, there were about 330 titles on HD DVD and 360 on Blu-ray, though by the end of 2008, these numbers will likely start tipping definitively toward the Blu-ray side.
My standard DVDs look great; are these next-gen formats really worth the hype? Absolutely. Both HD and Blu-ray are an eye-popping step forward in DVD technology when viewed on an HDTV with a home theater audio system.
How about price? A potentially deciding factor in the format war, that may now be a non-factor, was price. HD DVD players have always been less expensive, though that price gap has narrowed recently. Many people opted for the "Blu-ray bargain": buying a Playstation 3 gaming system shipped with an integrated Blu-ray player. A similar HD DVD special was launched with the Xbox 360, though this system needs an additional component to run HD DVD discs that is sold separately for $180.
Any other differences? Not really. Actual disc price is a non-factor with both formats selling identically priced movies (though look for inevitable HD DVD price drops soon). Additionally, both players will play all of your regular DVDs. Disc capacity – how many hours of programming each format will hold – will deal another blow to HD DVD in the long run, as Blu-ray is on track to be the undisputed leader. Assuming they hit their current projection, Blu-ray discs will someday hold 100 gigabytes of information. That's enough for several movies and copious special features, as well as riveting interactive content. Standard definition content (e.g., older TV shows) capacity would be a stratospheric 100 hours of programming – enough to fit the entire catalogue of most primetime shows.
How to Choose
Again, the former head-spinning format comparisons and resultant decision agony seems to have been definitively settled. Unless you know something that the majority of analysts don't, first-time, high-definition player buyers can finally and decisively choose a format leader. Equally, short-term bargain hunters will likely be able to snap up HD DVD players and a teeming library of discs for a fraction of the price of a similar Blu-ray setup, as HD DVD fire sales ensue.
For what it’s worth, here's the quick breakdown between players:
HD DVD
Less expensive than Blu-ray
Movie catalog includes Paramount, Studio Canal, Universal, the Weinstein Company and DreamWorks Animation
Discs will play on the Xbox 360 game system once you purchase the $180 add-on accessory
Blu-ray
More expensive than HD DVD
Blu-ray discs play on an out-of-the-box Playstation 3, a huge two-for-one victory for the right recipient
Movie catalogue includes Sony Pictures (including MGM/Columbia TriStar), Disney (including Touchstone, Miramax), Fox, Warner and Lions Gate
Blu-ray discs hold more video/data than HD DVD
In closing, the fact remains that your old-fashioned DVDs still offer exceptional quality and, obviously, the greatest film catalogue of any video medium in the history of moving pictures. If you decide to delay your next-gen disc player purchase, your current DVD system will continue to dominate the market for many years to come.
