Format Wars
Finally the long promised HD DVD vs Blu-Ray blog... The reason why this took me so long to write is that my opinion on the matter kept changing.
Originally I was firm against supporting either format since I thought it would be foolish to back one format only for it to "lose" later on. I was dead set on getting the best converting DVD player to ride out the war but the price was so close to the least expensive Toshiba HD DVD player at that time I decided it wasn't worth it just yet and ended up getting a cheap Samsung upscaling DVD player. I figured this would tide me over until a clear cut winner was decided.
Since the beginning it felt like Blu-Ray had the lead, especially since it has some major exclusive studio support. I felt like it would be just a matter of time before HD DVD died. That was true until August 2007 when Paramount/Dreamworks Animation dropped the bomb, by announcing they were going exclusive to HD DVD camp. Analysts then began to predict that the format war would be a stalemate until at least 2009. Still I was content to just watched upscaled DVD's for the time being.
This all changed after I bought my Xbox 360. As you guys know BestBuy had an awesome deal for the HD DVD add on player that included the entire Season 1 of Heroes and two free HD DVD movies of my choice plus the five free Look and Sound of Perfect HD DVD offer. Having caught the high-def bug and feeling the need to feed my HDTV some true 1080p content I couldn't resist buying the HD DVD player. I figured even if HD DVD lost the war at least I have some nice titles to showcase my home theater system. I always felt that I would get a dedicated Blu-Ray player at a later point, once the price went down and the quality increased (PS3 being the exception here as it's currently the best Blu-Ray player on the market).
Flash forward to this week when Warner Bros announced that they were going exclusive Blu-Ray. Now the momentum is clearly back in Blu-Ray's favor. I say this is because Warner was the last major studio that was supporting both formats, now there is no other studio that Toshiba can court to go exclusive HD DVD. Only time will tell how long it will take before the both Universal and Paramount go Blu but at least now it seems the stalemate will finally end.
My personal take on the whole "format war" is that it's simply silly. It's ridiculous for the companies behind both formats to have put us consumers in this position. Unlike DVD which enjoyed sky high adoption rates due to only having one standard, most people are waiting out the high-def war by not buying either format, and worse some have even stopped buying standard def DVD's altogether.
Another bad effect of this war is the atrocious fanboy behavior that various Blu-Ray/HD DVD owners have exhibited. You can't read one article about either high definition's format without reading 50 comments arguing which is the "superior" technology. When I have some more time I'll write another blog about the technical merits of both, but the short of it is, both look and sound wonderful as long as its produced by the studio with high quality in mind.
In conclusion, nobody knows what's going to happen with these formats this year but hopefully one (Blu-Ray) will win so that the studios can get to work producing high def titles that we all want to see. Where's Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings on high definition? Come on studios, one standard here!
Originally I was firm against supporting either format since I thought it would be foolish to back one format only for it to "lose" later on. I was dead set on getting the best converting DVD player to ride out the war but the price was so close to the least expensive Toshiba HD DVD player at that time I decided it wasn't worth it just yet and ended up getting a cheap Samsung upscaling DVD player. I figured this would tide me over until a clear cut winner was decided.
Since the beginning it felt like Blu-Ray had the lead, especially since it has some major exclusive studio support. I felt like it would be just a matter of time before HD DVD died. That was true until August 2007 when Paramount/Dreamworks Animation dropped the bomb, by announcing they were going exclusive to HD DVD camp. Analysts then began to predict that the format war would be a stalemate until at least 2009. Still I was content to just watched upscaled DVD's for the time being.
This all changed after I bought my Xbox 360. As you guys know BestBuy had an awesome deal for the HD DVD add on player that included the entire Season 1 of Heroes and two free HD DVD movies of my choice plus the five free Look and Sound of Perfect HD DVD offer. Having caught the high-def bug and feeling the need to feed my HDTV some true 1080p content I couldn't resist buying the HD DVD player. I figured even if HD DVD lost the war at least I have some nice titles to showcase my home theater system. I always felt that I would get a dedicated Blu-Ray player at a later point, once the price went down and the quality increased (PS3 being the exception here as it's currently the best Blu-Ray player on the market).
Flash forward to this week when Warner Bros announced that they were going exclusive Blu-Ray. Now the momentum is clearly back in Blu-Ray's favor. I say this is because Warner was the last major studio that was supporting both formats, now there is no other studio that Toshiba can court to go exclusive HD DVD. Only time will tell how long it will take before the both Universal and Paramount go Blu but at least now it seems the stalemate will finally end.
My personal take on the whole "format war" is that it's simply silly. It's ridiculous for the companies behind both formats to have put us consumers in this position. Unlike DVD which enjoyed sky high adoption rates due to only having one standard, most people are waiting out the high-def war by not buying either format, and worse some have even stopped buying standard def DVD's altogether.
Another bad effect of this war is the atrocious fanboy behavior that various Blu-Ray/HD DVD owners have exhibited. You can't read one article about either high definition's format without reading 50 comments arguing which is the "superior" technology. When I have some more time I'll write another blog about the technical merits of both, but the short of it is, both look and sound wonderful as long as its produced by the studio with high quality in mind.
In conclusion, nobody knows what's going to happen with these formats this year but hopefully one (Blu-Ray) will win so that the studios can get to work producing high def titles that we all want to see. Where's Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings on high definition? Come on studios, one standard here!
posted by Marcos at January 05, 2008
4 Comments:
Ah, yes, the raging war that hurts our wallets... oO"
I never chose a side myself early on, and to be honest, I'm still iffy on who's actually gonna win.
I know atm it looks like BRD has the edge, but I will not say they are gonna win. However, I do concede things look really good for BRD over HDDVD. But mostly because not only of the WB move, but at a recent window shopping spree (yeah, it is possible to do that!), I was glad to see that BRD players have come down in price dramatically. Some models are now only $50 more than an HDDVD player, which is the biggest move I think the BRD camp needed to make imho.
Even though BRD has been outselling HDDVD's, I always thought the high price tag of BRD players would end up killing them in the end. Such is not the case anymore.
Will a clear cut winner come out this year? I doubt it. I think the war will go well into 2009, but I'm hoping it won't. Personally, though I don't know which is truly the better format, I like blueray because it just seems flashier and has the appearance of higher tech. It's the blue that does it... and the catchy name, blueray. It's just fun to say! Blueray! Blueray! Yeah yeah, it's not a good reason to choose it, but man it's fun!
While I refuse to pick the winner, I am rooting for blueray. Blueray!
Sorry, Mark, but I gotta support my PS3, which also makes a great blueray player. Blueray!
Besides games, which you've seen from the game list on a previous blog from you dudes, here's my blueray movie list:
Pirates of the Caribbean, Curse of the Black Pearl
Superman Returns
Casino Royale
Stargate
Fantastic Four, Rise of the Silver Surfer
300
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Fifth Element
SkyHigh
I may have included this list on the previous blog list, but I know I have a couple more titles from that last post.
My list will grow within the next couple of weeks as the Spiderman movies are in a one pack for $60! There's also the first couple of Harry Potter movies for only $20 each, plus some other $20 titles that I can't remember atm. No, I'm not getting them all at once.
Blueray! See, just fun to say. :)
Krudd, your comments are as long as my blogs!
There are some technical differences between the two formats, but nothing in my opinion that makes one better than the other. From a visual and audio standpoint both are outstanding. I'll blog about that soon.
I would've commented earlier but I had to read your post a few times to make sure I understood where you're coming from. When you first mentioned that you had purchased a Xbox 360 HD DVD player, I wondered if those HT Guys made you drink the Kool-Aid!
Not that I cared one way or the other about which format was better (I don't plan on buying an HDTV or HD player anytime soon) but being a regular reader of the Digital Bits, the author gave a lot of logical reasons why Blu-ray would eventually "win".
I guess your point is that you're enjoying HD content today and when Blu-ray becomes the de-facto standard (I can't see how it won't now) it'll result in a greater selection of higher quality, lower cost players, then you'll invest in that. But does that mean you'll continue to buy HD-DVD discs until then?
Looking forward to your format comparison blog.
BTW, my bro just bought a PS3 last week! He plans on getting all the BD movies at the studio store because it's convenient! Darn him as he has a bigger library than I do already with BD's!
On another note, I used the wrong abbreviation with blueray discs. I uesd BRD, but since blueray is one word, not to, the correct abbreviation is BD. :(
I like BRD! :)
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