Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD

So here we have another format war, Blu-Ray high def DVD vs. High Definition DVD ... sounds familiar, like the VCR format war of the late '70s and early '80s when it was Beta vs. VHS? Oy vey ...

In this case, major studios and media producers are lining up on either side of the debate by coming out and supporting only one format. Micro$oft and Paramount support HD DVD, Sony and Disney Blu-Ray. Some companies support both formats, while others (like Paramount) used to support both but now only back one format.

Here's a great piece about the on-going "format war".

But hooooold yer horses there, pardner ... it was just announced that Warner Brothers entertainment is now only supporting Blue-Ray. So, does that mean that this tips the scales in favor of Blu-Ray? Maybe ... even Mirco$oft has now said that it would consider looking at BR if there was a demand (currently, the high def. DVD player add-on for the Xbox 360 only plays HD DVDs).

Personally, I think a major tipping point could be when George Lucas and Fox release the Stars Wars trilogies in only in Blu-Ray (Fox supports the BR format). In the '90s, Star Wars fans were grousing that the Star Wars movies weren't available on DVD and word around the campfire was that Lucas was waiting for the Blu-Ray technology to made more commercially available and then he was going to release the movies. Well, the demand got to be so loud that he relented and released the movies on standard def. DVD. Now, in case you weren't aware, Lucas has some clout in Hollywood given the success of his two trilogies, so when Darth Vader, C3PO, R2-D2 and the rest of the gang are only going to be seen in all their high def. glory in Blu-Ray, well ... that could sound the official death knell for HD DVD.

That being said, HD DVDs aren't going anywhere if Blu-Ray does win the format war because there's been too many titles released in each format for HD DVD to just disappear.

Personally, while I don't care which format "wins", it would be nice if one format does come out on top because this two-format issue is just ridiculous. I just can't believe we're going through this again given the history of the Beta vs. VHS fiasco (for the record, Beta delivered better picture and sound, but VHS was cheaper to produce, hence the reason why it won).

As someone who looooooves movies and has almost 200 titles in his DVD collection, I hesitate to buy a high def. DVD player of either format because the format issue hasn't been settled. (To my wife's relief, I wouldn't replace all of our standard def. DVDs with high def. DVDs, anyway ... just the ones for which I'd want the best picture and sound).

And buying a DVD player that plays both HD formats isn't an option because A) it's too damn expensive and 2) word is that each HD format suffers because the player isn't dedicated to one HD format. Still not sure how true that is but from what I've read thus far, it seems plausible. I actually had a sales associate at Best Buy suggest that I buy a separate Blue-Ray and HD DVD player because a combo player was about $1000 and separate players were $500 each. I literally laughed out loud.

Be interesting to see if this gets settled anytime soon. Meantime, I'll watch my SD DVDs on our up-convert DVD player for now.