Blu-ray or HD DVD?
I noticed a bunch of Blu-ray DVD boxed sets at Costco yesterday. These were (if I recall correctly) 4 movies for around $80. I found it kind of odd since I seem to remember only seeing HD DVD players on the other side of the store. So, what does one do with this high-def format war? On one hand Blockbuster will only carry Blu-ray. On the other, HD DVD players are a lot cheaper (affordable). I’m not going to make a choice for the moment. But, my gut instinct is to look at Sony’s (Blu-ray creator) history of format fiascoes and lean towards HD DVD. To recap Sony’s failed storage format products…
- Betamax
- Mini Disc
- Memory stick
- ATRAC audio file format
- UMD (Playstation Portable disc format)
And, while the CD (Sony/Philips) has been a huge success, let’s not forget who decided to put a root kit on music CDs. And, don’t forget the exploding notebook batteries.
I’m hoping the HD picture becomes clearer (pun intended) by the 2007 holiday season so I can finally decide which one to swing towards.
August 21st, 2007 at 3:59 pm
I’m leaning toward HD-DVD, in part for the reasons you cite insofar as Sony’s track record. Blockbuster’s decision actually reinforces my gut feeling. I love that I can rent HD-DVDs from Netflix (though they do Blu-Ray too). Paramount/Dreamworks, from the content creation side, have just chosen HD-DVD. And yes, the players are cheaper, and the web-enabled features more promising.
FWIW, I’ve seen both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players at Costco.
August 27th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
This is a debate that will carry on for another few years. No matter the choice, the gaming industry will keep them both alive for the next 3-4 years minimum. I have read a lot of articles like this one that opt one way or the other but reality is, neither format will truly win out. At least not anytime soon. Also, as long as Sonys PS3 keeps selling and Microsofts XBox 360 keeps losing ground, Blu-Ray will become a more popular format. Especially when the prices drop in about a year. We all know it will happen….
-TheYoungGuy-
http://www.hardwareblogportal.com
August 28th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Um, according to sales figures I’ve been reading the Xbox 360 has consistently outsold the PS3 though the gap is getting smaller as the Wii outsells both in larger quantities.