We HD DVD owners surrender, but...

[ADWyatt]

I own the BD player Samsung BD-P1200, and although I started into BD late, 39 of my 89 movies are in Blu-ray. Fortunately, my five Harry Potter movies, which were bought in HD as part of a promotion, can be exchanged for their BD counterparts. Still, that leaves 45 HD-DVD movies, and the cost of the 1080p player ($240) Gone With The Wind.

For those of us who got caught in the format war, when untimely info (Paramount's decision to go HD-only, and Sony's new BD boss giving the initial impression that BD might actually lose the format war) pushed us into investing in both technologies, can there be any kind of effective damage control?

In the long run, the answer is "No." Toshiba will quit the game sometime in 2009, and replacement parts for its players will cease to exist several years later. After that, their players will just be glorified doorstoppers.

We have to be content in two ways...

First, while they last we can still use our HD players, partly as upscalers for standard DVDs (They do a marvelous job at that! BD does as well, but why put extra strain on your only hi-def player?), and as players for our current library of HD movies. We can replace them when these movies' BD counterparts are released, after which we can sell each replaced HD movie for a sack full of burgers.

Secondly, even those of us who bought into HD-DVD can at least be thankful that the war ended now. Had Warner committed to HD, the war would have dragged on for at least another two years, and would have cost people like me a great deal more money than it already has. And there is no way that mainstream America (and the rest of the world) would have given full support to hi-def DVDs. As we all know, with competing formats, most people are going to hold back. (And yes, I'm eating crow right now. Please pass the salt.)

What I'd like now is to get this thing over with--officially--as quickly as possible. When that happens, and the buying public becomes fully aware of it, there will be a flood tide of consumers buying into the next generation of Home Theater. And when that happens, a whole lot more top movie titles are going to be released, along with lower prices for movies and players.

With that in mind, I'd like to see the BD camp offer some kind of financial or technological sop to the HD-DVD developers and backers, to hurry the process along. They don't have to, of course, but it would be to the public's benefit, and it would help save face for developers who could prove valuable in the future. Please feel free to give your opinion on this.