Why I might be going format neutral soon and might start buying HD DVD movies

[HDTV1080P]

Why I most likely will be going format neutral soon and might start buying HD-DVD movies

I have been a movie collector for many years. I have never collected analog NTSC VHS movies since BETA has a better picture quality. I no longer own BETA anymore. My current collection contains several Laserdiscs, standard DVD’s, 1080I HDTV D-VHS, and BLU-RAY. I have always upgraded my favorite movies to the best version regardless of format.
The reason I am currently 100% behind the BLU-RAY format owning only BLU-RAY discs and no HD-DVD discs is because the BLU-RAY format technically is the best format. When 1080P/24 movies with 7.1 PCM surround sound is mastered on a 50GB disc using high bit MPEG-4/AVC or high bit rate VC-1 the quality is outstanding. BLU-RAY technically has more capacity and supports higher bit rates compared to the HD-DVD format. The old 1080I D-VHS format uses 50GB tapes which is the same capacity of BLU-RAY. It is a shame that the HD-DVD format only has 30GB of storage for movies. Yes both the BLU-RAY and HD-DVD camps plan to offer higher capacity discs but the fact remains that no matter how many layers used the BLU-RAY format will always have more capacity for high bit rate movies. Each layer of BLU-RAY disc contains 25GB compared to each layer of a HD-DVD disc is only 15GB.
This summer I almost upgraded all my DVD players to BLU-RAY players. Since Universal Studios use to be the only exclusive movie studio which was supporting HD-DVD it made perfect sense to go BLU-RAY only and to boycott Universal Studios as long as they remained HD-DVD exclusive. I was very busy this summer and I ended up delaying my plans to upgrade all my DVD players I own with under $500 BLU-RAY players. Now I am very glad I did not upgrade all my DVD players to BLU-RAY players with the recent announcement of Paramount Pictures joining Universal Studios and going HD-DVD exclusive.
There is no way I am going to purchase both a HD-DVD and BLU-RAY player for every room in the house I have a TV set. Also 90% of the mainstream consumers are not going to upgrade all their DVD players with two separate HDTV players. The most logical solution in this format war is for consumers to upgrade all their standard DVD players to a working combo player. The studios make the finally decision on which HDTV format they want to support. If I could wave a magic wand yes I wish the HD-DVD format would die, but at the same time most people are not going to boycott Universal Studios and Paramount Pictures for two years. The HD-DVD format does not have as good of picture quality as BLU-RAY since it does not support super high bit rates up to 48MB per second for both audio and video. The HD-DVD format can still display some amazing HDTV quality even though it is second best when compared to BLU-RAY high bit movies.
I am strongly considering purchasing the Samsung BD-UP5000 which is suppose to be the worlds first true working Universal combo player that plays both BLU-RAY and HD-DVD discs. Yes the BD-UP5000 is going to cost around $400 more just for the added feature to play HD-DVD discs at 1080P/24 compared to Samsung’s BD-P2400 which is a BLU-RAY only player. The BD-UP5000 will be Samsung’s top of the line flagship product and I might wait for a professional review before purchasing it. So coming this November consumers will have a choice to purchase either a BLU-RAY, HD-DVD, or Universal dual format player. Since the Samsung BD-UP5000 is going to list for $999.99 (prior list price $1049) this is a good deal. Denon will be releasing a BLU-RAY only player for $2,000 list price and the Pioneer BLU-RAY player lists for $999.99. So for $1,000 cheaper then the Denon one can own a dual format Samsung player. Of course the Denon player in theory will be better quality compared to the Samsung.
In the 4th quarter of 2008 (perhaps sooner) we should start to see a flood of Universal dual format combo players on the market for under $500 that play both BLU-RAY and HD-DVD discs. One of these days I might be tempted to upgrade all my DVD players to working dual format players since the BLU-RAY camp does not have 100% studio support.

This possible will be the next HDTV player I will own in November.
http://www.abtelectronics.com/images/products/PDF_Files/BD-UP5000_specs.pdf