Anoth BS article posted: Sound Advice: Not backing down on HD DVD pick

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Sound Advice: Not backing down on HD DVD pick

Don Lindichspecial To The Star Tribune

Last update: November 25, 2007 – 4:42 PM
Q When you say your recommendation of HD DVD comes down to three things, I think you could actually distill it down to just No. 3. Your first reason, "Picture and sound quality are identical between formats," doesn't favor one over the other. No. 2, the lack of support for Blu-ray features in most players, is also a nonissue unless you can tell me that HD DVD has features unavailable in any Blu-ray player. So, if I follow you correctly, the only advantage of HD DVD is lower initial cost, if one discounts the higher capacity and potential of Blu-ray discs. You simply appear to dislike Sony.

STEVEN KELLY

A First, Blu-ray is backed by a group of companies, and I have nothing against Sony. In fact, I just bought its top TV and admire the many contributions it has made to the world of television. I am not a Blu-ray fan, though, and do not deny it. I have good reasons for feeling the way I do about HD DVD vs. Blu-ray.

HD DVD players do have features that Blu-ray players lack: mandatory picture-in-picture decoders and Web interactivity.

With picture-in-picture, you can open a second video stream with features such as director's commentary and behind-the-scenes looks at how the action sequences were made while you watch the actual scene unfold in the main picture. With Web interactivity, you can connect your HD DVD player to an Ethernet Web connection and download fresh content to enhance your discs. To see an interactivity demo, check out the Look and Sound of Perfect (www.thelookandsoundofperfect.com.

Blu-ray is just now announcing stand-alone players that can do picture-in-picture, and that is a lone model from Panasonic. The promised Web interactivity, BD-Live, is not available on any Blu-ray players, although developers are working on it. Others are starting to speak up about this. Clint DeBoer, editor-in-chief of Audioholics.com, had this to say on his blog:

"HD DVD is a completed spec. Blu-ray is a 'we're not done yet; gimme just a few more months and maybe we'll get it completed' spec. Let me repeat that: Blu-ray does not offer the same features as HD DVD, and the HD DVD features have been ready since Day 1. There is currently no player on the market (as of this writing, though they are coming out prior to the holidays) that handles dual stream video and BD Profile 1.1. For some odd reason, the TV commercials don't tell you this."

Blu-ray can certainly deliver a wonderful experience, and I don't want anyone to think otherwise. As I said, both formats have terrific video and sound quality. You can get a lot more for your money elsewhere, though. HD DVD's advanced features, affordability and universally supported completed spec make it an easy recommendation.

These strong advantages far outweigh Blu-ray's extra disc space. To its credit, Blu-ray's additional capacity does provide more opportunities to use better-sounding audio tracks (lossless compression), but few people have systems that can reveal the differences, and even then they would be minor if the track is well done. As it is, plenty of HD DVDs have lossless audio tracks.