HD-DVD owner's opinion of Blu-ray...

[ADWyatt]

As an historian and Objectivist, I'm amazed to see a tug-of-war between BD and HD-DVD supporters in their opinions regarding software sales figures, with both camps doing a superb job of skewing numbers to support their point-of-view.

Although I've been an ardent HD-DVD supporter for a long time, agreeing with my fellow advocates that HD would have been the unquestionably-preferred format if all studios had released titles for both technologies from the beginning, would-have-could-have means nothing in the light of present-day reality. The fact of the matter is that more heavyweight titles are being released for BD than HD in the near and foreseeable future, and among them are must-haves that I suspect will cause a growing number of HD videophiles to add a BD player to their Home Theater outfit. All other things being equal, percentages mean nothing in this format war. What matters is how many preferred titles are available, and how many are soon to come. And in this regard, BD is obviously now predominant, while holding strong movie aces that it hasn't even begun to talk about.

Even so, I don't believe HD owners would begin to consider BD if the technology hadn't arrived. Considering the player glitches of the first hardware release (and to be objective, I had to buy three HD-DVD players before I found one that was glitch-free, even after a seemingly-endless array of software updates), and the poor quality of the first BD movies (And yes, to again be objective, HD has had its share of pound pooches, with movies like 'Excalibur' and 'Spartacus' leading the way.), combined with the fact that there were far fewer titles available for BD initially, I'm somewhat surprised that the format survived beyond the embryonic stage. HD-DVD actually had to rescue BD from drowning, and it did so magnificently. By refusing to release enough top-quality movies when they were the only game in town, by Universal's insane policy of releasing expensive 'flipper' movies, by not releasing an X-Box add-on on a timely basis, by making an expensive $1,000 1080p unit, by refusing to compete directly with BD at the recent CES show, and by releasing nothing more than a trickle of movies in the foreseeable future, they proved to be BD's biggest supporter.

And now, despite its slow start, BD quality at its best is now on a par with HD, and when the second-generation BD players arrive very shortly, they could perhaps provide slightly better video quality for similarly-priced units. Add to this the fact that BD is now beginning to use superior codec to MPEG 2, along with 50GIG discs, and BD will be soon be a chef that provides meals just as dazzling as HD, if it doesn't already.

Financially, as well, with studios exclusive to BD appearing to be solidly united behind the format, while an increasing number of PS3 owners will be buying HDTVs, it no longer appears that buying into BD will be any kind of risk, however slight that risk might have been. I say that because it's well known that Sony has had some serious financial losses in the recent past.

As for HD-DVD, I believe that it will be around for several more years at least, as they do have some big titles that won't be available on BD. Of course, I'd hate to see the dead and dying on the battlefield when BD releases the 'Star Wars' epics, and Disney swings into action with their heavyweight fare, but I don't believe that will happen for some time yet. Assuming that HD ultimately dies (and a high-quality hybrid player may show how silly this war is, with the result that both formats may yet merge), I wonder how many people here will give HD its due. Honestly, how good would BD be right now if not for HD? How much would it really have improved, and just how fast would the improvements come? To answer this question objectively, I would ask some of you to put your 'fanboy' attitudes in your back pocket, and put both feet squarely on the ground. Companies are run by people, with all of their inherent flaws, not by machines.

In the meantime, I'm patiently waiting for the arrival of the second-gen BD players, one of which I will buy, to be properly initiated with 'Casino Royale.' Yes, I will exercise patience as I wait, another term for 'Expertly-Disguised Frustration.'