The HD-DVD vs. Blue-Ray war confuses consumers
The war between HD-DVD and Blue-Ray entered a next stage with the announcements of Paramount and Dreamworks to publish their lineup exclusively on HD-DVD. Rumors soon spread around the Internet that both companies were receiving payments (Paramount $50 million dollars, Dreamworks $100 million dollars) from HD supporters to make this decision.
The situation is currently the following: Paramount and Universal will publish their movies exclusively on HD-DVD while Disney, Fox, Sony, Lionsgate and MGM publish theirs exclusively on Blue-Ray. Time Warner seems to be the only movie company that is producing movies for both HD formats.
While the companies are battling for the one true format consumers are confused and left with choices that they can't make at the moment. No one wants to pay hundreds of dollars for a nHD player if that player will be obsolete in a few years. Remember the Beta / VHS fiasco back then ?
The best choice at the moment is to wait in my opinion and buy the movies on DVD which is the only format that will see all movie releases from all companies. If you already made a purchase you can enjoy some of the movies in HD but will have to rely on DVDs to be able to watch the other movies.
I'm really happy that I do not have an HD television yet and no desire to buy an Xbox 360 with HD drive or a PS3 with Blue-Ray in the near future. I have all the time in the world to wait and see how this war continues. Will it be decided by money or by the choice of the consumers?
Update: The so-called HD format war is over. HD-DVD has lost it and is no longer available as a format. All movie companies and producers are now publishing their movies on DVD and Blu-Ray.
It is interesting to note that Blu-Ray is still not performing that well considering that it is the only format left standing. This may have something to do with the universal acceptance of the DVD format, and that DVD movies are a lot cheaper than Blu-Ray movies.
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I’m really happy that I do not have an HD television yet and no desire to buy an Xbox 360 with HD drive or a PS3 with Blue-Ray in the near future. I have all the time in the world to wait and see how this war continues.
Yeah! Me too. As Russians say – “signing under every word”.
Hi Martin,
I was actually looking into the matter since I am about to buy an ASUS 5920 Laptop and I am unsure if to get it with an HD-DVD(200€ more)drive or not.
What do you think?
Treshold, unless you really want to watch HD-DVD movies on your notebook I would wait and save the money.
It is in my opinion way to early to buy on of the devices.
Thanks Martin,
The main reason I wished to get an HD DVD was to archive stuff on disks although I would have preferred a Blue Ray for the larger capacity.
I will probably wait since virgin disks cost still a fortune.
I wonder if it will lately be possible to substitute the DVD drive.
Is it possible on Laptops like on Desktops?
this dude doesnt even own an HD tv. give me a break. im still waiting to see what microwave company comes out on top before i buy one. HDDVD is 200 bucks, GO GET ONE! if for some strange reason they lose you can still use it as a DVD player and give to your grandma as a gift. good DVD players today are not much below 200 dollars anyway so its not like waiting till HD wins will save you a bunch of $. do like i do and use Netflix so you dont invest too much in a library that MIGHT not work in the future.