High Def Disc News!

Here's a clipping from USD Today:
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In a stunning announcement Warner Bros. Studios announced today that they will be releasing High Definition DVD Discs exclusively in the Blu-Ray Format. They will continue to release titles in the HD-DVD format thru May, but those releases will come after the Blu-Ray and Standard Definition releases.

"The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers," Warner Bros Chairman and Chief Executive Barry Meyer said in a statement.

Warner Bros is the biggest seller of DVD's with an 18 to 20% market share. in the United States. They were one of the few studios that backed both formats.


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Note also that Blockbuster only rents Blu-Ray.

Comments: While both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray provide excellent HD picture and sound, it seems sort of dumb that consumers face a 'choice'. We quote 'choice' because the choice of which player to buy will be mostly driven by two things: price of the player itself and availability of your favorite movies. If you want the new Bladerunner Collector's Edition 5 disc set, you'll be buying a Blu-Ray player, for example.

But don't forget these cautions: Neither HD-DVD nor Blu-Ray players work very well. Yes, they play videos well, but both take up to 2 minutes to load a new disc, and menu systems continue to be clunky and glitchy with reported lock-ups on both systems. If you are like us, we expect fast response from pressing remote control buttons, and that spells frustration for a new user of either HD disc format player.

Don't forget the "third option"! A good up-converting standard DVD player. Our favorite are those by Oppo (sold direct). They are inexpensive, and convert standard DVDs to stunning, if slightly less than true HD, 1080p signals. Don't underestimate the power of these units! If you have a 50" HD screen, a well up-converted standard DVD will amaze you to the point you will forget it's not true HD. That means your existing library of standard DVDs is fully enjoyable on your HD screen. If you have a really large screen, like 80" or more, or sit very close, you may notice that a up-converted DVD isn't as good as a true HD disc. But for most viewers, it's quite good enough. At least, we expect it to hold us over until whatever format wins has players that are reliable, responsive, and not frustrating to use. At least we know of no standard DVD player that, after a firmware update from its manufacturer, refuses to play a particular HD disc at all! That's what happened to one of our clients with a Panasonic Blu-Ray player and one of his early BD movies. Yes, there's a lot of work to be done.