Blu-ray vs HD-DVD - a hard-fought war of over two years and we finally have a winner. The Blue team (Blu-ray) will be the High Definition movie format for the future.
So what tilted the scales?
Well, the war was on since the studio giants were split between the two sides. First Warner switched camps to Blu-Ray, closely followed by Paramount and Dreamworks. The doom was then imminent. Was only a matter of time for Toshiba, the founding father of HD DVD, to accept
defeat.
So what happens to the millions of HD DVD players in the market?
Firstly it will take time for the umpteen manufacturers of HD DVD players to absorb the loss and shelve their products. Luckily the players are now being sold as Upscaling DVD players which provide better resolution/clarity with normal DVDs. So if you've already bought one at an exorbitant price, just bite your tongue and use it as upscaling/normal DVD player.
Now that the battle is over, should I just run over to the nearest CircuitCity store and pick up a Blu-Ray player?
Well - no! The battle being over is far from Blu-Ray becoming an accepted industrial standard.
- The players are still extremely expensive (300-400$) and you can do well to wait for the price to drop.
- Unlike HD-DVD, the Blu-Ray standard is still evolving and far from being complete.
- Tons of Blu-Ray players currently in the market are 1.0 standard players which do not even support an upgradable feature. So what you buy now may become an obsolete device in a year!
So what tilted the scales?
Well, the war was on since the studio giants were split between the two sides. First Warner switched camps to Blu-Ray, closely followed by Paramount and Dreamworks. The doom was then imminent. Was only a matter of time for Toshiba, the founding father of HD DVD, to accept
defeat.
So what happens to the millions of HD DVD players in the market?
Firstly it will take time for the umpteen manufacturers of HD DVD players to absorb the loss and shelve their products. Luckily the players are now being sold as Upscaling DVD players which provide better resolution/clarity with normal DVDs. So if you've already bought one at an exorbitant price, just bite your tongue and use it as upscaling/normal DVD player.
Now that the battle is over, should I just run over to the nearest CircuitCity store and pick up a Blu-Ray player?
Well - no! The battle being over is far from Blu-Ray becoming an accepted industrial standard.
- The players are still extremely expensive (300-400$) and you can do well to wait for the price to drop.
- Unlike HD-DVD, the Blu-Ray standard is still evolving and far from being complete.
- Tons of Blu-Ray players currently in the market are 1.0 standard players which do not even support an upgradable feature. So what you buy now may become an obsolete device in a year!
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