The Battle Continues...

The war continues. In one corner, we have the underdog, struggling against corporate deals and unpopularity. In the other corner, we have the rich kid. With everything in life paid for, and popular amongst the right people, this guy's got it made... or has he?

If you are by now deeply confused by the relevance of this strange paragraph, don't fret. All will be revealed. I speak, of course, of the immense battle between BluRay and HD-DVD. Duh, as if you couldn't get it by that. n00b.

Bluray looks cooler, sounds cooler, and definitely has more support. It holds more space, and what's more, comes in a pretty blue box. HD-DVD, on the other hand, has backwards compatibility going for it. Going to a friends house who doesn't havd HDDVD? That's fine, flip the disk and it'll work, no questions asked. Oh, and HD-DVD is cheaper, although not really sold in Australia.

There is a slight issues that I see with this whole debate. The fact that people have only just caught on to the DVD thing and still use their old TVs would actually mean that HD disks are pointless - they'll be downscalled and look the same. Speaking of TV's, how many 1080p panels are out in the wild? <10%, I understand.

What's more is that DVDs still look very good on a 42" 720p plasma. When we first got "Happy Feet" just after I set up the dvd player with the right connections, I was amazed at the briliant picture quality. Just think of how much better it'll be with Ratatuille!

So, in short, to get a HD format, I'd be paying 3-4 times the price for the disk, ~$1000 for a player, at least $3500 for a 1080p display to improve something that already looks fantastic? Hmm....

But, one day one of these formats will break through. I'd personally prefer blueray, due to it's larger theoretical limit of 100gb compared to HDDVD's 80GB. But I also hate Sony (despite owning the first 2 playstation generations) due to it's DRM (Digital "Rights" Management) policy. But that's a whole other topic.

Personally, I can't see the point of anyone upgrading to full HD at this stage. Having looked at 720p and 1080p side by side, I can't really tell much difference unless I'm really close. And who's going to watch a TV from less that a metre away? The only advantage is 70"+ (ie projectors). Even then, 720p looks fantastic.

This is not to say that I don't want a HD format. For from it, I want 50gb backup disks for my PC. But at $600AU for a BD drive, plus the expensive disks, I think it'll be more cost effective to buy an external backup drive.

Anyway, only time will tell if people agree with me, but in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the briliant exchange rate and continue to use DVD.