HappySqurriel said:
"Better" is questionable ... The main thing Blu-Ray has going for it is capacity while HD-DVD is far more affordable; if you want to take price out of the equation wouldn't a 1-Terabyte Hard-Drive be the "Best" if Blu-Ray is "Better"? The fact is that this format war will become far more interesting when HD-DVD players are less than $100 and the cheapest Blu-Ray player is still the PS3 at $300 or $400. |
Far more affordable? More affordable, yes, but far more affordable? Hardly.
You can get the Samsung BD-P1400 for $370 at many retailers now, while the cheapest HD DVD standalone, the Toshiba A-3, is around $230.
People seem to be under the impression that Blu-Ray will always be expensive. Blu-Ray standalone players have come down almost $700 in only a year. By Holiday '08, Blu-Ray players will be well under $200.
HD DVD is only more affordable right now, and that only matters to the 20% of the population that owns an HDTV right now, and even then, far less than that 20% are considering adopting HDM right now.
In the end price means nothing, as current DVD pricing will eventually be the norm for both formats, should they stick around long enough. And they will probably be pretty damn close to those prices before even 50% of the nation thinks about adopting one format or the other.
Also, even HD DVD's current price advantage is debatable, as many HD DVD movies are more expensive than their Blu-Ray counteparts. Dual format Warner titles often cost $5 more on HD DVD, as they come on a combo disc, and other Blu-Ray studios like Disney and Sony occasionally have buy one get one free deals, something that the HD DVD side rarely does. What do you want, cheaper players or cheaper movies?
In the end, Blu-Ray's capacity and bitrates win out for me since, in the end, price will be a moot point. Did you know that all of the extras on the Blu-Ray version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix are in HD, yet they're only in SD on HD DVD? Not to mention, the Blu-Ray version has an extra 45 min. A&E special on the disc. Capacity matters, a lot.
