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"Should we be waiting for High Definition?"

I was just adding things to my Amazon wishlist when it crossed my mind, 'should I wait for the High Definition version instead?'.

It wasn't long ago that my brother threw away a big pile of VHS tapes. Although we don't have DVD versions of them all, he felt he had to because they take up so much room. He literally had a wardrobe full of VHS tapes and whenever you opened the door they'd all come crashing out, making a big mess. Let me tell you, having a tower of VHS cases fall on you is a lot more painful than a tower of DVD cases. :(

We use to watch tapes all the time, atleast a hundred epsiodes of The Simpsons, Red Dwarf you name it, we'd just watch them again and again. But then DVDs came along, the prices dropped and when anime companies made the switch, we followed suit and never looked back. Now we have over 300 DVDs in our collection and it's still growing. (In December we added another 14)

Now we have High Definition, but there's a problem, we have a choice of two formats. That's right, it's the VHS vs BETAMAX thing all over again. (Please correct me if there was a rival to the DVD that lost out) Sometimes it's great to have a choice, but other times you wish you didnt have to (DVDR/RW+ DVDR/RW- *sigh*).

Blu-ray, HD-DVD I have no idea and I'm so out of touch with the latest technology that I'm not even sure who's winning. Sony are doing Blu-Ray, it sounds good and I like the idea of it being in the PS3 but then lots of people arent keen on the PS3 like they were with the PS2. Which is a shame for Sony as the PS2 was the first DVD player that a lot of people owned.

Looking on Amazon there are 33 Blu-Ray DVDs and 64 HD DVDs. Most of the good movies are on HD DVD though (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation on Blu-Ray? =S) so perhaps Sony will lose once again.

Getting back to my question, apparently these HD players should all be able to play DVDs. Which is great, because then we can carry on watching everything in our collection. But things are going to change aren't they? They'll want to release everything again in HD format.

Your Limited Edition [B]Lord of the Rings[/B] Trilogy Boxset is now obsolete. You know how the studios work, they'll bring out each episode one at a time and then release the boxset after you've forked out money for the 3 movies already.

Of course we don't have to buy the HD versions of our DVDs, but then didn't we buy these DVDs to replace VHS copies? If the prices were right could we be tempted to replace our inferior DVDs for these super duper High Definition masterpieces? Hmm I suppose it's still too early to tell but do we really need High Definition DVDs of movies like Santa Clause 3? No probably not, but I wouldnt mind having Planet Earth in High Definition, so I think I'll hold out on that one. :D

Hmm..

and maybe we could end up back where we started

This was mentioned earlier =) a hybrid DVD and a hybrid DVD player, sounds good to me.

End of the Hi-Def DVD Format War?

Warner Home Video may have found a solution to the format war between the Sony-developed Blu-ray and Toshiba's HD DVD high-definition video discs: a hybrid disc that it is called Total HD.

Today's (Thursday) New York Times reported that the one-disc-fits-all development will be announced by Warner Bros. Chairman and CEO Barry Meyer at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, which opens on Monday. In an interview with the Times, Kevin Tsujihara, president of Warner Brothers Home Entertainment Group, described the new disc as an elegant way for studios to make their content available more widely "in a way that is not conceding defeat" for whichever format they have been backing. Initially, the Times observed, the new disc would add a fourth DVD version of every available movie or TV show, but Warner is seeking to find a method for incorporating the standard DVD format on Total HD, thereby combining all formats on a single disc.

Meanwhile, South Korea's LG Electronics, said on Wednesday that it plans to unveil a player capable of playing either Blu-ray or HD DVD discs at the CES. The company provided no further details other than that the players will become available during the first quarter of this year.

That's excellent news - a Format war doesn't matter now :)

They'll be expensive to start with like all new things, but give it a year or so and the prices will start to drop.

Aw dammit, just when I see an article proving Garin wrong (again), it seems he's already corrected himself =(

Dreams Do Come True! LG's Makes World's First Blu-ray/HD DVD Dual-Format Player (Posted Yesterday)

The day we've dreamed of has finally come. No, our parents aren't getting un-divorced, nor is Timmy coming back from that "dog farm" he got sent to—LG's just announced the world's first dual-format Blu-ray/HD DVD player to be unveiled at CES. Launch? Some time in early 2007.

We cannot wait!

LG Electronics (LG), a leader in consumer electronics and mobile communicati ons, announced that it will launch the world's first dual-format high-definition disc player, capable of playing both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD content. The unit will be released in the United States in early 2007. Details will be provided at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held January 8-11 in Las Vegas.

LG expects this technological breakthrough to end the confusion and inconvenience of competing high-definition disc formats for both content producers and consumers.

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Still, this wont be cheap right? We're a year or two away from getting HD players for under £200?

HDTV has already been standard in Japan for some years, right?

I'm all for picture quality improving and so on, only problem is the people who are yet to upgrade missing out on the deadline for a changeover, as that may prove problematic... I say introduce it when the public is deemed to be ready, and hopefully with fewer people like my dad who deem fancy TV-age a waste of time!

And DVD to be replaced with HD DVD or whatever as well? Is it such a huge leap in technology, or another attempt to run off wit the loot?

Play.com and more prominently Play asia. The Asian UMD porn collection is huge, but the western world had it's fair share.

Don't count the UK in any current format decisions, we're too small to make up the minds of industry leaders for most of the consumer market for electronics, the US and Asia do most of that, Europe as a whole comes 3rd.

pb wrote:
> Geffdof wrote:
> Well thats sorted then. I can buy HD-DVDs now and play the
> regular side of the disc on my current player, then get a combo
> drive at oe time in the future incase there are any BR only
> movies that I want.
>
> The winner of the war, by the way, will be the format that has
> the backing of hte porn industry. Most technology has either
> developed due to the need of winning a war or getting hold of
> porn.
>
> So why did Sony's UMD fail, with so much porn available?

Available from where?

I don't want to buy HD movies for £10+ with a slightly enhanced quality when I can own all my favourite movies for £5-

Geffdof wrote:
> Well thats sorted then. I can buy HD-DVDs now and play the
> regular side of the disc on my current player, then get a combo
> drive at oe time in the future incase there are any BR only
> movies that I want.
>
> The winner of the war, by the way, will be the format that has
> the backing of hte porn industry. Most technology has either
> developed due to the need of winning a war or getting hold of
> porn.

So why did Sony's UMD fail, with so much porn available?