A Death Blow in the Format War?

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Added: Mon. Jan 07, 2008 9:31am
Posted in: Movies

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I''m a big movie buff, with 300 or so DVDs, as well as a very well-used Netflix subscription. I love High-Def TV and movies, but hesitated to buy into Blu-Ray or HD-DVD for fear of picking the wrong side in a format war. My family sided with BetaMax in the 80's and I really resented VHS for a very long time (the picture quality is terrible on VHS!) I'm a somewhat early adopter of technology, but I try to wait until prices come down on the new stuff. I waited until last August to buy a ($500)Playstation 3 video game console, and would've waited longer had my ($200) PS2 not died suddenly and without warning. The PS3 plays blu-ray discs (both Playstation and Blu-Ray are Sony products), and I love the superb picture quality, but still resisted buying expensive ($25-35) Blu-Ray DVDs because I feared that in a few years they may be just as dead as BetaMax was around 1987. Now there is news that Blu-Ray has been greatly outselling HD-DVDs for months, and more home video studios are exclusively releasing in "normal" DVDs and Blu-Rays, not HD-DVD. Warner Bros. had been making movies in all 3 formats, but just last weekend announced they were dumping HD-DVD and sticking with standard DVDs and Blu-Rays only. Being a Blu-Ray guy, I'm somewhat relieved, although the HD-DVD guys aren't giving up yet.

http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=20055

What do you think? Do most people even care? I LOVE Blu-Rays, but are standard definition DVDs enough for most people? By the way, if you have any questions about music, tv, or home video technologies, shoot me a message. I don't have all the answers, but I'll do my best to find the truth. My Mother just told me yesterday how intimidated she was the last time she stepped into Best Buy. I told her to HAVE NO FEAR. Technology is your friend.