DVDstruction - 5 reasons your HD-DVDs are still good

[Rs0n1sT]

No need to convert to Blu-ray just yet

We like movies. You like movies. And we have game systems that play movies. In our first week, we look at the current Hi-Def format war. Next week, we’ll start picking the best movies to buy. Fear not loyal readers: we won’t jump the shark by talking about other things like slam poetry and muscle cars.

The high-definition DVD format war has reached a new fever pitch. Coming off the heels off the recent announcement that Warner Bros. (producers of the Harry Potter franchise, also: Batman) announced Blu-ray exclusivity come June 1st. The only two major Hollywood studios supporting HD-DVD at the moment are Paramount (Transformers and all things Dreamworks) and Universal (Children of Men). Recent rumblings suggest both studios are shifting their focus to Blu-ray. Sadly, we’re almost completely positive that HD-DVD will fizzle out by the end of the year, leaving early adopters high and dry.



What does this mean to you? Is your HD-DVD copy of Transformers useless? Why did Hollywood screw you over? Don’t fret HD-DVD loyalist, ‘cause we’ve compiled five reasons why your HD-DVDs are perfectly fine.

1) They still play movies
Just because Blu-ray’s taking over, doesn’t mean your current batch of HD-DVDs will magically dissipate. We have this dumb completist tendency to think that every collection from music to movies must be perfectly arranged on a shelf, while your VHS tapes and minidiscs rot away in your garage. Is the sole reason you want to re-purchase Planet Earth on Blu-ray because you don’t want to go through the hassle of hooking up a separate player? Sure, you’ll have to buy a Blu-ray player eventually but that’s the price you pay for adopting to the format so damn early. Why not embrace what you have? Which leads us to…

2) Plenty of titles - soon to be cheap
As of the end of 2007, there were around 350 HD-DVDs retailing in the US. How much you wanna bet that people are selling these by the crap load on eBay and Craigslist? Be sure to check around places that might be selling used HD-DVDs as well. We’re sure general retailers will continue to stock at full price for the rest of the year, but trust us that once no one’s buying this format, that’s when prices will lower dramatically. Amazon.com’s already slashing prices making this the perfect time to start a collection.

3) HD-DVD looks better
Remember when we said both formats were identical? Scratch that. The PS3 is as far as we know, the only web-enabled Blu-ray player, which allows for firmware upgrades. Most, if not all HD-DVD players have internet capability built in allowing for firmware upgrades constantly. Meaning, if you have a regular Blu-ray player - not PS3 - then your video resolution won’t look as good as any HD-DVD player. Of course, that will change in the future, but for the time being you can rest easy knowing you have the best looking version of The Order of the Phoenix.


4) HD-DVDs are region-free
Unlike Sony’s insistence on controlling each market, HD-DVD could care less where you buy the DVDs from. What does this mean? 1) You can nab foreign movies before they’re released in the US. 2) You can buy American movies that haven’t come out here yet. And 3) you can get movies on HD that are normally Blu-ray only because that exclusivity stuff deals mainly with America. This means Fox, Lionsgate and more are available for your newly purchased outdated technology.

5) Early Blu-ray players won’t play future discs
Remember when we said the PS3 is the only web-enabled Blu-ray player? To keep costs low at the Blu-ray launch, early players were apparently built without foresight in mind. Starting this October, newer players will support web capability, royally screwing early adopters. Oh and that HD-DVD player you own? That’ll still play every HD-DVD. Suck on that, Blu-ray.

Remember, regular ol’ DVDs are pretty sweet too.

More info
If you’re super late to the party, let’s catch ya’ll up to speed: there are two hi-def DVDs competing for your wallet - HD-DVD and Blu-ray. Your PS3 plays Blu-ray movies. Your Xbox 360 can play HD-DVD with an optional drive at $180 and regular DVDs are backwards compatible for each HD player. In a nutshell, the two formats are essentially the same (except Blu-ray can hold about 20GB more); creating video resolutions up to 1080p (ask your Dad) on that gigantic HDTV you struggle to afford. Movies look better, sound louder and make all your friends envious.

For more information on the Hi-Def DVD war, we recommend these sites:
Hddvd.org
DVDtalk
Blu-ray.com

[1PlayaPIMP1]

or you can stick to plain old dvds for now which are the cheapest. and in the long run blu-ray is the obvious winner. its just like the beta vs vhs and vhs won now its hd-dvd vs blu-ray and blu-ray gonna win.

[Rs0n1sT]

werd up, & Remember, regular ol’ DVDs are pretty sweet too.

[1PlayaPIMP1]

hell yea. i have way too many dvds to make a complete switch now. im going to keep buying dvds until they die off but than they will be soo damn cheap ill still buy all the old dvds and just buy the new releases on blu ray. i still remember when vhs kicked betas ass all the video stores and rentals where selling all the betas for like a dollar and doing all these crazy ass deals. they'll eventually do that with dvds and dvds are fucking awesome and beta is wack so i can't wait. walmart already sells good/classic dvds for 3-5 dollars.

[Grahf16]

Uhh, you do know that Bluray and HD DVD players play regular movies too right?

Regular DVD's suck if you have an HDTV. I guess you're the sucker since me and everybody else I know bootleg all of their standard def DVD's.

[kharmon]

The last two bullet points fail.

Bluray is region free.

the new bluray disks will come with the firmware update on the disks like the bluray games so you dont need internet to upgrade.

Gametrailers.com - The DownFall of HD-DVD by SharinganX

[jigga]

how are we still on about Blu ray and HD DVD.. they both lost..

[Grahf16]

Well, it's a substandard, unlike DVD.

[Grahf16]

Originally Posted by kharmon

The last two bullet points fail.

Bluray is region free.

the new bluray disks will come with the firmware update on the disks like the bluray games so you dont need internet to upgrade.

Gametrailers.com - The DownFall of HD-DVD by SharinganX

Bluray is not region free, a lot of the discs are "ALL REGION", but some of them are still region coded...

Source

HD DVD has NO region coding whatsoever.

As for your second comment, that might be the case, but there is still no denying that Bluray relies too heavily on use of the internet.

[Lieutenant]

Most, if not all HD-DVD players have internet capability built in allowing for firmware upgrades constantly.

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