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Is Blu-ray any less dead than HD DVD?

So, Warner Bros has decided to switch camps and go over to Blu-ray. Tech pundits the world over rejoice and claim that the format wars are now over. But in the long run is Blu-ray any less dead than HD DVD?
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer

So, Warner Bros has decided to switch camps and go over to Blu-ray.  Tech pundits the world over rejoice and claim that the format wars are now over.  But in the long run is Blu-ray any less dead than HD DVD?

Unlike many others, I don't see high definition video as "the next big step" or "the best thing since the last best thing."  You can't put HD DVD and Blu-ray in the same category as video tape or the CD.  The audio CD and VHS (and, for that matter, Betamax) offered the consumer access to technology that just wasn't available before.  When DVD then came along to supersede the VHS cassette, the format bought a new dimension to home entertainment.  There was huge benefits to the consumers who chose to cut adrift VHS and embrace DVD - much improved image quality, a more compact format, more features, greater durability.  I still remember the day I bought my first DVD player - I instantly realized that this would change the face of home entertainment - and it did.

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But what does the jump from DVD to either HD DVD or Blu-ray bring to the consumer?  OK, they will experience better picture quality, but this comes at a price.  Unlike when VHS hammered Betamax into submission, the cheaper of the two formats won.  In the Blu-ray vs. HD DVD slug-out, it seems that the more expensive of the two formats won.  Also, hi-def relies on the consumer having to buy a whole raft of new kit, rather than just a player.  Then there's the DRM.  While that's not going to put off the masses who feed at the trough, it's likely to dampen enthusiast interest.

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Over the next few months it'll be interesting to find out if:

  • HD DVD is really dead
  • Whether it really was "format wars" that was making consumers shy away from hi-def, or is it something else - cost perhaps?

Thoughts?

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