Hi-Def buying strategy question (1 Viewer)

[Torquil]

All - I've been very impressed by all your comments on the blu-ray vs hd-dvd debate.

I've finally entered the HD scene in the most "toe-in-the-water"/cost effective sense by buying the hd-dvd add-on for the xbox360 - and will be buying the PS3 aswell when it's out here in the UK at the end of March, mainly because it's the cheapest available blu-ray player - not that bothered by the fact it plays games too.

I have to say, given hardware out there and about to hit the market, and the catalogue (both existing and promised) my gut feel is that blu-ray will win. However, Universal will only support HDDVD (at least for the next year).

So my strategy is to buy only blu-ray discs excepting those titles produced by Universal, which I'll obviously buy on HD-DVD. My thought here is that I'll only have to replace those discs when Universal capitulates and starts producing blu-ray. Let me know your thoughts.

The other thing I'd like your views on is whether or not I should be buying the discs from the US, where they're about half the price? Will region coding go ahead? Will the xbox/ps3 play them? Will region free players crop up in the same way as for standard def?

thanks all.
TW

 

[Jason Seaver]

Supposedly, even if HD-DVD implements region coding in the future, current devices won't recognize it.

 

[Paul Hillenbrand]

Your strategy is very much in-line with my own gut feelings and I have recently been doing basically, the same kind of purchasing plan.

Paul

 

[Chad A Wright]

I purchased the HD-DVD player for Xbox 360 but am holding off on buying a Blu-Ray player. I do believe that Blu-Ray will eventually win, but I managed to get the 360 add-on for $120. That combined with a Netflix subscription is a shockingly cheap way to jump in to HD. I'll eventually add a Blu-Ray player when they come down in price a little. The $400 range is about as high as I want to go. I may get a PS3 because you get a game system along with the player, but the 360 takes up what little game playing time I have.

So I'll have the Blu-Ray player and those discs will make up the majority of my HD collection. I'll always have the HD-DVD for the 360, which is a relatively small player and I don't mind keeping it around for the dozen or so HD-DVDs I have purchased.