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[lbk]

I hope I'm not violating the "format wars" discussion rules, but I have a few novice questions. 1st, I've got a standard DVD player. All this time, i thought it was capable of playing high definition DVD's. Do I actually need a HD DVD player to get high def? Now I'm hearing that Blockbuster is going Blue Ray DVD's. I don't really know the difference. Can someone point me to a site that give me this info. Thanks.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Hi Bob!

Welcome aboard!

Yes, you need a High Definition player and a display capable of
supporting High Definition playback in order to take advantage of
either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.

As to the differences in each format and what to buy? That's a
difficult choice. HD-DVD players are less expensive than Blu-Ray,
but there seems to be more studio and manufacturer support behind
the Blu-Ray format.

CNET gives a rather good comparison between both formats, though
it's a bit dated.

You can also ask questions here and get most of the answers you
need, though you'll find that opinions on which format to buy will
be greatly varied as there are committed fans of both here.

Let us know how we can be of further assistance to you.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Hi Bob! Welcome!

One thing to keep in mind--even though Blockbuster may be renting blu-ray discs in their retail locations, you can still rent HD DVD in select Blockbuster locations and online from both Blockbuster and Netflix.

The article Ron pointed you to is a year old; the important change in that time is the availability of players at roughly half the price of players in 2006. The Toshiba HD-A2 can be had for under $300 (the Costco cousin, the HD-D2, is $250 and includes an HDMI cable). On the Blu-ray side, the Sony BDP-S300 retails for $500, but should street for less.

Right now, the only practical difference in the two formats is the studio support. Universal is exclusively HD DVD. Disney, Fox, and Sony are exclusively Blu-ray. Warner and Paramount support both formats, although Warner has a few titles only on HD DVD for now--like The Matrix movies.

As with early DVD, there is no Spielberg, no Star Wars, no Indiana Jones movies, no Back to the Future--yet.

But there is a growing number of catalog titles, and many new titles released each month in high definition. Some of us have all but stopped buying DVD--the last one I bought was a Springsteen concert so I could put it on my iPod--but I still ended up getting the Blu-ray disc.

Enjoy! Don't let the format war prattle scare you away!

- Steve