Joseph Bolus
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Feb 4, 1999
- Messages
- 2,780
Because it could be years before the title is available on HD-DVD!
Just look, for example, at some new contemporary movies that will be coming out this Fall: Movies like Cars, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, X-MEN 3, and others. If your HD equipment right now consists of just HD-DVD, you *know* that it could well be 12-18 months (or even *never*) before these Disney/Fox titles come to your format.
Your choices then consist of:
1. Purchase Blu-ray playback equipment in addition to HD-DVD. This would mean paying double the asking price of HD-DVD equipment for a format that has yet to prove itself.
-or-
2. Purchase the standard SD-DVD at a minimal cost (typically $16 or less) and let the excellent upconversion of the Tosh HD-A1 do its job until a HD-DVD equivalent is available. It's sad, but right now upconverted SD-DVD on the HD-DVD Tosh players looks just about as good as many extant Blu-ray discs.
Even if you own both HD-DVD and Blu-ray (as many of us will when the inevitable combo decks become available) there will be times when you still may want to purchase SD-DVD titles. If, for example, The African Queen were to be released this year to just SD-DVD I wouldn't hesitate to purchase it.
It needs to be remembered that DVD is a *mature* format and is still the format of choice for the majority of consumers purchasing movies on optical disc. As such, there will still be many additional releases of catalog titles that will available only on DVD for at least the next 24 months. If the movie that you're a big fan of is released only on DVD (or on DVD and Blu-ray while your format of choice is HD-DVD or vice-versa with Universal titles) then I would just go ahead and purchase it and enjoy it.
But "your mileage may vary", of course!