About six months back I began to really cut back on my consumption of DVDs - especially new ones. My expectation was that by now, both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD would be going at it, head-to-head in the aisles of your local electronics store. If you’ve visited a local electronics retailer lately you’ll notice that people aren’t exactly pushing each other down to get that new HD player or the new HD disc that just came out on Tuesday. Why do consumers, including early adopters like myself, have so little interest in high def discs?

1. There’s a war going on. And not the one in Iraq. You would think after expensive costs of VHS or Betamax, or more recently DVD-Audio vs. SACD (where everyone lost), that companies would at least establish a standard, just like DVD. But the industry has forced consumers to play the wait and see game, at their own expense and wasted shelf space for the retailers. How long will it take before those bright new Blu-Ray titles are relegated to the same area of Best Buy that now holds the DVD-Audio discs?

2. How do you hook this thing up, anyway? The reality is that while millions of people have purchased monitors capable of displaying HD, my guess is that less than 20% have actually proceeded to purchase and properly connect the HD cable box, the HD satellite receiver or a HD OTA receiver. In many cases consumers with these higher definition displays have not even connected their old DVD player using th best possible connection - forget digital, do they even have component working yet? If they have, then their next thought is, well this is so good why would I need to get any better quality? Because they still haven’t seen HD in their home on their HD set.

3. Starting with one hand tied behind their back because of their self-imposed format war, the home entertainment industry then shoots itself in the foot by forcing broadcast flags on HD content and down rezzing their product if there isn’t a complete digital connection between components. This is not a good move since that HDTV you paid a fortune for in 2002 or 2003 doesn’t have the PROPER connector and will not display 1080p or even 720p, but good ol’ standard DVD resolution! Aren’t you glad you made the switch to HD so early! Enjoy your rewards. So it wasn’t bad enough that the industry looked foolish by creating CSS for DVDs that a 16 yr old kid cracked with code that is actually shorter than this post. Now they are trying again to protect high definition content with simiar schemes and dreams that will only alienate their consumers further and cause more of us to stand back and see what happens.

4. New resolution and new sound formats: While I’ve been pleased with my DTS and DD5.1 surround sound for years, now I’m seeing that both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray Discs have two or three different (New!) sound options never encountered before. Which is wonderful. Can’t wait to hear it! Of course that means I now need a new receiver capable of DTS-HD or what ever the dolby labs came up with to fill seven speakers with sound. Guess that means I’m buying more speakers too. And its not just about all those speakers (and wiring) filling your home, good luck finding an affordable receiver today with the proper digital connections that will handle these new/future HD sound formats. Yet another reason for us to wait, all the while enjoying already wonderful 5.1 surround sound or high bit rate stereo.

5. While I would have cast my bet for Sony and the Blu-Ray camp to win six months back, in the end I’m not ready to put my own money on the line. From delayed launches, to recent laptop battery recalls, to delays with the PS3 (also a Blu-Ray device) and now blue laser diode shortages, the entire Sony/Blu-Ray camp seems to be the longshot in this race. I recently read a story about the BR players in laptops being different than the set-tops and NOT having the ability to play some of the commercial BR movies! So if war between HD formats wasn’t enough, now you need to worry about which form of Blu-Ray you buy? Sorry. Don’t think so. While I had been hoping to see a MacMini at some point this year with a BR drive, I will still be VERY hesitant about that investment with all of the other issues outlined here.

Ultimately, the battle for Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD will not be won on the fronts of Circuit City or Best Buy, but in the high end (Tweeter?) and locally owned AV shops that cater to the true audio/videophiles. The households with $50-$100K home theater systems will make the call on what will be the premium video format. It will be just like 1985 all over again where the average person was fine with quality of the VHS tape, but the movie buffs were shelling out $30-$40 for their favorite movie on laserdisc. In the meantime I’m going to make the best of my 5.1 480p DVDs and enjoy the free over-the-air HDTV content. I will probably even begin buying DVDs again since it will likely be years before I commit to any such HD format strangeness.

-pjc

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 2nd, 2006 at 5:25 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.