For those of you don't read Aint It Cool News, the syntax of that is a too-hip reference to that site. But it's true, cuz I have an HD DVD player.
It's the Venture SHD7000, which we ordered from Wal-Mart.com for $189, but I'm linking to the one on Amazon cuz just in case someone buys it, I get a few bucks.
So far, so good. I was dismayed at first: nothing would play! But it turns out that it was condensation. The player had gotten cold in shipment, and the few hours it had sat around in its box hadn't been nearly enough to get all the inside guts back up to room temperature. So there was condensation on the lenses, and possibly other problems related to the temperature, and it just wouldn't work right. It came with too excellent HD DVD discs: 300, which I love, and Bourne Identity, which is also very good, and neither of them would play but for a few minutes. I was really worried I was going to have to send the thing back or find some way to stretch and ethernet cable over to it so I could plug it into the internet and force a firmware update . . .
Oh, and welcome to the modern age, where everything from the Playstation 3 to your cable box to your DVD player is a computer that can lock up or crash or needs to be rebooted for decent performance, and may require updates that are about as complicated to pull off as a firmware update on your computer and, if something goes wrong, you can brick your DVD player or your game console. Yikes!
However, I didn't have to do the firmware update: after a few hours, everything started playing great. But there are other minor issues that I worry may be larger, in time: DRM (Digital Rights Management), or copy-protection, for one. For example, I was looking forward to seeing how regular DVDs got upsampled to our high-definition screen (I'm ashamed to say, I think it's 720p rather than 1080p, but I don't actually remember, and I should look it up but it doesn't really matter because it was the cheapest HD TV we could find so that was the one we were going to buy). But I still don't know how well it upsamples, because it didn't upsample them--because I wasn't using at HDMI cable (I'm using component video), apparently, and the default assumption for DVDs that don't have the current generation of DRM in them is that they have to be low-resolution out (it's a weird form of copy protection to prevent certain discs from going out at their highest resolution, if there is some fear it may be copied). That it does this with the regular output of DVDs and prevents upsampling . . . I don't get that. But, soon I will get an HDMI cable and see if the pictures look better in pure digital.
And here's why . . . because it's cheaper. The players are cheaper than Blu-Ray, and the next one we buy will be, too, no matter where they are in the development process. Not everything I want to see in hi-def is in HD, but neither is everything in Blu-Ray, so that's a wash. Most things, I believe, will end up on both formats. And more things will be available on HD, over time, and at better prices, because it's much easier and cheaper to retrofit existing facilities to make HD DVDs, the media is cheaper, and it's cheaper to make the readers, too. Everything about HD DVDs is easier and less expensive than Blu-Ray, so HD DVD is going to have the price advantage for a long time.
That doesn't mean that Blu-Ray is going to lose and HD DVD is going to win, only that it's going to be cheaper to own HD DVD for a long time, and the "cheaper to manufacture" makes it more likely that older titles (other than those owned by Sony) will start appearing on HD DVD earlier, and that HD DVD will enjoy greater market penetration--thus being more attractive as a market for older titles.
Blu-Ray isn't going to go the way of the Beta, though, as the more expensive and technologically superior failure. Blu-Ray will build a market as a high-capacity computer DVD technology, do more stuff to distinguish itself on the high-end for videophiles, and, of course, by the disc technology used in current and future Sony game consoles. HD DVD, however, is going to be with us for a long while, too: it's the cheaper and easier technology, market penetration will be higher, and players and media will be cheaper. As the price for Blu-Ray gets in line, it will be relatively trivial for consumers to own both formats, or buy multi-format players (right now, the only multi-format players are more expensive than buying to separate players).
So, as a consumer, I'm going with--and would have to recommend--HD DVD. Yes, it pisses me off everytime I seen a title I want that's coming out for Blu-Ray, but not HD DVD (at least, not yet). But . . . man, does 300 look sweet! And it came for free with the player.
In case I don't post again before the 25th, Merry Christmas, to all, and to all, a good night.
God bless.
Updated!! I'm Returning my HD DVD Player, And Here's Why . . .
It's not playing regular DVDs. It did for a minute and, once I had an HDMI cable plugged in, the upsampling looked really good. Not as good as the HD-DVD, but much better on the Hi-Def TV than a regular DVD player. I was stoked, then it stopped playing the disc, and wouldn't play another regular DVD. While it continued to play HD DVDs, for now, I had to decide that there is something peculiarly wrong with this particular unit (maybe in shipping, maybe exposed to extreme temperatures in shipping or too much moisture), so back it goes. I will use the credit to perhaps purchase another one. Maybe the same model (reading online convinces me that my problems may have been peculiar to my unit, not the model line overall), or maybe a different one, and hope for better luck. Still, I'm convinced HD DVD is, price/performance, still the best performance and that if Blu-Ray wins the format wars, by the time it wins definitively Blu-Ray players will be available for less than $100, so who cares?
Sigh . . . I wish it had just worked, tho.
And don't forget, Medical supplies at JRS Medical, that's a great place for medical supplies, knee walkers, foot massagers, female urinals (ewww!) and more!
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