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So, you know that there are two kinds of next generation DVD? Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. Well, it looks pretty likely that Blu-Ray is about to win and HD-DVD will be dropped. So if you've got a hi-def TV and you want to get a hi-def DVD player to go with it, get a Blu-Ray one. Personally, I'm just wondering what's going to happen to the price of HD-DVD players and discs when all new production and investment ceases and you can't buy them in shops any more. I quite like the idea of snapping up a thousand-pound player for a tenth of that, and buying a few handfuls of hi-def discs for less than the price of standard DVDs. Of course I'll have to go a long way to match my friend Emma H. with her Betamax VCR. But give it a few years. Plus, somewhere I've got a WM-2 (the second model of cassette-playing Sony Walkman ever made) and a couple of tapes for it. In a little while, that's going to be a real curiosity. But then so will her minidisc player, so it's probably too soon to declare a winner in our particular low-key format wars.
Comments: 4
Very nearly bought an HD-DVD player, well external HD-DVD drive for the 360 when they had them on special offer at the end of 2007. Due to budgetary constraints at the time we didn't and then after a bit of a windfall in Jan and Pete's eye for a bargain we are now Blu-Ray compatible in the shape of our very shiny PS3*
*original 60GB version - now discontinued
Posted by: Emma H on February 19, 2008 10:44 AM
I am dubious about Blu-Ray and HD-DVD in general. DVDs seem so firmly entrenched to me that I'm just not sure they'll be wrenched out so quickly. (Yes, the reactionary is speaking again.) Plus, Blu-Ray is EXPENSIVE, two or three times more than DVDs. Who will buy Fat Albert or Die Hard on Blu-Ray?
Posted by: KatharineC on February 19, 2008 03:03 PM
Katharine, they'll probably play the long game. Early adopters will pay a premium. Then when they've all been bled dry, players and disks will come down a bit in price, to capture the next most adventurous set of consumers. And so on. And since Blu-Ray players play regular DVDs fine many people won't switch until they need a new machine. Whatever the process, rest assured it will cost twice as much in the UK.
Posted by: Rob on February 19, 2008 03:20 PM
Betamax was far superior to VHS.
Posted by: Chris on February 23, 2008 12:24 PM