Winners and Losers in High Def
Since DVD was effectively snuffed out of existence (by its own maker, how tragic), there are questions that need answering.
Most importantly – if you completely bought in to one format or another, were you setting yourself up for a fall?
It's been a few weeks since Toshiba announced it was discontinuing the HD DVD format. Meaning no new players and no new DVDs.
Of course, it was getting harder and harder to find DVDs because all the movie studios (Universal and Paramount excluded) sided with Blu-ray or were jumping ship. It also doesn't help that Netflix, Best Buy and Wal-Mart – probably three places people get a lot of their DVDs from – also went with Blu-ray.
In today's iHerald section I took at look at some of the causes for the fall of HD DVD, how people who bought into the format are dealing with it, and what happens next.
If you scanned CraigsList or eBay in the last few weeks, you know you can score a deal now on HD DVD players and DVDs. Some people feel jilted, others just want a little extra cash.
Were they foolish to buy into one format over another? One of the biggest barriers to buying either of the next generation DVD players was the cost, which started around $300 and went up.
Over at Computer World Lucas Mearian says Toshiba should open up the wallet and offer some refunds.
The upshot of course is that HD DVD players still will play regular-format DVDs and make them look slightly better, so not a complete loss.
Meanwhile things continue to come up Blu-ray, Wired reports that Apple will be including Blu-ray drives in computers soon.
Even so, while Blu-ray looks like it is at the top of the hill now, it may be premature to crown them as downloadable media and on-demand video may drink their milkshake.
Bottom line – if you bought into Blu-ray, are you really a winner, and if you were sold on HD DVD, are you really a loser?
Also today don't forget to check out the Favorites, featuring Matt Lajoie, the man behind Cursillistas and L'Animaux Tryst (Field) Recordings record label.
Lajoie's got more than a few good online recommendations for music lovers.
Posted by at 10:57 AM
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