THE FUNNY thing about the Blu-ray vs HD DVD war is that, 1. most people would still rather buy a DVD because many of us are perfectly happy with its quality, and that’s probably gonna be true for a few more years, and 2. pretty soon, it will make more sense for a growing number of people to just download high-definition content to their hard drives or stream it rather than buy a disc.
OK, personally I was rooting for HD DVD but it looks like I might have picked the wrong format after Warner Bros. drove a stake into Toshiba’s heart and decided to go exclusively Blu-ray. Toshiba has responded (well, after first canceling their Consumer Electronics Show press conference) by slashing the prices of its HD DVD players. By the way, as my fellow tech journalists and I have discussed time and again, another major factor that would determine the outcome of this latest format war would be: which one will the porn industry support? And according to this article, the adult film industry is still backing HD DVD. (But shouldn’t a blue movie be on Blu-ray? Heh, just kidding.)
Anyway, now that Apple also wants to corner the movie rental business with iTunes, expect movie downloads to become even more mainstream. (Now, if only Apple could make the iTunes store available in the Philippines and the rest of Asia…)
Check out this Reuters video report on Apple’s movie rental service.
I’m a big believer in watching video online (obviously, since I handle our online video service) and an avid fan of services like Joost. Just imagine how far we’ve come — a few years ago, broadcast-quality online video was a pipe dream.
Oh, and speaking of Apple, for the record, I’m drooling over the MacBook Air, the world’s thinnest notebook. Yes, I love Mikaela my (well, until the office changes its mind, heh) MacBook Pro, but damn, just look at the MacBook Air!
January 18th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
The time of porn deciding a format war is long gone (this is 2008 not 1978), porn is now purchaced mainly over the internet… Your argument is flawed…
And no upscaled DVDs do NOT compare with Hi Def… Sure people nmay be happy with DVDs, but thats because they don’t know any better…
Peace
January 18th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
And another thing, we are talking about audio quality, etc, etc. For the videophile/audiophile that might be important. But for the regular user, who will most likely use the speakers on his TV, why should it matter?
The jump from DVD to Blu-Ray/HDTV is not that great. It’s definitely not as amazing compared to VCD to DVD.
January 18th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I have a 32 Inch Samsung LCD TV and I can say that my DVD is still good enough. I have a simple DVD player that upscales the video and DVD quality is still stunning. Now I have seen Blu-Ry and HD-DVD playback on stores on similar HDTV resolutions and frankly I’m not impressed.
In this country, the adoption of the next generation optical format will be slow and ‘painful’ for the manfacturers. Why in the world would the average Filipino (even those with HDTVs) support these formats when the prices are expensive and if DVD upscaling can still pass the quality test?
As for those who doubt digital distribution…note its already happening in the country but illegally. Simply go to torrent sites and you can download HD TV shows in an instant. And people doubt digital distribution?
January 18th, 2008 at 11:48 am
i would suggest to couple your bluray with a 1080p 45″+ flat screen would be perfect..then use the bose lifestyle v30..you can only say….WOW
January 18th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Apple will not offer 1080p on itunes. It will be 720p at 24fps if memory serves. The HDDVD units are still selling because many people haven’t gotten the news about warner or they know that those players will make their “old style” DVD look really good. So will a BR player but most don’t understand that. There will be internet interactivity coming up in Oct ( I think ) when BR version 2.0 comes out that will enable some new features on future BR disks.
50GB may not be enough believe it or not! There will be some really cool stuff coming out and why limit your space if there is better tech out there.
gotta go