Having tested both formats, HD-DVD is the more complete format at this stage and has been gaining ground but it is still way too early to be sure of either succeeding in market share. Sure, you have Microsoft paying off companies to support the HD-DVD format, but you also have Sony paying off everyone else to support Blu-Ray (including their display deals with Best Buy and Target). Both sides are guilty of capitalism so I can’t exactly feel sorry for Mr. Bad Boys II. Every day I tell myself to just wait it out but with the low prices for HD-DVD players (recently the Toshiba HD-A2 was on sale for $98.00 US at Walmart), I’m willing to take the plunge for a player that even if the format fails, is still an amazing upscaling DVD player. Combine that with Netflix and you have the magic combination for viewing HD content with minimal investment. If Blu-Ray had players for the same price, I would be willing to try them out as well (the cheapest Blu-Ray players are still around $300-$400). Other alternatives are out there for downloaded HD content including the Xbox Marketplace that provides 720p content and hopefully Apple TV/iTunes in the near future, but they are lower quality at this point.

I would equate the relationship to buying a CD or an MP3. The MP3 is instantly accessible on line and sounds good enough but the CD is an archival copy of higher quality. Movies could use the same formula but the prices NEED to be lower for downloads. Currently, you can get a DVD for the same price or less than the digital version. One could argue that CDs are dying because of the downloading revolution and that DVDs will follow suit. The recent trend in music is that customers are willing to settle for lower quality fidelity but I would argue the reason CD sales are dropping is because 99.9% of the music released by major music labels sucks. The a-la-carte formula for purchasing music has been a mixed blessing: it provides only the music we want at a low price point but in turn, the market has shifted to exploit this by cranking out one-hit wonders to make as much money as possible with 2-3 singles and leaving the talented musicians out to dry. The movie industry is moving in this direction as well: Make as much as you can on opening weekend with total crap and then rake in the cash through DVD sales to the mouth-breathers. You would think the big players in both industries would realize that Dark Side of the Moon is still on the charts after 34 years and Star Wars IV is still raking in Millions for a reason. Artistic expression resonates with an audience much more than a reality TV show winner or an animated bee that sounds like Jerry Seinfeld.

And the line “piracy is killing the industry? Please…DRM will always be secondary to a good product. Business 101: A product will not sell if it sucks. CDs allow for legal transfer to digital audio files but DVDs do not yet both industries claim equal losses. What does this tell you? People are always going to steal. Last time I checked there was no movie industry in the time of Moses but he still managed to document thievery in the 10 commandments. If you make a good product, it will find its audience and people will be willing to pay for it! Case in point: How many of you have own one of the Star Wars or Lord of the Rings movies on DVD? How many of you have a “borrowed” copy of Ice Ice Baby on your MP3 player? Come on, you know you do…

And television? Don’t get get me started!!!

What does the future hold? Who knows?!? Personally? I want one of the HD formats to win out and include the Managed Copy spec for putting a copy on a home server. That way, I get my viewing pleasure in 1080p, Dolby TruHD, director’s commentaries, and documentaries in the home theater room, a 720p or 480p movie-only version available in the bedroom, and a copy on my iPod for the daily commute and other family members. In this day and age, anything less is the man trying to get us down!