HD DVD is dead, for me

If this is true I’d have to say HD-DVD will never be in my house, unless it’s somehow free.

In what can only be classified as yet another crushing blow to the embattled HD DVD camp, rent-by-mail giant Netflix has just announced its intention to only stock Blu-ray titles in the future. Netflix justified its decision by pointing out the fact that most Hollywood studios seem to be converging solely around the Sony-backed format — a fact that’s all too familiar to Toshiba and friends. With both Blockbuster and now the ‘Flix having eschewed HD DVD for BD, it’s gonna get harder and harder to even find a place to rent those former discs in the first place, let alone one that has a decent selection.#

I may not even go Blue-Ray if the soon to be HD rentals on the AppleTV produce good HD quality.

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February 11

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About the Author, Dan Cameron:

I'm the owner and solution engineer at Sprout Venture, a web solutions company that specializes in web development including WordPress.

I started my first blog in 2003 and transitioned to WordPress in 2004. Since moving to WordPress I've written a few plugins and themes for public consumption. Lately I'm busy engineering/building/coding and have only been able to share a few code snippets.

If you're in need of some web development, web design or custom WordPress plugins and/or themes contact me, I'll be happy to discuss it with you.

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  • LOL -- agreed. HD isn't all that appealing to me either... but I do worry about getting phased out. In retrospect, if Walmart is selling $20 DVD players, I imagine they'll be selling $30 HD-DVD players sooner or later, too.

    Great post and great blog! Keep up the good work!

    Martin
  • BLUE RAY WINS! I got mine last month. I should have wated.
  • Dave Z
    Dan, timely call here.

    Re: Internet TV
    Verizon is gearing up to bring 7 Mbps to the home. This
    will allow internet tv.
  • HD DVD is dead full stop.
  • Hard to say. Like I said above, if the cable / satellite companies got their act together, it would happen very soon (1-2 years). Otherwise, I think it will take a while to reach the "common household" status.
  • How long is it before internet television becomes common household practice do you think?
  • Yeah, my take on the next gen DVD debate has always been that I don't think it will end up mattering much.

    While the companies have been caught up for years in format wars, people have started (in numbers that far bypass HD / BlueRay buyers) watching crappy quality videos (YouTube, etc.) online, and loving it.

    Much like the move from CDs to digital music, they will probably continue to make and sell "hard copy" Blue Ray discs, but fewer and fewer customers will buy them, despite the fact that the quality / fidelity is better. At the same time, online video offerings will continue to improve in quality making it even less of an issue.

    If I had to bet on the future, I think the cable companies are in a pretty good place to become the new source of movie rentals for most people (or at least compete with the bigger online stores like iTunes), by building in high def download capability (and lower quality live / on demand options) to their DVRs, since they already have the networking infrastructure in place.

    But, that being said, they'll probably squander that opportunity by waiting too long. The market is ripe for it right now, since most people don't have the equipment necessary to watch downloaded shows on their good TVs, and the cable company could offer replacements to their existing DVRs (at a loss, for a small monthly fee, on a contract, etc.) and make the money back quickly.

    If they wait too long, though, Apple, MS, (or someone else) will come out with something that everyone's Grandma can use. I don't think the AppleTV is there yet, but I haven't seen the latest version yet either.
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