Blu-Ray is winning the battle for shelf space (but I'm not selling the HD DVD player yet)

Video Asylum

TVs, VCRs, DVD players, Home Theater systems and more.

This is my totally unscientific opinion, based on visiting a couple of shops today: Next week, the situation could change, but for reasons I'll get to momentarily, I think I'm seeing a trend.

Both shops had been very format-neutral, carrying about the same depth and quality of movie for either. But here, the number of titles matters! Blu-Ray is literally crowding out HD DVD on the shelves, because there are simply more recent movies being released in Blu-Ray.

Part of me wants to trade in the Playstation 2 for a Playstation 3, and sell the HD DVD player! But what holds me back is that, although fewer in number, I think HD DVD has got better movies, and who can say when, or if, any will be reissued in B-D. So although I didn't really want the clutter of having two disc players and two formats of HD movies onhand, I think that exactly what I'll end up with in coming months. I specifically want the PS/3 because it's by far the best-supported Blu-Ray player out there, as it accounts for 75% of B-D player sales. If I buy a pricey dual-format player, it's such a niche product, who knows whether it'll ever get the firmware updates it needs to play future movies? No such problem with PS/3.

I still think there's a chance that both B-D and HD DVD could vanish from the shelves of major stores within 18 months, and PS/3 itself is performing dismally as a game console, but I'm enjoying this 1080p video enough to take this chance. If true high-def fails, it won't be due to apathy on my part ;-)

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Topic - Blu-Ray is winning the battle for shelf space (but I'm not selling the HD DVD player yet) - 4season 11:48:00 06/30/07 (7)

Of course they are - Jack G 14:30:48 06/30/07 (6)

M$ has far deeper pockets, and you can't get around the studio support for blu-ray - Jazz Inmate 21:54:21 06/30/07 (5)

Then where are all the Fox titles? - Jack G 07:23:09 07/01/07 (4)

Yeah, Disney (and Pixar / Apple) are a curious nut - 4season 11:46:25 07/01/07 (1)

Even more curious, - Jack G 13:00:07 07/01/07 (0)

Hopefully waiting for good implementations of BD+ - oscar 07:30:37 07/01/07 (1)

Well, I'll be disappointed if there aren't 5 times as many titles out by the holidays - Jack G 07:37:35 07/01/07 (0)

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