Blu Ray or HD-DVD?
By J Monroe

With both the Blu-Ray and HDDVD DRM schemes already having been partially bypassed then both formats have a chance of succeeding and replacing the humble DVD - despite many in the industries arguments as to the detrimental effect of piracy, NO format is ever going to succeed with users having a/a means of storing their own content, be it self made or backups or 'pirate', and b/that form of storage being affordable to everyone.

I said they have a chance of succeeding. Several factors currently seem to suggest that they will not. Many among the current generation of internet using movie buffs will be all too aware of 2 crucial factors - that current trends among ISPs in many countries to cap usage will prevent downloading of materials in either of these formats for a lot of users, and that current DRM policies from the studios are going to be unacceptable to most users in the least bit savvy.

Add in a third factor as well - that many people are going to be afraid to pay the current prices for either formats hardware if for no other reason than that a repeat of the VHS/Beta war with one format being left unsupported and virtually useless is likely. True, there are players that will handle both formats, and perhaps in time they will become standard, but for now great Joe Public has to consider the very real possibility of shelling out big bucks for a runner up in the new format race as a major concern in whether to invest or not. For the time being many consumers will not commit to either format until they see which side is likely to win the war.

And, who can blame them? Nobody among the major players is really offering any particular incentive to pick one format over the other. The enhanced quality they offer to users is similar, a lot of the differences are, at least to the end user, cosmetic. What many among movie fans see happening is a trend towards a split - some studios will push one format and ignore the other, many older movies will be made available for one format and not another.

Perhaps, even worse, we see the possibility for even more chances for the studios to make us part with cash. Blu-Ray version of Movie X has such and such a special feature that the fan must have, but it is not included on the HDDVD release, or vice versa. The studios already trot out special editions etc to cash in as much as they can while there is only the DVD format to worry about - here we are faced with the very possible spectre of them being able to split it across 2 incompatible formats and make the non downloading true fan pay twice.

Downloading. I've mentioned that word a couple of times. Fans used to the internet - which is most - are now accustomed to downloading content either legally or illegally. No matter what the industry does it is not going to alter that trend. Many people face great hurdles to this should the new standard format become some multiple gigabyte offering - most of us do not have speeds to manage it efficiently, and the current trend among ISPs towards capping customers usage at fairly small limits per month is not likely to change. Inability to download content either legitimately or otherwise is going to hamstring any new formats ability to spread into the mainstream.

Even should one brand take off then what is it really offering the horror fan? Yes, I know all the hype about improved picture, room for extras etc, but the plain fact is that even on the existing DVD format the print is not always anywhere near as good as it could be and the extras are often lacking. Many re-releases of older movies haven't got it right this time around on DVD, so what makes you think they will next time?

As per usual, what will be seen when a format becomes dominant is an absolute flood of shoddy, hastily released 'digitally remastered definitve edition totally uncut blah de blah' movies from yesteryear that take little advantage of the format. You think I am wrong? Just wait and see, I'll bet you a bottle of Viper that I am spot on. There will be some good releases, but most likely they will be rare gems among a torrent of badly transferred prints. And, not only will many of these releases be poor quality, we will also likely have to pay considerably more for them than we would an equivalent DVD.

For gamers these new formats - whichever is victorious - may well be a boon, but for the movie fan I argue that they are not. Yes, there is the potential for better pictures and so on, but how much will it be used? You know as well as I that in many instances it will be sadly neglected, and the shop displays will be filled with hasty DVD to Blu-Ray direct transfers with just a few extras bundled in to try and make it sound attractive.

Where am I going as a movie fan? Well, I am not going to argue in favour of either Blu-Ray or HDDVD, as I am going for neither. Until a huge number of issues are resolved then I will be sticking with the trusty old DVD. Why? Because the humble DVD offers me two factors that neither Blu-Ray or HDDVD can or will for the foreseeable future - freedom and affordability. DVD as a medium has a long lifespan left in it for me yet, and I would imagine that many other consumers such as myself feel exactly the same.

Are you going to buy all your movies you own on DVD again on the offchance they are a huge improvement? Does your internet connection and usage limits offer you any chance of being able to download films for the new format (and, don't say yes - 700mb xvid are good for me - as that would really defeat the purpose of the possible quality enhancements offered by the new format). Do you really see these new formats as being of benefit to the kind of movies you like, or are all of the DRM restrictions going to turn them into a virtual monopoly for the big studios, marginalize the smaller producer even further, and thus limit your viewing choice?

One thing is for certain, we are not going to find out the answers to these and many more questions for quite a while yet, and until we do a lot of people, myself included, are going to be quite happy sticking with our beloved DVD.

About me : I'm just a plain old horror fan, neither particularly tech savvy nor fanatically devoted to the genre. I like horror. I buy horror. I download horror - yes, legally and 'illegally'. I'm just one among many, and I know in submitting this to d3rang3d it is out of place with the rest of the site, but I feel very strongly that horror, and cinema in general, and myself and millions like me, are going to suffer as a result of these new formats. One day they may be of benefit, but we need more than a change of format for that - we need a change of business models and practices within the major players in movie making.