HD DVD vs Blu-ray: The Endgame

Movie rental service Netflix today announced they are making the move to Blu-ray exclusivity. While current stock of HD DVD will remain available to customers, they have ceased buying new titles and expect the phase out to be complete by the end of 2008.

Advice to Consumers

While HD DVD is dying a slow death, there's still advantages to owning an HD DVD player - even for those with a Blu-ray player. Players are creeping towards a mass market sub-$100 price, and our readers in the US get five free HD DVD movies with the purchase of any standalone Toshiba HD DVD player, including the Xbox 360 HD DVD player add-on and certain Toshiba laptops - a great way to subsidize the initial outlay.

While the existing library isn't exactly overwhelming, there's a lot of great stuff available, like the still-exclusive-for-at-least-a-few-months Transformers. As the format continues it's downward spiral, we can expect to see more and more movies available for under $20, and even lower once Toshiba finally abandons the format.

HD DVD is currently region free, meaning our readers from outside the US can take advantage of heavy discounting from online retailers - with a massive range of HD DVDs currently below $15 on Amazon, you're likely to find movies for far cheaper than your local retailer - even after shipping.

While dual-format HD DVD/Blu-ray players are currently available, the price is generally hundreds of dollars more than the combined price of a standalone Blu-ray player and standalone HD DVD player - so if you're short on space and cash, wait until the price drops below $500 before you consider a dual-format player.

The transfer from film to a digital format is currently the main contributing factor to the quality of the picture - not 720p vs 1080p, VGA vs HDMI, or $20 HDMI cable vs $100 HDMI cable. The quality of the transfer varies greatly from movie to movie - Transformers over VGA from an Xbox 360 looks far better than Casino Royale over HDMI from a PlayStation 3 through the same TV. Older films are especially susceptible to grain, so check up on the review sites before buying another copy of Army of Darkness.

HD DVD Bargains

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