hddvd-Bluray-Next-Gen-Format-WarHow many of you want to make the upgrade to one of the high definition DVD formats but aren’t doing so because of the format war? I for one have stopped buying standard definition DVD’s altogether and will only buy HDDVD.

Do I think HDDVD will win? Did I make a choice too soon?

A long time ago when I first started this blog, I said that I wouldn’t get either format until either one is the clear winner, or one is sold at a good price. Then the Xbox 360 HDDVD addon was released and gave me a reason to jump in the game. I absolutely love it, so much so that I am just not interested in buying regular DVDs anymore.

It’s been some time since I bought that player, and now I’m looking at things and have came to this decision…

I am going to buy a Bluray player or PS3

My reason for this is that I honestly think that we are stuck with 2 formats. A lot of people compared this war to the Betamax vs VHS war back in the day, and I think it was along those lines at one time. Now I think it’s more like dvd+r vs dvd-r. 2 formats that are still around today, neither won out, and both are coexisting with one another.

The reason why I think this is, the movie industry is spending a lot of time on this war. Movies are being released on both formats, and the library is just slowly growing. After a while the investment is going to just be too big for one to drop off completely, ala Divx (the circuit city dvd not the popular media codec.)

The difference between now and back in the Beta/VHS days is now people are spending more money on owning movies than back then. If you remember, back then there was a huge movie rental store boom, and VHS tapes were pretty much priced for the Erol’s of the world costing upwards of $100 for one movie. Now people like to own and collect movies. Which also makes any movie released on one of these formats potential money makers for years to come. They aren’t going to just get rid of that. And the battle is still so close that they both will continue to be supported until it’s too late to declare a winner and drop the other.

If you’re waiting to jump into the fray, I’d say wait on price and not a winner. Once a player gets to a price you are comfortable with, buy it. When the other gets to a comfortable price, buy that one too. Waiting for a winner before you make your purchase may end up keeping you out of this generation of DVD’s altogether.