I wouldn’t buy a Blu-ray Disc player now. That much is clear after writing my recent primer about claims in the high-def war between Blu-ray and HD DVD — with each vying to become the next universal home-video format. Now, don’t get ahead of me. I most definitely watch Blu-ray titles; I just do so using a PlayStation 3 video-game system, which plays Blu-ray Discs. I’m not sure why anyone would buy a dedicated Blu-ray player for just about $400 — the lowest price so far — when they can spend the same amount on the new 40-gigabyte PS3 and get a decent video-game system, too.  

Here are some other thoughts on the high-def war:

HD DVD price cuts: The online community went into a tizzy last week as word spread that Wal-Mart was selling Toshiba’s second-generation HD DVD player for less than $200, with other retailers quickly matching the price. Then the furor went to a whole new level when Wal-Mart and Best Buy temporarily dropped their prices below $100. (Crutchfield had the player in stock for $109 shipped after applying a coupon, but it disappeared from the online AV retailer’s site while I was writing this.) The fact that these price drops are drawing attention to HD DVD by fence-sitters and the national media is nothing but good for that format. But how much these sales will actually benefit HD DVD is still up in the air. It’s not as if there is an unlimited supply of the discounted players, which sold out quickly at those prices. The player in question, the HD-A2, is not an “entry-level player,” as some sites have described; it’s part of a discontinued line of second-generation players that has been replaced by third-generation players. There is no fresh supply to replenish the sold-out units.

Other price cuts: So why isn’t the Blu-ray camp slashing prices on its old models, too? Sony says its lowest-priced model will drop below $400 in the coming weeks but not to expect drastic price drops like Toshiba’s, according to a report by the indispensible High-Def Digest. Shrug. Here’s the scoop: Player price cuts don’t really mean a lot when most high-def discs in either format retail for $35 to $40 each. Yes, most new players come with an offer for free discs, but consumers are going to be slow to buy more at those outlandish prices.

Warner’s stance: Blu-ray supporters were crowing last week when an exec with Warner Home Video, the only major studio releasing movies in both formats, implied that it was leaning toward going exclusively to Blu-ray. Warner now tells High-Def Digest that the comments were mischaracterized and that the company is firmly sitting on the fence for the format war — just like many consumers.

Big picture: I still think that the high-def war’s biggest obstacle isn’t which format will win but whether consumers care. Many people simply don’t see a difference in high-def images over standard DVDs, don’t have a display big enough to notice or are perfectly happy with what they already have. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked people if they watch high-def DVDs and they reply something along the lines of “Yeah, we just got an HDTV last year.”  People think that solely having a high-def display equates to watching DVDs in high def. Although they are mistaken — it requires a Blu-ray or HD DVD player, as well as their respective discs — it’s not difficult to see why. A standard DVD played on a progressive-scan player or an up-converting player looks pretty darn good to the casual viewer, especially on a display less than 50 inches. That’s the biggest challenge faced by Blu-ray and HD DVD.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 at 11:52 am and is filed under DVDs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.