dominance

I was not a super early adopter of HDTV but over the last few years of HDTV ownership I've definitely become a big fan and proponent of it. You just have to see the difference in picture quality between standard definition 480i resolution and the high definition resolutions of 720p, 1080i, or 1080p and it'll make you a believer too. Until the last year or so it was still a pretty hefty purchase, but nowadays you can get your feet wet in the HDTV world for less than $1000. I've become a bit of a resolution and picture quality snob ever since I switched to HDTV -- I rarely watch any television programs unless it's available in HD, with maybe Formula 1 racing on Speed TV being the main exception. (It still boggles the mind that NASCAR is available in HD but the world's premier racing series is not.)

Cable or over-the-air HDTV was just the beginning, though. Of course true movie and gaming buffs would want to take full advantage of the high definition resolutions, and sure enough the consumer electronics industry brought the digital goodness to market. The problem was, there was disagreement between the major manufacturers on what high-definition format should be the one to replace the 480i DVD. And so two formats came to the stores to wage battle for the hearts and pocketbooks of the people: Toshiba brought HD-DVD, and Sony had Blu-Ray. In terms of gaming, Microsoft's XBOX360 offered HD-DVD capability as an add-on, and Sony's PlayStation3 came with Blu-Ray playback right out of the box. Well in retrospect, it certainly looks like Sony made the right choice to include that functionality as standard, because it meant that for every gamer who bought a PS3 they also got a Blu-Ray player which leads logically to more Blu-Ray sales. HD-DVD (and the X360) came to market first and took the initial lead, but now, some 2 years later, it appears inevitable that Blu-ray is the outright winner of this battle.

HD-DVD and Blu-Ray were neck-and-neck in the race in 2007 with roughly equal numbers of movie studios supporting each format, and many studios committed to supporting both. But the tide suddenly turned earlier this year, when in January the Warner Bros. studio announced it was dropping HD-DVD in favor of Blu-Ray. Last week two more bombshells rocked the HD-DVD camp, when Best Buy announced that they would promote Blu-Ray as their format of choice (although they would still sell HD-DVD players) and Netflix decided to drop HD-DVD and offer Blu-Ray discs exclusively as the preferred high-def format of choice. Both organizations cited the apparent preferences of their customers and the need to eliminate confusion amongst new HDTV buyers as reasons for taking Blu-Ray's side. The names backing Blu-Ray at this point are impressive: Warner, Sony, Fox, Lionsgate, Disney/Pixar, Blockbuster, Netflix, Best Buy, Samsung.

And now, this really has to be the final nail in the coffin for HD-DVD -- national retail giant Wal-Mart has announced they are backing Blu-Ray as well. I think it's game over for Toshiba's HD-DVD at this point. There are already rumors that Toshiba will officially declare the format dead soon.

As a PS3 owner, I'm glad I backed the winning side. Now, I'm waiting to see if Universal and Paramount will finally change their minds and release films like Transformers on Blu-Ray!

From MSN: Wal-Mart dumps HD-DVD in favor of Blu-Ray