This post was published more than a few years ago (on 2007-06-19) and may contain inaccurate technical information, outmoded thoughts, or cringe takes. Proceed at your own risk.
mboszko
Oh, finally picked a horse in the HD disc format race.
Costco had an instant $100 rebate on one of the Toshiba HD-DVD players, so I picked it up, along with a Jet Li movie. That was my "Father's Day" gift from everyone.
Oh, crap.
I just realized I don't think I called my Dad.
aalgar
Heh.
I called mine but didn't reach him.
I probably should try again this week.
Blockbuster picked a horse as well... it was the one you didn't pick.
mboszko
Well, that's fine, since I don't go to Blockbuster. 😛
aalgar
Yes, but a lot of people do. Don't you think that might affect the ultimate outcome of this thing?
mboszko
Maybe so.
Blu-ray has a lot of technological advances, but HD-DVD has the advantage of having better backwards compatibility-- not jsut for playback, but also for manufacturing. You can convert a current DVD plant to make HD-DVDs without too much fuss, whereas BD requires a whole new plant.
aalgar
Well, you know my thoughts... still way too early for me to worry about it all. But I hope you chose wisely.
mboszko
I think neither of them will live very long. They won't reach DVD's age before they start getting replaced with something else. Still, I wanted to play with at least one of 'em so I could speak intelligently about it.
aalgar
Heh.
I bet you end up getting BR as well, so you can speak intelligently about both of them. 😉
mboszko
Watched the first disc on it last night, and it crapped out 3/4 into the movie. Decided it couldn't play the disc. Even after I pulled it out, I didn't see anything wrong with the surface, but cleaned it anyway and popped it back in, then it insisted it wasn't a HD-DVD disc at all.
aalgar
Weird.
mboszko
Fortunately, it was a hybrid disc so we flipped it over and watched the rest in standard def.
So, gotta get another disc to figure out if it's the player or the disc.
Hope it's not the player. I think I got the last one at our Costco.
aalgar
Ugh, yeah.
mboszko
Picture quality was good while it lasted, tho. Very clean. Didn't see any of the compression artifacts I notice on the HD cable feed.