Pure Digital Thought

I was really surprised to see that both DreamWorks and Paramount have exclusively picked HD-DVD as the format for their movies. The reason cited is because of the cheaper players that are available. The XBox360 player can be purchased for $180 and standalone players are less than $299.

Personally, I think it is easier for a non-techie consumer to relate to what an HD DVD is. After all, we have HD TV and HD Radio and following the same naming is HD DVD. Although I know what Blu-Ray is and what the specs are I would bet many “average Joe” types may not. And then, if you factor in that the cheapest Blu-Ray standalone player is over $450 it’s really not hard for me to see why HD-DVD will win out. If you put Blu-Ray and HD-DVD side by side playing the same movie, I can guarantee you that most people won’t be able to tell you which is which. But if you put a little card on one side that says $248 and a card on the other side that says $450, 100% of the people will instantly tell you which hits them the hardest.

Now, if they would just *stop* making the stupid dual DVD/HD-DVD discs that no one wants, the HD-DVD discs could be cheaper since they would be HD-DVD only. That would help HD-DVD even more.