So, do you think the better format won?
I think it really depends on who you ask. I was a Blu-ray supporter before either format was available in stores, but unfortunately had my mind changed due to some people who convinced me that HD DVD was better due to pricing, features, PQ, and that Blu-ray was over-hyped, over-priced, that their advantages would never materialize, and some Blu-ray's studios were going to go neutral at CES 2007 (January 2007). Given some of the Blu-ray format's early blunders, I went out and purchased a 2nd generation HD DVD player, the Toshiba HD-A2. It was cool and all, and I got some pretty good PQ on some of the HD DVD titles, but I wasn't impressed as I thought I was going to be.
Early last year, around February, I realized that most of what I had heard about Blu-ray was from people who were deluded enough to think what they were telling me was actually true. That coupled with Blu-ray winning every week in software sales since December of 2006 led me to pick up two Blu-ray titles from Best Buy online during a BOGO (Buy One, Get One) sale, and purchased a PS3 in May.
Since that time, I've been extremely happy with Blu-ray. I caved and bought "Transformers" on HD DVD (as well as "Heroes: Season One"), but otherwise have been exclusive to Blu-ray since February of last year, and now have a collection of around 130 Blu-ray titles (mostly due to BOGO sales). I even sold my HD DVD player and titles on EBay as I simply preferred Blu-ray so much more that I really didn't use it much.
I'm not so sure based on what I've read regarding the features of both formats. Is it true that the Blu-Ray spec is still being finalized, and that it is possible that many early adopters will be screwed because their machines cannot be upgraded?
My first DVD player's best output connection was an S-Video output, it could only play CDs, VCDs, and DVDs, and it couldn't output DTS.
My second DVD player had Component output as it's best output connection, it could play CDs, VCDs, DVDs, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+R, DVD-RAM, Kodak CDs, etc., it could also output at 480p instead of 480i, and it could output DTS.
My third DVD player has more functions as it would do all of the above, and play Divx as well as WMA files.
My DVD recorder does SOME of the above, but it also has 1080p upconverting via HDMI, though it's currently hooked up to an SDTV, so that's not really used.
Blu-ray players are the same way... but all of them play the movie (though there is an issue with an earlier Samsung not updating their firmware to play some current movies), just not some of the features. For instance, Lionsgate released the movies "War" and "3:10 To Yuma" last month, Sony released "Resident Evil: Extinction" and Fox released "Sunshine". All these movies had PiP, a feature available on ALL HD DVD players, but the only Blu-ray players currently available that will play this feature are the Panasonic BD30 and the Sony Playstation 3... but there are several more players coming in the months ahead that will do them as well.
Blu-ray players released AFTER this Summer will have the OPTION, but not the mandatory feature called BD-Live in which the player will have the option to connect to the internet, a feature that all HD DVD players currently have, but only a few discs utilized ("Transformers" for instance allowed you to download additional special features, Harry Potter 5 allowed you to have a screening party with other HP5 HD DVD owners, and "Evan Almighty" allowed you to buy toilet paper online via your HD DVD player, etc...). It will also allow you to connect to the internet to update your firmware (some BD players do this now), and some Blu-ray titles will allow you to play games online, blog about the movie, etc...
Currently, the only player upgradable to BD-Live is the PS3 (it will be upgraded once the first BD-Live movie becomes available, and it's the only upgradable Blu-ray player, Mike). While there are BD-Live players coming out from several manufacturers this Summer, I'm looking forward to Sony's BD-Live players coming out. The first model in July will be fully featured, but only allow outboard decoding of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA, and will be $349, while a second model will have internal decoding of both the above formats and will be available for $449. Also of note is that while all HD DVD players were considered to be fully-featured from the get-go, it wasn't until the 2nd generation that they offered 1080p (which Blu-ray offered from the start), and like Blu-ray, they never offered DTS-HD MA decoding (although some upcoming Blu-ray players will), and the "rumored" 51GB HD DVD disc was "rumored" to not be playable on all current HD DVD players.
As far as movies go, I've had some HD DVDs with GREAT PQ ("The Chronicles Of Riddick", "The Scorpion King", "The Mummy Returns", "Sahara", "Aeon Flux", "Scooby Doo", etc.), I've generally been impressed more with the PQ of the Blu-ray exclusive studios. I dare you to find a BAD looking Disney title! While hit-and miss at first during their first year, Sony has put out some GREAT looking titles during 2007/2008. Fox/MGM and Lionsgate can still be hit and miss, but when they hit, it looks fantastic! WB releases are generally more disappointing as they encode for HD DVD, then port the transfer over to Blu-ray which just lacks the PQ of the BD exclusive studios. Once they stop releasing titles to HD DVD, they should start having better transfers. New Line's titles were encoded for HD DVD as well and then transferred over to Blu-ray leaving their titles a little underwhelming as well (though not bad), but knowing that it wouldn't be releases to HD DVD, New Line released "Shoot 'Em Up" on Blu-ray the day after New Year's with a Blu-ray optomized encode that looks pretty good.
However, the audio thing is where it gets really lopsided. All Sony/Disney/Fox/MGM/New Line titles have lossless audio, and some WB and Liongate titles have lossless. On HD DVD, Universal didn't start using any lossless until last year, and they only offer lossless on SOME of their titles... and often not the ones you might think. The same goes for Paramount and DreamWorks who didn't start using lossless until late last year, and often not on the ones you might think ("A Mighty Heart" has lossless, "Transformers" doesnt!). WB was the one of the best at providing lossless audio for HD DVD with some their titles released on HD DVD getting lossless, and the Blu-ray release getting shafted. However, even they didn't put lossless on many of their releases. They have started getting better at that though.
There is also the issue of space. Paramount/DreamWorks were going to start "optomizing" their Blu-ray releases last fall starting with "Blades Of Glory" by offering a BD optomized encode and lossless audio right before they received $150 million to exclusively support HD DVD. Interestingly enough, shoving PQ aside, "Blades Of Glory" on Blu-ray was supposed to have lossless audio, but the HD DVD was not. The reasoning behind this might make a little more sense when Paramount stated the reasoning why they didn't include a "lossless" soundtrack on "Transformers" was because they didn't have enough room on the disc. Interestingly enough, "Transformers" was going to have a lossless soundtrack on the Blu-ray version. WB also released "Alexander: The Final Cut" on HD DVD and Blu-ray on a 2-disc set due to the fact that the HD DVD couldn't fit the whole film on one disc, and so they chose to split the film onto two discs on the Blu-ray edition as well. "Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix" (HP5) on Blu-ray got the special features in HD, but the HD DVD got the special features in SD due to space constraints.
Neither format was bad, and now that Toshiba has given up, Universal has announced they're switching to Blu-ray, Paramount and DreamWorks has announced they're switching as well, and fully-featured Blu-ray players will be available this Summer, I don't think many people will really care that HD DVD had some features that it took longer for Blu-ray to implement, especially if they only care about the movies.
I personally think the better format won, and I'm looking forward to seeing Universal releases on Blu-ray as well as Paramount/DreamWorks... though that last one may take some time due to Paramount and Toshiba duking it out over the fact that Toshiba doesn't want to pay Paramount/DreamWorks the full $150 million...
This took me a long while to type... hopefully I explained all your questions!
~Alan
