Here we go again!

Yogi Berra said it best, “It’s Deja vu all over again!” Those of us who lived through the Beta vs. VHS battles, SACD vs. DVD-A and numerous other attempts where the electronics industry passed their indecision on to the customers to sort out, sighed a bit when this latest round started in 2006. Instead of agreeing on a single standard, people and companies with vested interests have presented the buying public with a bit of a dilemma - which way to go?  And as a certified member of the “Bleeding Edge” Fraternity I, and many of my associates, knew that we would take the bait and buy into both formats. But, even in a world rife with “thing acquisition” (a term my dad was always fond of) it makes sense to at least have a bit of a game plan. Let me share mine.

Yes, both formats produce excellent images.  Anyone who has seen the difference between SDTV and HDTV knows exactly what I’m talking about. It’s not a subtle difference - it’s very obvious.  And with both HD formats now offering true 1080p output, HD discs provide even greater promise from all video as well as film sources.  The other thing that the HD format provides - and one which I consider just as important in the overall Home Theater scenario - is the presence of HD Audio. Both HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs provide the additional real estate necessary to fit the larger uncompressed and or lossless audio codecs.  These tracks contain bitrates measured in MEGA bps rather than the more common KILO bps of SD formats and most portable audio devices. In my opinion, listening to HD Audio offers the same jump in quality over “SD” audio that watching HD Video compared to SD Video does. And the combination of the two, HD audio and video, completes a Home Theater presentation that is a major step forward.

There are differences in implementation of course based on the way each format’s specifications are written, but a strong case can be made for having either one in your home.  So what to do?  In my case I have chosen to have at least one player in each format available. Yes, I could consider one of the “combination” players but that doesn’t appeal to me for a couple of reasons.  In the first place the combination players (at this point) actually cost as much as two individual players. And in the second place a combination player doubles the chance that if something goes wrong with either format your entire HD capability is off in the repair shop.  In addition, if one format offers significant advances you have to purchase both formats again unless these devices become modular - highly unlikely based on my past experience with consumer electronics.

And why do I want both formats in my home at the moment? Simple answer: Content.  Several studios have exclusive agreements with only one of the two formats so without the ability to play both types you are locking yourself out of certain titles and it looks like it will remain this way for some time (or until one format fails). There are also some other subtle things to consider.  For example, since Warner Bros. is a major player in HD-DVD it is possible that titles that they offer on Blu-ray might not contain all of the HD-Audio codecs in that format. And just because a disc offers HD video that is no guarantee that the audio will also be “HD.” For example, I was surprised to discover that several recent titles such as Babel (nominated for the Academy Award in 2007) had only SD-Audio in the Blu-ray version while the HD-DVD version contains HD-Audio. In other words, one must be careful when choosing titles in each format if both are available because you sometimes have to look closely to see what you’re getting.

HD-DVD offers one convenience (some of the time) that Blu-ray does not. Many HD-DVD titles are in “Combo” format.  That is - the disc contains the HD version on one side and the SD version on the other. This offers some real advantages.  For one thing, you are not limited to watching the disc on an HD player. The flip side is playable on any regular DVD player, such as in the car, in most computers, in the kids’ rooms, etc. (with the advantage of HD of course).  And another obvious advantage is that if the HD-DVD format goes belly up you still have playable media.  (A quick aside about that. If a format fails, obviously the discs don’t stop playing the day this is announced.  There will always be players for a significant time after the media is no longer produced so that’s not a major reason to wait. As a case in point, I still own working record players, LD players and even a Betamax unit!) Yes, the “Combo” discs list for a few dollars more than the HD-DVD only titles (usually) but since Blu-ray list prices are a little higher than HD-DVD titles this is basically a standoff.

On the other hand, in my limited sampling of players I like the Blu-ray players (especially my PS3) better than my HD-DVD player (limited to Toshiba at the moment).  They respond quicker (although the latest HD-XA2 is improved in that regard) and I greatly prefer how the Blu-ray players display information (Video bitrates, audio bitrates, etc.) So, in other words, I consider both formats to offer advantages in addition to content availability.  So what’s my “plan?”

Generally, when a title is available in both formats (and the features are equivalent - especially audio) I will purchase the HD-DVD version if it is a “Combo” (flipper) disc and the Blu-ray version if it is not. Of course sometimes I don’t really have a choice because a lot of titles are only issued in one format or the other. And I wish that the Blu-ray media supported “combo” titles as well but that hasn’t been the case up until now. I suppose that as the format wars heat up (there’s been a lot of posturing and dubious claims by both camps up until this point) one side might start offering features that the other doesn’t have to lure customers away from the other camp.  But in the meantime I’m content with running parallel systems (as I did with Beta/VHS and SACD/DVD-A and probably will again with the next electronics battle). The picture and sound improvements are definitely worth it to me rather than sitting on the sidelines with very little 1080p content at all for my marvelous toys.

And, as with anything else - this too shall pass.  In the meanwhile - ENJOY!