These two high-definition DVD formats have been battling for a couple years now and after living with HD-DVD for the better part of a year I can honestly say I’m not impressed. The image and sound is better on HD-DVD than on standard DVD, but not so much so that I’m willing to spend 2-3 times as much on new releases for the benefit. At $30-$40 per new release movie, the value proposition just fails. With every movie not available on both high-def formats, I’ll be watching my standard DVD collection for a long time.

A War With No Winner
With both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD saying they offer the better experience or better capabilities the simple truth is that both formats actually provide a great home theater experience. Blu-Ray may have gotten off to a rocky start with bad movie quality of a few initial movies, but that ship seems to have righted.

If HD movies were the same price as DVD movies I would have no problem personally owning both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD formats. While you can get a selection of older HD movies at $20, older DVDs can be found at $5-$10.

The Price is Wrong Bob
To truly compete with DVD the high-definition DVD formats really need to compete on price. Coming in an average of twice the price takes it’s toll on consumers as they realize the bang for your buck has been dramatically reduced. For the price of an HD-DVD new release, you can buy 2 new DVD releases, or almost 4 price-reduced DVDs.

The combo DVD/HD-DVD format is an absolute joke and raises the price. I would call the combo format an admission to failure. If the only way you can get people to buy an HD-DVD disc is to ensure it works in standard-definition players is a future promise that the format will fade away in the future.

HD discs are actually very sensitive to scratches, so having a combo disc to watch the movie on portable players is a recipe for ruining the HD part of the disc. Consumers are purchasing the HD version to watch them in HD. Sell only the HD version and get the price down to match the DVD release, and maybe there can be a chance of success.

If Blu-Ray and HD-DVD don’t change their pricing structure they’ll be relegated to the elite home theater consumer such as those who purchased LaserDiscs in the 80s and 90s.

For Movies DVD Still Looks Spectacular
One of the biggest problems is that while HD-DVD and Blu-Ray offer a flawless picture, DVD still offers spectacular picture quality for film-based content. High quality DVD releases such as Star Wars, Saving Private Ryan, and Training Day offer picture quality so great that they can compete with the HD formats, or simply look good enough for all but the most astute videophiles.

Film-based material lends itself to the DVD format perfectly. Films are usually shot artistically with film grain, focused foreground elements, and blurred backgrounds with the directors/artists fully embracing the original medium of film.

The goal of video-based content, such as sporting events, news, and most sitcoms is to look like reality, and as such they are shot differently. Video-based content is where the HD formats could flourish.

Can TV Programs Save The HD Formats?
HD video of sporting events is simply spectacular with immense detail, colors, and motion. Standard DVD would simply look soft with less color than the HD version.

What you don’t see is HD-DVD or Blu-Ray versions of popular TV shows and programs. On the DVD market TV shows account for over half of sales so this seems like a huge omission on the part of both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. Heroes just became available on HD-DVD, but having only few TV series on the format is not enough.

Beating the DVR Market
One major issue facing both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray camp is that HD-DVRs allow consumers to record and store their favorite HD content almost indefinitely. While DVR storage space is limited, DVR recording is free, and HD discs aren’t.

The Key to the Mass Market May be Lost
Trying to convince someone to get an HD disc format is like trying to show a non-audiophile the musical nuances of better speakers. They know it sounds better but the differences may be too subtle for the mass market to notice, or care enough to buy into a new format. It’s definitely a format war that might me on the radar of enthusiasts and industry insiders, but the mass market is simply ignoring them.

It’s a war where both are definitely losers.

The One Format Possibility
If only one format was to exist would consumers buy into it? That’s a possibility as long as acceptable pricing is introduced. Only time will tell. Even though I bought an HD-DVD player and a few movies I consider myself solidly on the fence unless movie prices go down.