Selective Decisions

So my roommate just bought himself a 40 inch HDTV hooked up with 5.1 surround sound. He pretty much bought it to support his Xbox 360 habit since neither of us watch that much television. Along with his recent HDTV purchase he decided it was time to go choose a format for HD movies.

It was pretty much a no brainer for him since he already owns the 360 upgrading to HDDVD only costs 250 dollars, while a Blu-Ray player would cost a thousand… or the purchase of a PS3. So, yeah he went HDDVD. He got King Kong with the player, and had Superman Returns (since it was DVD and HDDVD anyway). We watched both and it was pretty spectacular. Seriously, it was awesome, and this is coming from a guy who is REALLY critical about how bad most stuff looks on DVD over projection in the theatre.

So today I decided to head over to the good old Circuit City to pick up another movie to add to our collection. After finding nothing good there, I moved next door to Virgin Megastore. Their selection was much larger but still only had maybe, maybe 20 titles for each format (Blu-Ray and HDDVD). On HDDVD there was a lot of Waterworld, Four Brothers, Aeon Flux (shudder) and Sky Captain. Nothing I was impressed by at all. But that Blu-Ray camp, chock full of Fantastic Four, and Mission Impossible. You know, the kind of big action movie you want from HD.

Anyway I was disappointed. I was hoping for something more. Especially after seeing F4… I’ve been in the mood to watch that movie ever since I saw the trailer for the new one. I was angry. I walked 15 minutes to Union Square (where both stores are located) and I was not about to walk back empty handed. I bought Superman II the Richard Donner Cut… I haven’t opened it and I’ll probably return it tomorrow. I don’t even want to see that movie. I just wanted to watch something on HD tonight but now that looks like it’s going to be out of the question.

I have no idea who will win this format war, and I’m going to sit out as long as possible. HD as a format is still getting its bearings and confusing the hell out of consumers and manufacturers, I’m not going to get a player until everyone is squared away.

To be honest I was perfectly happy with DVD until we got this gigantic screen and HD player. I think I may pick up Serenity (delicious) and well… that’s pretty much all I can think of that’s currently out right now that could even possibly look good. Everything else is terrible copies from the DVD. They’re just faking the better resolution. That’s cheap, that’s annoying, and I don’t like it.

Over all, right now, I’d say Blu-Ray has a better lineup of titles. Definitely in the action department. But I don’t think those titles justify the purchase of a thousand dollar player. I don’t think the HDDVD titles justify the purchase of a 500 dollar player. I think the whole thing is going to be pointless because discs are going to be obsolete. We’re going to have media centers soon and we’ll stream everything.

My suggestion is this. If you’re going to get a PS3 anyway, it might be nice to pick up some of your favorite movies on Blu-Ray. Otherwise, if you’re not, just buy yourself a DVD player that will upscale your DVD’s and wait this out. Seriously, it’s not worth it. The titles are crap, and they are just slightly up scaled DVDs.