I’m fed up; sick and tired of all the bickering, sniping, and griping about the two high-definition optical disc formats: Blu-ray and HD DVD. Instead of celebrating the advent of two remarkably capable technologies, my colleagues prefer to bitch and moan about them.

I keep reading about how having two incompatible formats that purport to do the same thing—deliver the best video and audio quality ever seen on a television—is a tragedy. I keep hearing how disastrous it is that there are two competing formats vying for consumer affection because they’re causing confusion and hurting not only sales of their own hardware and software, but also of conventional DVDs.

So permit me to do some enlightening here. Titanic Captain Edward John Smith failing to notice that mountain of ice protruding from the North Atlantic? That was a tragedy. The Hindenburg making like a Roman Candle while trying to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey? That was a disaster (although it did spawn one of the coolest record album covers ever created).

My colleagues may ultimately prove to be correct when they predict that one or both of the high-def optical disc formats will sink like a Led Zeppelin. But it won’t surprise me if they’re wrong. For one thing, we all tend to be bigger bags of hot air than the Hindenburg, and a lot of what we say is thrown out there just because we like to...well, throw things out there.

Another reason I don’t think either Blu-ray or HD DVD will go away anytime soon is because of something my brother-in-law once told me. Yeah, I know brothers-in-law are supposed to be good only for driving to football games and loaning tools, but this one is a very wealthy and shrewd entrepreneur. And he believes that competition is always beneficial.

In this case, I can’t see how having two competing formats hurts consumers. Granted, one or both of the formats will eventually cease to exist, but guess what? So will automobiles. Heck, VHS tapes are beginning to become extinct, but does anyone in their right mind believe we would’ve been better off without them in the first place?

Criticisms about the slow startup times and sometimes spotty video quality of first-generation Blu-ray and HD DVD players and discs seem more legitimate. But both camps are aggressively addressing these issues (see, I told you competition is a good thing), and what new technology hasn’t had growing pains?

Despite the grumbling of my colleagues, it seems as though early adopters are pretty happy with their purchases. After viewing about a dozen different titles on both platforms, I can understand why. Some titles look better than others, but Blu-ray and HD DVD generally deliver exactly what they are supposed to: the best video quality you can get on a TV.

And that’s not just my opinion. Friends and relatives have been impressed by the high-def disc players. One said a particular Blu-ray title was so realistic it looked like 3-D. Another compared an HD DVD title to a moving photograph. And the fact that both players do a pretty good job of upscaling standard DVDs makes it easier to justify purchasing a Blu-ray or HD DVD player.

Not that you need justification for your A/V purchases. But isn’t it refreshing to hear that it’s OK if you want to buy a Blu-ray or HD DVD player?

Editor
Scott Wasser

E-mail Scott Wasser at scottw@dtvmag.com