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OK, don't run out and buy HD-DVD on my say so...

It seems I may have been premature with my pronouncement that HD-DVD won the wars due to the influence of porn. A couple of weeks after my post there was a quote in the media from a Sony rep who stated that Sony does not control the right to license to manufacturers (that is the job of the Blu-Ray group) so they are not telling people not to manufacture porn. The flip side of that is that Sony is the largest US manufacturer of Blu-Ray discs, and Sony themselves will not ever take on a duplicating job that involves porn. That is not an industry mandate from the controlling gods of the format, that is a personal business decision on the part on one duplication house.

Now, tie this in with a recent news nugget to the effect that Blu-Ray movies had thus far outsold HD-DVD movies by 3-to-1 and I start rethinking my position. When I wrote that the wards were over I was all ready to buy an HD-DVD drive the next time I had any reason to get a new burner or home DVD player, but now I have to say the jury is still out which means I would recommend that people with no compelling need to choose a format just sit it out for a while longer and see what happens. Sony's media cartel brings them a tremendous catalog of titles (if they can work out the new HD rights with the filmmakers), but the fact remains that it is harder and more expensive to dupe in Blu-Ray than HD-DVD, and the HD-DVD guys are likely working really hard to expand their catalog of titles since they know that whoever has the best selection that the customers want will win.

But for now, avoid commiting more deeply than buying an Xbox 360 or PS3 and a VERY small handful of movies that you will be willing to live without or rebuy if your technology loses the war.




(C) 2007 Don Stratton

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