The “Break it Down” Blog

HD-DVD or BluRay?

I have no idea.

But ‘zzap64‘ over on AVS has an awesomely detailed analysis of the current situation including all announced movies for both formats and declares BluRay the winner. Check out a snippet:

Blu-ray has 72 movies scheduled to be released with 60 of those being exclusive

HD DVD has 24 movies scheduled to be released with 8 of those being exclusive

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/releasedates.html

Of the top 40 all time highest grossing films worldwide (adjusted for inflation)

Blu-ray has 23 exclusive

HD DVD has 5 exclusive

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o…-grossing_films

On the flip side, resident expert Robert “The Internet” Heron, brings up a point that I agree with: price will determine the winner.

It seems in history Sony has always had to invent their own formats, devices, connections and just about anything else and then get people locked into it. Betamax/VHS a good example. Was superior and so on, but (a) they didn’t let the adult entertainment industry use it (same with BluRay) and it was more expensive.

The cost of VHS came down quicker which meant more on the market, which meant more players, which mean cheaper players. I think we are about to see history repeat itself again, but a bit more slowly this time because of marketing and ability to communicate with vast markets. But in the end, are you going to buy the $20 HD-DVD movie or the $35 BluRay movie? Are you going to buy the $159 HD-DVD player, or the $256 BluRay player? (These are just examples).

The cheaper will win, and the assumption is HD-DVD will be cheaper, so let’s see.