![](/Content/images/logo2.png)
Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/3295
HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray Spot Check: There's still no good option
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 5, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Anand
I was talking to Mike Andrawes last night (the inspiration for my earlier post on the high definition format wars) and we got on the topic of whether or not the Warner deal meant the imminent demise of HD-DVD. Admittedly, the longer the wars went on the more disinterested I became in what titles were out on each format. I refuse to start collecting either until there's a single format that has all content available (I guess I could make an exception in the event that universal players become the defacto standard).
I popped into Best Buy last night with Manny (the guy from the Home Theater post) after dinner to pick up some last minute CES gear, and we decided to do an informal survey of what movies we liked that were exclusive to each format.
Blu-ray | HD-DVD |
Spiderman 1 - 3 | Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy, Bourne Ultimatum |
The Prestige* | Anchorman |
Superbad | V for Vendetta |
Casino Royal | Knocked Up |
Life Free or Die Hard (I know) | The 40-Year-Old Virgin |
Now this isn't a comprehensive list at all, but what it does highlight is this: neither of us could, in good conscience, recommend either standard. Despite HD-DVD's more affordable pricing, you can't watch things like Casino Royal, Spiderman or Superbad in high definition on it, and that's just simply unacceptable. The same applies to Blu-ray, it doesn't matter what exclusive titles the format does have, because the ones that it doesn't are just as good.
Herein lies the problem I was outlining yesterday, this war is fought for industry members, it's fought for the Sonys and the Microsofts of the world, it's not fought for the people buying the movies. Honestly, the only options are to either support both formats or support none, backing one or another just doesn't make any sense unless you really hate all of the movies in one of the columns.