i have 60" HDTV , but i think i'm gonna wait a year or so...only TWO movies available



HD DVD off to running start
Updated 5/1/2006 9:13 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this




By Thomas K. Arnold, Special for USA TODAY
Chris Searight rushed out to his local Best Buy the night before Toshiba's new HD DVD players officially went on sale April 18 and bought the $500 model.
"I wanted it for the clean, high-definition image and uncompressed sound," says Searight, 31, of Dallas.

His verdict was mixed: "The image quality is fantastic." But the player "takes way too long to boot, to sync with the projector and finally load and play a movie," he says. "There's a lot of work to be done on the connecting and the consistency of the audio."

Searight also was disappointed that only two movies were available the night he bought his player. "If the HD DVD guys had wanted to make an impact, they should have released better, and more, titles."

Jim Keenan, 50, of Santa Rosa, Calif., was more enthusiastic. "I'm very impressed with the player, even though it's the first one of its kind and does have a few quirky issues," he says.

HD DVD and Blu-ray formats are vying to replace DVD once high definition becomes standard. Sixteen million U.S. households have HDTV, and by year's end, that number is expected to reach 25 million, according to research by Warner Bros.

At 1,080 lines of resolution vs. 480 for DVD, both formats offer a clearer picture and hold three to five times the data of DVD.

HD DVD, developed by Toshiba, arrived first. The cheapest of the two Toshiba players ($500 and $799) out now costs half what the cheapest Blu-ray Disc player will cost when it arrives in June.

Toshiba's Jodi Sally says initial sales were good, and "to keep up with demand, we will be receiving product from overseas."

Robert Zohn, owner of Value Electronics in Scarsdale, N.Y., says he took advance orders for 316 Toshiba players and sold out his initial allotment the first day.

"We will carry Blu-ray, but our full support and dedication is to the HD DVD format," says Zohn, who does most of his sales online. "However, if sales stay as brisk as they have been, and if Toshiba can deliver enough players, I believe the format war will end before Blu-ray ships its first player."

Despite its head start and cheaper price, HD DVD is considered the underdog. Only Toshiba makes HD DVD players, and LG is expected to enter the market shortly. Dozens of manufacturers will make the Blu-ray Disc player.

On the software side, only three of the six major studios — Paramount, Universal and Warner — support HD DVD.

Paramount and Warner say they also will support Blu-ray, as will the three other majors — Disney, 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures — along with Lionsgate.

Will consumers replace all their DVDs with high-definition upgrades?

Chris Haire, 27, of Orlando will. After watching Serenity and The Last Samurai on his HD DVD player, he says: "It's awesome. I'm going to be replacing all these old DVDs as soon as they come out with more movies."

HD DVD OFFERS INTERACTIVITY

One of HD DVD's chief calling cards will be interactivity that's light-years ahead of DVD.

For one thing, menus and other special features can be accessed from the side or bottom of the screen while the feature is playing. "That's something we could never do with DVD," Warner's Steve Nickerson says.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment president Craig Kornblau says, "You can truly create a unique, robust, interactive personal experience."

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift arrives in theaters June 16. For the HD DVD, Kornblau's team hopes to give viewers the chance to assemble their own car, using a set of design options, and drop it into the movie to watch it in action.

Stick the disc into a computer, link to the Internet and more possibilities emerge. Kornblau envisions viewers being able to click on a car tire, a dress or a piece of furniture to find out the specifics and the price. "Ultimately, there might even be a buy option so they can buy it right there, online, as they are watching the movie," he says.




TITLES NOW AVAILABLE AND COMING SOON TO HD DVD

Available now (about $30)

The Last Samurai
Million Dollar Baby
Phantom of the Opera
Serenity
Apollo 13
Doom
Goodfellas
Swordfish

May 9

Jarhead
Cinderella Man
Assault on Precinct 13

May 23

The Chronicles of Riddick
The Bourne Supremacy
Van Helsing
U-571

(although none of these would make me wanna go out and spend $500 for a dvd player)
[Edited 5/1/06 20:21pm]

Blu-ray!

Imago said:

I dunno...it's the better technology but Microsoft's backing the HD DVD, so it'll probably catch on more.

I tink something wud wrong... I saw a happy face next to Van Helsing, and an unhappy face next to Goodfellas....

you thought van helsing was better than serenity?

JPW said:

We have a 58" HP DLP projector with 1080p resolution. As far as I am aware, the HD DVDs only support 1080i resolution, same as HD TV.

But anyway, we bought an upconverting DVD player for our TV. I don't know how it works, but somehow it kicks the resolution of 480 DVDs up into High Def quality. I must say that it looks absolutely spot on fantastic. Watched the Incredibles with it, the picture was crystal clear, clean, bright, and with no pixellation or rough edges whatsoever. I'm having a hard time thinking that these new players can justify their expense, given what we've gotten out of plain old DVDs on our TV.

ufoclub said:

just thinking of the worth of seeing these movies in HD. deniro and liotta in HD can't be a good thing

savoirfaire said:

i bought one of those at christmas--they call it HDMI/DVI-compatible or something like that. i didn't notice a huge uprgade over my regular dvd player plugged into my HD port. just to make sure, i read some info on line that basically said no matter what you do to enhance it, there's not much you can do to make a 480p dvd look significantly better. (kinda like putting high grade fuel into a Nova) so, on that note, i took it back and exhanged it for a dvd-recorder that i like much better, since i can record all my tv shows/sporting events at 480p HD quality
[Edited 5/2/06 4:57am]

evenstar3 said:

Blu-Ray is highly restrictive and piracy-paranoid. Long live HD-DVD.

How will it look on my 17" black and white?

meltwithu said:

You liked Van Helsing? I'd have to agree, there aren't enough titles out and I've heard there are tons of technical problems with play the discs.
[Edited 5/2/06 6:50am]

u2prnce said:

I hated Van Helsing!

I'll probably hold out until a victor emerges from the format war.

jerseykrs said:

What a huge stinking pile of crap. There were plans for sequels until they saw how much it sucked.

Ace said:

Me too...shit is too expensive nowadays to just randomly pick one and hope for the best.