HD-DVD?

So I finally got an HD-DVD player.  The HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox 360, to be exact.  I was in Sam’s club earlier in the week and found it for $125; it was the last one they had.  So, with it being alllllmost 1/2 off, I figured it was worth the purchase.  So is it?

Ehhh…. maybe.  I’ve had an HDTV since 2003, so I definately enjoy the HD experience.  HDTV vs regular cable is like night & day.  It’s an amazing difference, really.  But DVD vs HD-DVD?

Well, DVDs already look really good.  They’re already digital, already a decent quality.  Do HD-DVDs look better? YES.  Definately, yes.  But are they worth the expense of a $500 HD-DVD player..?  No, I honestly don’t think so.

But here’s where Microsoft should really be helping the HD-DVD camp.  $200 for an HD-DVD player?  Sure, if you’ve got an HD-DVD set.  And if you ever see it for $125, then it’s a no-brainer if you like HD content.  Somehow, though, $500 seems a little much for me.  The quality difference is good… but not $500 of good in order to get in early.  When HD-DVD players hit $200, that’s when they’ll start to take off; when they hit $100, they’ve got a winner.

I am, so far, a tad disappointed with the HD-DVD selections, however.  Blu-Ray has better presences at the Best Buy, CompUSA and the Circuit City stores here in Nashville.  Target doesn’t carry them.  And the prices are a biiit to high still (Excalibur is $25… I bought it on DVD for $10 like 3 years ago).  Ah the pain of an early adoptor.

I wish I could buy Spider-Man and X-Men and all those other movies on Blu-Ray.  I really wish that a standard could be figured out rather quickly.

Now that I have an HD-DVD player, I begin to wonder what the next medium will be like after HD discs.  I’ve thought that it would be simply downloading files… but I’m not sure.  If it’s a downloadable medium, I don’t think it will be actually purchasing one file.  I could see Microsoft or Apple or some new company come up with a plan like this:

You purchase the rights to view Movie for all of the distributors methods.  For example, if you wanted to watch “The Fountain” and you purchased it through Microsoft, you could view it as:

• An HD file downloaded to the Xbox
• An HD file downloaded to your Windows PC
• An SD quality file for playback on your Zune device
• A 1/4 SD quality file for playback on your Windows Mobile Phone
• A streaming video file for playback from your digital locker

 Or, if you purchase from Apple you get similar options, all through the iPod store.  It’s this kind of convergence that would get me away from the physical media.  I don’t mind buying into an eco-system (didn’t I, with the HD-DVD?), but I have to know that it will do what I want when I want.  When I can move my video files off the 360 and onto a Zune, THEN you’ve got my attention.  When I can purchase HD files (purchase, not rent) for playback on my 360 or PC or Zune, THEN you’ve got my attention, Microsoft.  Make the convergence happen.