An Updated Commentary on Blu-Ray and all things High-Def

With the holiday season approaching, I thought that I would give an updated view about my acceptance of Blu-Ray DVDs.

In my last commentary, I was highly critical about the belief going around that Blu-Ray will replace Standard Definition DVDs.

Before I get critical, I will agree with two things:

1. Based on personal experience, HD is the best experience for 50 inch+ television.
2. Blu-Ray currently has a fair market share with most new releases coming in both standard and Blu-Ray, as well as many older films being re-released each week.

However, I still have to be critical about Blu-Ray being anything other than a niche product for people with deep enough pockets to purchase a $2000 high definition TV.

Now, my family owns a HDTV and I can say that watching TV shows in HD is better than watching in standard. However, the resolution for standard TV (4×3) and high def (16×9) is big enough to notice the difference.

For DVDs on the otherhand, most are already formated in widescreen. While it may be true that not all DVDs are formated in 16×9 (and result in black bars), I found that watching a standard DVD on a HDTV still gives a decent picture (even better than standard def TV shows).

You may begin to comment that I haven’t seen an movies in high definition. The truth is that I have watched a few movies in HD. I do say that I liked what I saw, but I can’t say that it is enough to convince me that it is the only way to go.

Then there are people saying that ALL disc-based media will eventually be replaced with OnDemand download services, however I don’t really want to get into that right this minute.

In the end, I am still happy with standard definition DVDs and I don’t see myself rushing to get a Blu-Ray player anytime soon. If the time comes that I would be forced to do so, I will gladly buy one.