By: Bruce Bahlmann - Contributing Author (your feedback is important to us!)

Created: November 5, 2006

High definition DVDs players are going to be huge hit this Christmas season. In fact, anyone with a high definition screen will want one of these as this is the hottest consumer electronics equipment currently available. The problem is with many different choices in vendors and DVD formats, there is some confusion on which device to buy. In this review we breakdown both high definition DVD formats and give you the information you need to make the best buying decision.

Which Format: HD-DVD or Blu-ray

The following is a breakdown of the competing high definition DVD formats currently available. Where possible, we have noted the advantage of one format or the other.

Content wise, Blu-ray has the edge in movie and music content available. Today Blu-ray has about 80% of all studios producing movies for its format versus only about 45% of studios producing movies for the HD-DVD format. Evidently, Sony which is one of the founding members of Blu-ray has learned its lesson after having its last superior video format  (BetaMax) get beat out by VHS mainly because of the lack of available titles.

This time around, Sony which owns a huge video library of popular films like Close Encounters, Da Vinci Code, Taxi Driver, as well as popular television series like Bewitched and Seinfeld has vowed to not make any of its movies available on the competing format. So even with the likes of Microsoft and Intel behind the competing format, Blu-ray has a lot of runway to get this format right and deliver a huge selection of titles to consumers. Perhaps the most spectacular Blu-ray title The Fifth Element is distributed by Sony. What is spectacular about this title is that it contains very explosive special effect scenes which have been particularly singled out among all currently available high definition DVDs by many high definition test labs to critique performance of the very best video monitors. The Fifth Element movie helps sets the standard by which much of the highest end video products are measured and compared and you can only see it on Blu-ray.

The following is a listing of the studios backing each format:

Unless you plan to buy all your high definition movies, the next obvious choice is to rent them. Renting movies means you need to choose from Netflix, Blockbuster, Amazon (if you are outside US), or your local video store. The key to your rental selection will be what titles are available on a first come first served basis. Your local video store will likely have the least selection available when it comes to high definition video discs because there just isn't enough market for these items yet for them to reserve already scarce shelf space. Netflix has already stepped up the the plate with a pretty sizeable high definition format offering. Netflix's offering includes about ~100 titles of each high definition format to chose from as well as a clever way of setting your account default such that when a title's HD format releases that is in your queue or the movie you select from their inventory has a HD version available, you will be shipped the HD format unless you other wise tell them not to. The whole account setup and selection system is very mature and supports both Blu-ray and HD-DVD. These HD discs come within the same timeframe as their other discs and are generally in very good condition else, you can send it back to them noting it is damaged and they will immediately ship you one that isn't damaged. If you are going to purchase a high definition DVD player it is a good idea to get your video rental service set up once you know what type and brand of player you plan to buy. This way, while you plan to go buy your player at your local store or on-line, by the time you receive your player you already have movies arriving at your door. Note buying these discs is fairly expensive to the tune of between $25 and $30 each, so with just one purchase you paid for 1-2 months worth of Netflix.

For the rest of this review of an high definition DVD players (click [2] below).

Article Continues... [1] - [2]

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