HDD Post-Format War

[jed]

Many of you have either written me personally or posted notes in the feedback section asking what changes we might be planning for High-Def Digest now that Blu-ray has won the format war.

The short answer is we have no dramatic changes planned in the immediate short term. Our bread and butter has always been disc reviews and daily news related to the two high-def disc formats, and we have no plans to change that focus.

Obviously, with the industry moving to Blu-ray, so too will much of our coverage. We'll continue to cover HD DVD to the extent that there's something to cover, but as the release slate for the format gets smaller, you're likely to see fewer HD DVD reviews and news stories on this site.

Likewise, although we have no immediate plans to change the site's current design, if/when we get to the point were there's no fresh HD DVD content, the site will likely be restructured to reflect the mix of content at that time.

The same goes for the forums, where it's safe to assume that over time, as interests change, you'll see a restructuring to address the needs of the community.

To that end, we've seen a growing number of requests in recent months to expand our focus to include HD digital downloads and VOD. With the format war behind us, we're excited that we'll have a bit more bandwidth (pardon the pun!) to tinker with new topics like these that may be of interest to high-def enthusiasts. As always, we'll look to your feedback to help gauge what works (and what doesn't).

Finally... Many have asked about the fate of the smackdown forum. Although it's tempting to close that section and replace it with a big fat peace sign, the reality is that to date it remains the most popular discussion area on these boards. (As others have pointed out, it also serves a valuable purpose in that it protects other areas of these forums from smacktalk.)

So, no, we won't be closing the smackdown forum in the near future. I still dream of a day where can all live in harmony (we're certainly a lot closer this week than we've been before), but until then that area will live on -- as the rechristened "High-Definition Smackdown."