Started Blu, went purple (lightly)...back to Blu

[solar]

I sat out the initial release of HDDVD and Blu-Ray to try to see which one would win before jumping in. In the beginning, it looked like HD-DVD, however by the time I decided to jump in and get an HDTV (mid 2007) it looked like Blu-Ray was pulling ahead and I decided to get a Playstation 3 to use as a Blu-Ray player (a decision I don't regret one bit to this day).

I initially purchased a couple of movies at full price, but then I saw the miracle known as "b1g1" deals come down the pike, and stocked up heavily on ~$10 movies (I bought a bunch of stuff I never saw, based on high PQ and decent movie quality reviews--because at around $10/movie average, that's not THAT much more than renting at blockbuster, and cheaper than a movie ticket here).

I was immediately in awe at the picture quality of The Prestige, 300, The Departed, and The Corpse Bride.

When Dreamworks went HD-DVD exclusive, however, I had some pause. At that point I decided to pick up a cheap Toshiba A2 and lightly purchase HD-DVD exclusive movies when they became on sale (I ended up with 5 or 6 purchased movies at around $10/each on average). I never really doubted that Blu-Ray would win the war, but there were a few movies on HD-DVD that I really wanted to see in high definition (Transformers, Batman Begins, etc).

I'm pretty much done with the HD-DVD stuff now. The one 'casualty' of the format wars were the amazing deals on movies seemingly every week (I live in close proximity to a Frys also, which ran their own good deals). Overall I really look forward to the movies I love coming out in Blu-Ray---the only thing I ask the studios is that if they're going to insist on charging me $25-30 for a movie, that it is remastered specifically for high definition and not simply use a recycled dvd master (especially a poor quality one that seems to still be happening i.e. Gangs of New York--there's no excuse for that).