27th January 2008

Hello, good evening and welcome to the first of my regular HD DVD/BLU RAY columns.

In this introductory edition I thought I’d put together a handy cut out and keep guide to the formats and give you a rough idea as to where you can expect future columns to take you. So buckle up and enjoy the ride.

OK, as you probably know there are two existing and warring formats vying for your consumer buck (much like the huge VHS versus Betamax conflict of the mid 1970’s - which lasted into the 1980’s).

The first is HD DVD, as created and backed primarily by the Toshiba company. Studios supporting this format include Warner Brothers, Paramount, Buena Vista and currently most crucially Universal.

The second is BLU RAY as created by Sony and supported by major studios including Fox, Buena Vista, Paramount, MGM, Sony and Walt Disney.

Sales figures for the past year show that BR has a 64% market share against HD’s 36%. Much of the gain can probably be attributed to the fact that the BR format is compatible with and playable on Sony’s Play Station 3. Whereas to play HD’s on your X BOX 360 you need to purchase an add on.

In a major about turn, not fully explained but probably due to some mega money changing hands, WB recently announced that it would be jumping ship from HD to the better selling BR format. This has thrown the future of HD into some doubt so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

From a personal stand point I initially watched a couple of friends systems who had both formats installed, and I found the BR films I viewed a shade lacking in the picture quality department. However they were playing the discs through the PS3 and I think that was the reason why the picture quality appeared compromised.

Having now acquired two separate stand-alone players I can report that the two formats are virtually indistinguishable in terms of sound and picture quality.

One advantage that the HD format offers is that unlike BR it is not region coded, therefore all discs play on all machines worldwide. With BR it is quite a crap shoot with approx 50% of the US releases being non-compatible with UK machines.

Both formats also up-convert all existing regular DVD’s, which means they look and sound better when viewed through the new hardware.

Another benefit I have found is that the two players handle brilliantly the odd DVD-R discs and the like that we often get sent as FrightFest submissions. My stand-alone DVD player often had trouble reading those discs and would often freeze or be very glitchy.

The general quality of HD and BR films, when mastered correctly are vastly superior to regular DVD’s in terms of high-resolution picture and un-compressed sound.

Watching films on both formats can often be an eye-opening and eye-popping experience, which is akin to watching the film for the very first time – as we will see in future articles.

In this new column I will be reviewing new and forthcoming product from all around the world. Already the formats have thrown up some interesting regional variants so I will be alerting you to some unusual under the radar items.

Items featured will be viewed through the Sharp Aquos Blu Ray player BDHP 20 and the Toshiba HD player HDXE1.

Another handy hint if you are looking to buy a new television make sure it is fully HD ready – 1080 I. Many retailers are selling older so-called HD ready sets with the false promise that they are the real HD deal – so beware and ask lots of questions before purchase!

I hope this introduction has proved to be some help in what can be quite a confusing area of home entertainment.

As a huge film fan I can thoroughly recommend either format. Simply breathtaking!

So let’s sit on the sofa, crack open a couple of beers, invite a few friends over and look to a bright HD future.

Paul.