I'm into high-def, as is my right as a red-blooded American male. At first it had more to do with the aspect ratio than anything else, the 4:3 AR for television just seemed too narrow for modern programming. Seeing modern European films where TVs were displaying the Euro PALPlus 16:9 aspect ratio made me jealous. As I worked in video post-production, the standard-def 4:3 looked low-class next to even letterboxed standard-def, the equivalent of wearing horse-blinders rotated 90 degrees. While working for a firm a few years back that was remastering stock footage to high-def tape, I got to stare at HD footage all day for a few months and I was spoiled for less than HD at home and at work. I offer this in my own defense in case you're one of those folks that says a show is a show is a show, because there is a world of difference between say Lost in standard def and Lost in HD. Hell, even Jeopardy likes to party in HD.
So it was with interest that I began to follow the format war that a group of manufacturers led by Sony launched against another group led by Toshiba four or five years ago. Back then it was Toshiba's AOD vs. Sony's Blu-Ray, with Blu-Ray the latecoming underdog. Eventually AOD took the catch-all moniker the industry had generally given the emergent technology, HD-DVD.
I was a high schooler when the VHS vs. Betamax war was going on, and since Sony's Beta technology was better (and grew into the Betacam spec used across the broadcast industry), I was sorry to see Sony lose out. Sony has had bad luck with new formats ever since.
Seeing the format war gain momentum online was a new wrinkle, however, and I think the internet had a huge impact on the fight. I'm not talking about the fanboy drivel in forums, but the speed at which news hits the target consumer base. Sites reporting that Warner had dropped their HD-DVD exclusivity last month mere moments after Warner had issued their press release was as big a blow than the announcement itself, I think. The Syms retail chain advertises that an educated consumer is their best customer. Well, educated consumers became Best Buy and Circuit City's worst customers that day, bringing back the HD-DVD players they'd received for Christmas by the truckload. Last week's three 'We're dropping HD-DVD' announcements from Netflix, Best Buy and (the biggest blow of all) Wal-Mart even hit the mainstream news sites. Toshiba never had a chance to try and move their remaining player stock to uninformed buyers.
Toshiba announced this morning that they are dropping their format by the end of March. Of the two last exclusive studios, Universal has already announced plans to release new and catalog titles on Blu-Ray, and Paramount is expected to follow sooner than later. Having just one format should open the floodgates on catalog titles now that the studios know the consumers won't be waffling on which format to buy, so that's great news for someone like me that wants to see some old favorites released. As it is, I'm glad to finally be able to order the new Blade Runner package in an HD format. I just hope Universal gets on the stick and starts opening their catalog up. I'll pick the first three titles for you, Uni: Jaws, The Sting and Serenity.
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