Blake Schwendiman's Blog and Blook

According to Forrester Research, the Blu-Ray format is going to beat out the HD DVD format for the next generation of high-density media (see article). However, the article does point out that the average consumer will not be confident enough about the winner to actually buy a new format DVD player for another two years.

For those of you not familiar with the background of the story, you need to start preparing to buy all of your favorite movies again because there will soon be a high-definition format of DVDs that will take advantage of the resolution of your HD TV. This is great news for movie buffs (who have spare cash), but the problem is that there are two competing standards emerging that are not compatible with each other (think VHS vs. Betamax). These two standards are HD DVD and Blu-Ray.

Now I can't argue with Forrester, but I'm glad I'm not the one who is declaring victory for a format that hasn't even hit the market yet. If there's anything that can be predicted is the unpredictability of the American consumer. We don't necessarily buy the best technology (again, VHS vs. Beta) or the cheapest (iPod vs. myriad of MP3 players) and we rarely do what the experts say we're going to do.

Let's revisit this again in a year when one format has actually one. Hopefully I don't get too excited about the new format and buy the wrong one the first time I see it at Best Buy.

PS: I hope that by the time I can get high-def DVD that I can also get a copy of The Agency Delta movie in the new format!