HD FOCUS

With the first High Definition DVD players now becoming available in Britain, the prospect of watching the latest movies in High Definition in the comfort of your own armchair is becoming a reality.

Both formats use ‘blue laser technology’ which allows High Definition discs to hold a massive amount of data for higher resolutions (maximum 25GB per side for blu-ray and 15GB for HD DVD).

Superior viewing experience most definitely, but one question on every movie buff’s lips; is it time to trade in my current DVD collection for a new High Definition player and movie collection is a little harder to answer.

To begin with, two rival High Definition formats are vying for consumer attention – ‘Blu-ray’ and ‘HD DVD’. Like the VHS v Betamax rivalry in the early eighties, manufacturers have once again shot themselves in the foot, and what complicates matters even further is the backing from rival holywood studios for their preferred format. This throws up the prospect of certain movies only being available on certain formats.

Sony pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, MGM and Disney are behind ‘Blu-Ray’ while Universal Pictures favours the ‘HD DVD’ format. At the moment, the implications of this are that movies like the Da Vinci Code, Terminator 2, Ice Age will only be available on Blu-ray, while Apollo 13, The Last Samurai, Goodfellas to name but a few will only be available on HD DVD.

Some sense has prevailed at least with Warner brothers and Paramount Pictures supporting both formats with releases of Blazing Saddles, Mission Impossible II, Full Metal Jacket.

So where does this leave the consumer anxious to experience this new high resolution experience.

Some of you out there might be prepared to shell out a large amount of money for one of the competing formats players, and live with the fact that not all movies will be available in that format.

LG have hinted that they will manufacture a player capable of playing both formats, in which case its all about how long you can wait ...

You may choose to opt out of the HD player market altogether and let sky or one of the cable companies feed HD movies directly to your screen, if you are prepared to live with the on-going subscription charges.

Of course, for those of you who want to watch all movies as they become available on High Definition on your own player, then the only option is to buy both formats.