Celluloid Confetti

So far, the High-Definition revolution has arrived with more of a whimper than a bang.

To join in the fun, rather than hanging a poster of Che Guevara on your wall, you have to install a new High-Definition TV, which is considerably more expensive and not at all bohemian.

Well, I am fairly bohemian, but my housemate isn’t, so I’ve been lucky enough to have access to a HDTV screen so large and beautiful it looks like a glass coffee table turned on its side.

DVDs look great on it. But sometimes… I don’t know. The colours seem a bit drab. The image sometimes gets pixellated. Flaws on a DVD that are invisible on a standard television are blown up to billboard size on a HDTV.

So strictly in the interests of respecting the filmmaker’s original vision, I have acquired a High-Definition player.

“But which one?!” I hear you figuratively cry. You see, there are two competing formats of HD-players to choose from: HD-DVD, made by a consortium led by Toshiba, and Blu-Ray, made by a consortium led by Sony.

The problem is that discs from one won’t play on the other (though DVDs will play on both).

Whole sections of the internet have been devoted to fiercely extolling the differences between the two formats, it basically comes down to this: Blu-Ray discs hold more data, but HD-DVD players are cheaper.

But to make it a bit more complicated, not all Hollywood studios support both formats. For example, Warner supports both; Sony, Disney and Fox only support Blu-Ray, Paramount and Universal only support HD-DVD.

Well, for various reasons, I decided to go Blu-Ray.

For one thing, there are a couple of exclusive titles I don’t want to miss: Paul Verhoeven’s fantastic Black Book, Peter Weir’s majestic Master and Commander, Mad Mel’s Apocalypto and all the Pixar movies are all coming out, which should sate my middle-brow sensibilities.

Tartan are even releasing Seventh Seal later this October incase I am tempted to prise my brow a little bit higher.

But to be honest, the main reason I chose Blu-Ray is because it’s looking as if it might win this particular format war. Unprincipled? You betcha.

So far, HD-DVD players have been outselling stand-alone Blu-Ray players, but Blu-Ray discs have been outselling HD-DVD titles by at least a 2-to-1 margin.

The reason for this apparent discrepancy is that Sony’s Playstation 3 games console also plays Blu-Ray discs. Sony’s plan has been to use the PS3 to sneak Blu-Ray players into people’s homes without them knowing.

Warren Lieberfarb, the former boss of Warner who is now a supporter of HD-DVD, admitted as much when he said that, given Blu-ray’s added PS3 base, Blu-Ray discs should be outselling HD DVD by 8-to-1, rather than 2-to-1 at present.

Well, whilst not everyone who owns a PS3 uses it to watch movies, many do, and I think it’s telling that the fact HD-DVD is being outsold by “only” 2-to-1 is somehow seen as a good thing by the format’s supporters.

Anyway, at MovieMail, we are keeping an open mind. Alan has a shiny new HD-DVD player, so we will be able to review the major releases on each format.

You can browse our current selection here.

Allrighty.

I guess all this talk of format war is getting rather boring, just like Betamax versus VHS all over again. It’s just a shame the various manufacturers were too greedy to agree on a standardised format, as they did with DVD.

But the most important thing, of course, remains the films.

And whichever format you decide to go with, High-Definition movies look absolutely fantastic. The detail and clarity of each frame really pops off the screen, and the experience is better than you will get in most cinemas. So if you have a HDTV, you should really check out the options.

I’ll be reviewing my favourite HD releases over the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, keep me posted with your take an all these high-def shenanigans.

Was I crazy to pick Blu-Ray?

Will Laserdiscs come back into vogue?

Should we ever have abandoned vinyl?

Please let me know!!