It's Semi-Official HD-DVD Is Out, Blu-ray to Stay

[Mark]

Well as much as it pains me to say, it would seem Sony's high definition DVD format has won the race. It would take a miracle for HD-DVD to even have a chance now. Most major movie studios have gone Blu-ray exclusive and now Best Buy and Netflix are in on the action.

Best Buy will now suggest Blu-ray as the recommended "High definition DVD experience" (which is kind of lame that they are only suggesting it because it's winning and not because it's how they feel) and Netflix has sent me the following e-mail:

We're Going Blu-ray

Dear ****,

You're receiving this email because you have asked to receive high-definition movies in the HD DVD format. As you may have heard, most of the major movie studios have recently decided to release their high-definition movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format. In order to provide the best selection of high-definition titles for our members, we have decided to go exclusively with Blu-ray as well.

While we will continue to make our current selection of HD DVD titles available to you for the next several months, we will not be adding additional HD DVD titles or reordering replacements.

Toward the end of February, HD DVDs in your Saved Queue will automatically be changed to standard definition DVDs. Then toward the end of this year, all HD DVDs in your Queue will be changed to standard definition DVDs. Don't worry, we will contact you before this happens.

You can click here to change your format preferences.

We're sorry for any inconvenience. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call us at 1 (888) 638-3549.

-The Netflix Team

Anyone want an Xbox 360 HD DVD attachment for cheap?

[Jason]

Interesting.  It seemed it was going that way from what I've seen. 

(That's why I'm still running a non-HD tv setup) 

[Knu]

How far do you sit from your TV? What size is your TV?

Although different sources have slightly different takes on this, you should be viewing HDTV (with an HD source) at a distance of about three times the height of the TV. No closer than 2.5 times (otherwise you will begin to notice artifacts or the pixels themselves) and no further than 3.3 times, otherwise you begin to loose the benefit of HD. At 10 feet away (how far I view my TV in my living room), there is no point to my HD 32" screen. I think I would have to sit at about 6 feet away before I'd begin to benefit from the greater resolution, and the ideal distance would be about 4 feet! I only bought an HDTV because I had to replace my old set. Anyway, the point is that unless you are close enough to your TV (for its size), there is no point in BR or HD-DVD. I suspect that most people view their TVs too far away for HD to have any impact upon their viewing experience, yet they will replace their perfectly serviceable Standard Definition TVs, Std Def DVD players, and their DVDs, no doubt.

At 10 feet away from the screen, I should have an 80" HDTV! That would look bloody stupid in my living room!