Have you started thinking about whether you'll go with Blu-ray Disc or HD-DVD? Hey, wait, you may not know the difference between the two competing standards. (And even if you do, it's probably giving you a headache.)
For some insight, check out "More From the Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD Front." It's on the old side, but so am I. The info about the formats will get you up to speed.
I'm often impressed with the Wikipedia folks' take on many things and they didn't disappoint me with their Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD descriptions. Take a look at 'em here:
No honey, but soon. The drives should be on retail shelves around summer, at prices that will probably cause you some alarm. (I'm postponing my purchase for a year or two, until the cost is reasonable.)
Samsung's and Sony's first Blu-ray Disc players will cost around $1000. Samsung's BD-P1000 was planned for May, and the launch slipped to June. Sony's BDP-S1 should launch in July. Toshiba's launching its HD-DVD players sometime in April, and they'll go for $500 and $800. Read "HD-DVD, Blu-ray Disc Drives Coming Soon" for details.
If you still have a couple of bucks, you may be interested in Toshiba's Qosmio G30, a $2400 notebook with an HD-DVD drive. It was supposed to be released in April; read The notebook's being released in May, and only in Japan; read "Toshiba Readies HD-DVD Laptop" for details.
If you're in the Blu-ray camp, you might look at the AVS Disc Creator. It's a freebie utility for writing to DVDs, CDs, and Blu-ray Discs. (BTW, I wrote about AVS's other product--AVS Video Converter--a cool utility, in my May "Hassle Free-PC.")
Contributing Editor Dan Tynan has been thinking hard about the Blu-ray/HD-DVD situation, and he says to wait a while. Read "High-Def Discs Battle for Your Bucks" for why.
And our DVD maven, "Burning Questions" columnist Melissa Perenson, has been following the format battle for months. She doesn't have any easy answers, either. Read "No Copying From First High-Def Players" for her take on how unsettled content protection specs are causing trouble for consumer electronics companies.
From reader e-mail, I suspect many of you have DVD drives in your computers, but aren't clear on the various formats. If I asked you, does your PC do DVD+R/RW, would you know? (It reminds me of Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies saying, in his great French accent, "Does your dog bite?")
To get you up to speed, take a look at "How to Buy a DVD Recorder." You'll find all the specs explained as well as learn which format is best suited for you.
OTOH, you may be in the market for a new drive, one that has dual-layer capabilities. If that's the case, read through "How to Buy a DVD-Rewritable Drive."
And for a look at the future of DVD--yes, it's still alive and kicking, even with all the fuss about Blu-ray and HD-DVD--read Melissa's "Report From the Consumer Electronics Show."
Steve Bass
