The TV Addict 

When I first heard that Warner Brothers had broken their ties with HD DVD, I knew what was coming, what we all knew was going to come eventually: the end of the high-definition disc wars. It still came as a bit of a shock that my player was now “dead,” but I have a PS3, so at least I still had a means of playing the winning Blu-Ray format. A lot of people began to panic (or get pissed) that they now had another Beta on their hands. In other words, a dead format that was more or less useless. Retailers especially started selling off whatever HD players they had in stores, as if they had kept the players there any longer in inventory, everybody would have contracted leprosy from them.

The thing is I came to realize that now is the greatest time to be an HD DVD player owner. Sure, at this point there are going to be no more future releases on the format, but there are hundreds of titles that have been already released, and with everyone wanting to inevitably clear their inventory, that can only mean one thing: fire sales. Who cares if it’s a dead product? What matters is that it’s still a good product. High definition is high definition. The movies still look fantastic, sound fantastic, and now you can get them for cheap. My collection alone has exploded from something like two titles, to now nearly thirty. Thanks to various sales around Toronto retail chains, I was able to get films like the 5-disc BLADE RUNNER for $19.99; JET LI’S FEARLESS, HOT FUZZ, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, LOST IN TRANSLATION, HOLLYWOODLAND for between $6.99 and $8.99; BATMAN BEGINS, FORBIDDEN PLANET and THE MUMMY I snatched up for $12.99; and then a major rental store chain was selling off their rental copies used at ridiculous prices ($9.99, to be exact), which added almost nine more titles to my collection.

So HD DVD is a dead format? Yes, but I certainly don’t care when my eyes will be bathed in 1080 rendered shiny Transformers, and my living room will vibrate like an aftershock whenever those big robots fight or blow up.

What do y’all think? Any HD DVD owners out there who are pissed that you have a dead format on your hands, and you’ll have to now buy a Blu-Ray player? Or are you guys just happy to be able to get some great deals?