The Cult of (Blu) Ray

Are you on the Blu-Ray wagon yet?

It's amazing how many people have yet to even upgrade to DVD, and now that format's days are numbered.

A friend of mine just bought her first DVD player a couple months ago, and hadn't even heard of Blu-Ray or HDDVD until recently when I had to break it to her. On the other hand, soon DVDs will be as worthless and buy-em-by-the-sack-at-flea-markets as VHS tapes are now, so maybe it's good time to beef up one's DVD collection.

I certainly don't intend to start re-buying my video collection, of course, but any new movies that come out, I'll buy 'em on Blu-Ray, like the new "Hairspray" and, later this summer, "Sweeney Todd". I'm perfectly content with the quality of watching regular DVDs on an HD TV.

I suspect there's a been an agreed-upon plan amongst all the big boys behind closed doors that every few years, there simply must be a format shake-up to keep the economy flowing. After a decade of DVD, everyone pretty much owns all the back-catalog items they want to own, and people aren't rushing out to buy many new releases since most new movies suck.

It's a good time for bottom-feeders like me who don't care what format they watch, whether hi-def, lo-def, or no-def. But I still loves me some Blu-Ray.

- - JSH