Model Citizen

I dont watch TV. This always comes as a bit of a shock to my friends when they come round and see I have a home cinema. But I've lived without watching TV for around 17 years now and dont miss it at all. I love the freedom to watch what I want, when I want, and not become a couch potato that sits on the sofa watching whatever drivvle the TV companies decide to spoon feed you with next.
For news I listen to Radio 4, which IMO reports the news in a much more responsible manner rather than trying to show you the next most shocking image.
And yes, I dont pay a license. It's perfectly legal because I cant receive outside broadcasts, and have no aerial. Anyway, where is all this going....oh yes. HDTV. Currently you can go out and buy a nice HD ready screen and pay £300 for a Sky box that gives you HDTV images. Me and a mate at work worked out it costs around £700 per year! Can this be right!?
As stated previously, I dont watch TV, but do have a DVD.
So what options are open to those who want to move into the next generation of players....Well everyone and his aunt must be writing HD-DVD Vs BluRay articles at the moment, but what I'm going to write is a "hold on everyone" article.



First thing to clear up is this. Currently there are no British players on the market, so that bloke you know who's going on about his great new player has gone and imported it from the States. Then he's had to buy a step down transformer, and then of course import the discs. So, what's wrong with that? Well, here goes. Currently whenever you hear the Blu Ray HD thing being mentioned someone also mentions VHS Vs Betamax, but it's not like that, it's more like what if VHS AND Betamax had been popular? That's right, what if both formats , neither working on the other's machine, had taken off? And then to boot, what if the film companies decided only to release films on one or the other? So when Die Hard appeared, you'd think great I'll get that for my VHS, then when Star Wars is released you think you'll get that too, only to find out you can't because Fox has decided they'll only release it on Beta....now do you see what's happening?
That's right, your going to have to buy both.
And with HD DVD currently somewhere in the region of £500 and Blu Ray around £800 that's a massive chunk of dough.



Talking with a mate about this he said what about PS3? Is'nt that going to be about £300 and have Blu Ray? Well, I dont know, but this does'nt make sense to me, how can a standalone BluRay player cost £800 but you can pick up a games machine with graphics and ram and what not for less than half price? Maybe I'm being cynical, but I reckon the parts are going to be lesser quality.
Also, to cap it all there's news items appearing it seems every week talking about new methods to region code, so if your thinking of buying an HD DVD and playing all your old DVD's on it too, then think again on that as well.

So, my advice, if you can, is to wait, maybe even a year if possible. Someone has go to come out with a dual player, one that plays both formats and all your old discs. Hopefully it will have the best of both worlds, great picture and sound, which after all is what it's about.
One last thought, if you decide to get everything: DVD, HD-DVD and BluRay, how you going to connect it all up? That's a lot of leads and HDMI connections. Can your screen AMP take them all?
Well, that's that off my chest. Now let the waiting game begin.