With official on-sale date of April 18th, HDDVD-Video is now part of our daily life. Toshiba released its HD players, HD-A1 and HD-XA1, priced at $500 and $800 respectively at various retailers around the states. According to USA Today’s report, there are mixed reactions to the player, including outstanding image quality, superb sound and great details, however the downsides include slow boot-up process, seek speed, and load times. There are currently only about 15 titles available in HD format, prices ranging from $25 to $35 per movie. The players are capable of playing content at 1080i format although movies are in 1080p. Currently there are limited number of tv sets compatible with 1080p, so Toshiba went with interlaced format to avoid compatibility issues, or to take full advantage of what’s available out there.

Blu-Ray is trying to hit June release plans, although with double to cost of HDDVD players and unconfirmed (Bestbuy has blu-ray discs available for pre order for about the same price of HDDVD) price of content, it is being supported by more studios than HDDVD. While there are only two manufacturers supporting HDDVD format -one of them Toshiba, the "inventor" of HDDVD, and the other is LG- , there are dozen manufacturers expected to support Blu-Ray format. As much as I hate to see two standard formats for high definition video, I believe it will eventually cause a price war and quality competition between two sides, and ultimately causing one to drop out of the race. Studios, pre-recorded disc prices and compatibility will play a big role in determining the winner. HDDVD supporter studios include Paramount, Universal and Warner, and on the Blu-Ray side, we see Disney, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures and Lionsgate. We might have our hands full with confused buyers, who keep buying and returning movies, unhappy resellers because of all the confusion and extra expense of keeping sections separate, and those whose favorite movies won’t come out on the format they own.

Question is, would you buy HD-DVD version of your movie collection when they come out, and would you buy both of the players if the movies you want is not available in the format you own?

References: Toshiba HD-DVD Players and Specs, Link
USA Today’s report Link
Available titles HD, BR