Dual-format high definition DVD player still not the solution

Q: I saw in the paper that there are now high definition DVD players that play both high definition formats. Is there any reason I wouldn’t want to get one of these players?

A: The two high definition formats you are referring to are Blu-Ray and HD DVD. As I have mentioned before these two formats are battling it out much in the same fashion as VHS and Betamax did back in the eighties.

As much as I’d like to believe that a DVD player that can play both formats solves the problem this time around, I don’t.

Here’s why. Even though these DVD players can play both Blu-Ray and HD DVD formats, you still have to decide which format you are going to purchase. Let’s say hypothetically that you choose the Blu-Ray format. You go out to the stores and buy a dozen or so new Blu-Ray DVD movies which of course play just fine in your new dual-format high definition DVD player.

But six months from now you pick up the newspaper and read that Blu-Ray is throwing in the towel and conceding victory to HD DVD. From this point forward you are in trouble. If down the road your dual format DVD player breaks or you just want a newer model, your only choice will most likely be HD DVD because manufacturers will all but have abandoned the Blu-Ray DVD format.

So yes, you will be able to play both high definition DVD formats today, but you need to be more concerned about whether or not you will be able to play them tomorrow.

This post was originally broadcast Friday, August 24, 2007 on Tech Talk with Noobie, a weekly radio show on WCBK 102.3 FM in Martinsville, Indiana. Tech Talk with Noobie airs every Friday between 11:30 a.m. and noon. If you have a question you would like Noobie to answer on the air, simply e-mail your question to .