Sean

They skipped 4 and went right to 5? Awesome.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33930

Well if you don't own a HD-DVD player yet, you're right, there is no point to buying the combo disc, for the same reason there is not much value in re-buying dvd's on HD-DVD: Standard dvd, though not spectacular, is entirely watchable on an HDTV.

But if you do own an HD-DVD player, it's still nice be able to be able to rip the standard dvd to your pc, or to backup the disc, or to play in a portable dvd player. Small-screen dvd players will be the last things to go HD because there just isn't much noticeable difference between 480 lines of resolution and 720 lines of resolution at those screen sizes. And I don't see mainstream laptops having included hd-dvd drives for another couple years.

Also, I don't think it's useful comparing the combo disc price to the standard dvd price. The more useful comparison is to the blu ray price. Right now, for "300" the DVD/HD-DVD combo disc is $4 more than the blu ray. HD format war aside, is the having the standard DVD worth $4?

Did my last comment go through? I don't know but here's another...

three entries and counting...

three entries and counting...

Just increasing my chances...

Legendary edition not included? What a rip.

I kid, I kid.

It's on hold because it just doesn't have enough value. The only studios that would put these discs out are studios that are already releasing on both formats...in which case you just buy the disc that works on your player. The only possible benefits I can see to this disc is future proofing your hi-def collection if your player of choice loses the format war.

Obviously contrast ratio is a big deal, but what about viewing angle and brightness? For me those were the two main reasons for choosing LCD over DLP. Contrast ratio isn't everything, or plasma would be beating LCD right now in terms of sales. High contrast ratio and low price in a relatively small form factor does sound appealing and it could be another blow to plasma but I don't imagine it will steal any of LCD's thunder. And, as always, the right time to buy is now (or never.) There will always be better technology next year.

You're right, better to not discuss anything. We should all just shut up and play our games. Or maybe...this is a blog about games, so discussing the merits of different gaming interfaces is relevant.