I Love Blu-ray.

Last night I spent about 5 hours watching Blu-ray DVDs. I absolutely love high definition. I didn't buy these DVDs. Netflix sends out the Blu-ray movies as they become available and I was itching for a high-def experience, so I moved some Blu-ray movies to the top of my queue. I watched Rumor Has It, Failure to Launch, and L4yer Cake. I wasn't expecting too much from Rumor Has It, but even with low expectations I was disappointed. Failure to Launch did slightly exceed my low expectations, and Layer Cake met my middle-of-the-road expectations. Since none of the movies were exceedingly special on their own, I'd like to talk about the new face of DVD.
The new DVD actually has two faces. There is Blu-ray and HD-DVD. They are competing format of the same kind of thing: a cleaner, sharper, more beautiful movie experience. The sound is better, and the picture quality is amazing. But the Blu-ray/HD-DVD war is a silly one. The hardware companies could not agree on a format so they decided to "let the market decide." Which is the same as not deciding at all. To the consumer, there is not much difference between Blu-ray and HD-DVD as far as quality goes. One format does not have a clear advantage over the other, it is like deciding between MP3 and WMA when ripping your CDs in Media Player. When it comes down to it no one really cares. So this war is not really decided by the product or by which format is "better," your votes are cast by your brand loyalty. I have a PS3, so my vote is for Blu-ray, according to "the market deciding" anyway. But really my vote was cast when I bought the PS3, because it only plays Blu-ray. The same can be said for HD-DVD and the Xbox360. No one has an Xbox360 and says "you know Blu-ray is clearly better, so I'm going to buy a Blu-ray player instead of the HD-DVD attachment." Again, your vote is cast with the Xbox. Both are equal in quality and price, the only reason I want Blu-ray to "win" is so I don't have to buy an extra device for my already cluttered home entertainment "cabinet."
I should note that the better experience does not lie within the Blu-ray or HD-DVD itself, these new DVDs only contain the information that will yield a better picture and sound if you have the right equipment to take advantage of it. For instance, I personally do not really benefit from the better sound embedded in the Blu-ray because I only have a simple 5.1 surround that is geared for PC games and regular DVDs. But I do notice the picture upgrade. Watching a regular DVD you don't really notice that there is room for improvement in the same way that no one looked at VHS and noticed the poor quality.
I have my PS3 plugged in to a 720p projector shines on a drop-down screen and makes an image that is about 60-65" on the diagonal. It's big and love how movies look on projection. I think it captures the feel of the movie theater, although I'm still working on stadium seating to produce the full effect. Even without sticky floors and someone's head in line of sight, if you make some popcorn and grab an overpriced drink, its as good as an experience as the movies if you ask me.