How much of an impact is picture quality on the format war?
Blu-ray has a month under it's belt and it is pretty apparent that the picture quality is great, but second to HD DVD. This is an interesting turn in the format war and one that I certainly never considered. This might also be a difference that can only be seen by those with both players, but just the thought of it will eat at the obsesive Blu-ray buyer. Of course this means that HD DVD fanboys everywhere are declaring HD DVD the winner with comments about coffins etc.
But then I started thinking, does the picture quality at that level really matter? Will people choose HD DVD over Blu-ray because of this? Going back and reading Matt's why HD DVD will prevail, I noticed that not once does he mention picture quality as a deciding factor. Beta had better picture quality than VHS and it didn't help it win. People choose one format over an other based on who they think will win. Sure, some will choose Picture quality above all else, but others might choose their preferred branded player and while others will choose the format with their favorite movies. I am not trying to argue one reason over another, but I am saying that the marginal difference in PQ between the two formats wasn't enough to persuade me to buy a HD DVD Player over a Blu-ray player. Does it You?
