Welcome to my first blog post! I wasn't sure if the world really needed another spring of grumpy rants, and maybe it doesn't, but I figured it was high time to throw my hat into the ring anyway and let the world wide public be the judge.

So, folks, the high-def format war is really a pain in my posterior. To give you a frame of reference, I am just old enough to remember the VHS and Betamax war back in the early days of home entertainment. Beta had superior quality, but VHS had the support of the then-emerging home market for adult entertainment. Pretty soon, VHS became the standard, and reigned supreme until the late 1990's. Aside from the adult film industry, however, pretty much the same mainstream content was available on both formats, so when both formats were still going strong, you weren't really missing out on anything by siding with one format.

Fast forward to the present day, and we're knee-deep in another format war, albeit a war that fewer people care about, since most people are still satisfied with what standard DVD has to offer. But, for those of us looking to enjoy movies that truly justify the cost in both time and money of maintaining a home theater, the format war is proving to be nothing more than frustration, which grows by leaps and bounds with each passing moment.

While there have been some major events to sway the tide in recent months, there is--in my opinion--still no clear winner at the present time. The reason why? It all boils down to mainstream content and industry support.

Unlke the Betamax/VHS divide, the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD competition is not about quality, and it's not about the availability of adult entertainment. The latter's effect on the market has essentially been nullified by the widespread availability of pornography on the internet. Though the adult film industry has sided with HD-DVD, their endorsement hardly carries the same weight it did back in the early 1980's, when video was the only way to view adult films in the privacy of your own home.

In terms of quality, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD titles utilize much of the same encoding technology, and at the present time, the difference in video and audio quality is practically indistinguishable on most titles. While Blu-Ray does have extra storage space, the truth of the matter is that both formats are capable of hosting a high-quality transfer of a 2 1/2 hour movie, and still have tons of space to spare. In fact, it would seem that some HD-DVD titles are actually launching with more extra content than their Blu-Ray counterparts. So, in terms of storage, Blu-Ray's extra gigabytes don't seem, at the present time, to really confer an advantage.

The main argument that emerges when pundits discuss the format war is support. Blu-Ray has five companies which exclusively support the format, among them Disney and Sony (big surprise), while HD-DVD has only one exclusive supporter in Universal Studios. The remainder seem to split their efforts between the two formats, though Warner has given slightly more content to the HD-DVD camp (most notably the vastly overrated Matrix trilogy). Ask anyone from Sony, and they will cite this wealth of exclusive support as the reason why Blu-Ray will win the format war.

Companies sure seem to be listening, because in recent weeks, Blockbuster and Target have made decisions to increase their support for the Blu-Ray format, though they will still give some shelf space to HD-DVD. Many point to these events as even more reasons why HD-DVD's days are numbered. But, are they?

Currently, I am a Blu-Ray owner. Sony got their claws in me with the PlayStation 3, which spins the hi-def format right out of the box. It is an impressive format, to be sure, and Casino Royale is reason enough to jump into Blu-Ray (coincidentally, it's also the best piece of software I currently own for my PS3... perhaps a topic for another post). But, each time I browse the aisles at my local Best Buy, looking for a new disc, I find myself increasingly frustrated with the selection of Blu-Ray titles.

Blu-Ray has exclusive support, but where are the really impressive exclusive titles? We've got Casino Royale, but where are the rest of the Bond films? We've got Disney support, but where is Aladdin, Toy Story, or Beauty and the Beast? Right now, most of the exclusive Blu-Ray titles are crappy films designed for the lowest common denominator. If anyone can name a worthwhile Blu-Ray exclusive besides Casino Royale or the Pirates series, I'd love to hear a reply.

Meanwhile, look at all of the AMAZING exclusives for HD-DVD: The Big Lebowski, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, Brokeback Mountain, The Game, The Deer Hunter, The Breakfast Club, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Army of Darkness, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Animal House, Caddyshack, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Happy Gilmore, and Million Dollar Baby are just a few of the titles that can only be found on HD-DVD. While they may not all be reference quality in terms of hi-def presentation, they remain the only way to watch these movies on a hi-def disc format.

Bottom line is that while Blu-Ray theoretically has the support, there really isn't much in the way of good or even passable content to show for it. The result is a library of discs that just makes me yawn. In the meantime, Universal has been cranking out a slew of discs that I would actually want to own, giving HD-DVD a massive edge in terms of exclusive content.

So, what does this all mean? Unless studios decide to bring desirable catalog releases to Blu-Ray soon, I'll likely be purchasing an HD-DVD add-on for my 360, and begin to purchase HD-DVD titles at a rate of at least 5 to 1.

Blu-Ray, you may be good, but until Universal caves and puts the same effort behind Blu-Ray they've put behind HD-DVD, this battle is far from over.