In my last post about the HD DVD vs. Blue Ray There Are No True Winners In This Format War [HD DVD vs. Blue-Ray] I didn’t mention much about my personal plan. Funny since it is likely of particular interest to those who read this blog. I will be (and have been) skipping this Blue-Ray vs. HD DVD and going right for digital download.

I’m not the only one to notice that no media at all is the next gen format. Netflix has been slowly easing us into digital downloads culminating in their unlimited movie downloads on most packages and a set top digital download box. Hulu (NBC and Fox) allows people to watch nearly commercial free (while in beta, expect commercials to increase when it is finished) first run TV shows from their PC.

The future of media is no media at all, its digital distribution. We have already laid the pipes to deliver this content do we really need a Read Only Memory of some type? Do we really need to keep poking smaller holes in foil? Hard disks are getting cheaper all the time cheap enough to use as a place to stash your collection. Even cheap enough to keep it secure from data loss with a RAID (most new motherboards support hardware RAID right out of the box huge raid diagram right).

Much more how I am currently implementing this after the fold.

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Can Sony be trusted?

Don’t forget the 2005 Sony DRM Root Kit debacle where Sony used the SunnComm’s MediaMax CD-3 root kit technology to install undesirable software on our systems just by allowing a Sony BMG music CD to autorun.

I wont rehash the entire situation here but it really doesn’t bode well for Sony to be putting the screws to their customers again so soon.

In any format war it is expected that early adopters get hosed but not on both sides of the war. Sure with Blue-Ray winning over the major studios its pretty much a lock for the next gen video format of choice. It is expected that HD DVD owners would be left twisting in the wind but it seems Sony is going for Blue-Ray early adopters as well. (That is if you didn’t buy a Sony’s PlayStation 3.) None of the first gen Blue-Ray 1.0 players are upgradeable to the Blue-Ray 1.1 profile specification even those players manufactured under the Sony brand. With the exception of Sony’s own PlayStation 3 all Blue-Ray players currently on the shelves are in serious danger of being useless by the end of ‘08. At the Blue-Ray boot at CES a representative told a reporter from BetaNews “the PlayStation 3 is currently the only player they would recommend, due to upcoming changes to the platform”. As if this next gen HD war wasn’t confusing enough. A scheme will be implemented to mark retail boxes so an informed buyer would know if their newly purchased disk will play on their player. Blue ray disks without any special designation will play on standard 1.0 players those disks marked as “Bonus View” require players with profile 1.1 firmware and those marked “BD Live” will require Profile 2.0 firmware (both 1.1 and 2.0 are as of yet incomplete).

So let’s hope you didn’t shell out $1000 for a Philips’ BDP9000 Blue-Ray or Toshiba’s HD-XA1 HD-DVD for $799 when they first hit the market. Because it looks like the library of movies you will be able to play is as large as its going to get ether way.

My recommendation is as always, remember when early adopting you are running the risk of getting the format jerked out from under you. Usually picking the winner will result in being the first kid on your block with the cool new toy unfortunately not in this case.

*Edit*

This just in apparently according to Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Don Lindich Sony shelled out between 520 and 620 million to get warner to go Blue-Ray only. Once again Sony is up to no good.