Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: Choose or maybe lose

By Peter Svensson

updated 6:08 p.m. ET Feb. 22, 2007

NEW YORK - The two movie disc formats that are competing to replace the DVD have had a rocky start, with clunky first-generation players and an audience that has been reluctant to buy them for fear of betting on the losing side.

But there’s now a second generation of players out, and in our test of three of them, it’s clear they left the problems of their predecessors behind. Sorry, consumers, but it’s time to choose sides: Blu-ray or HD DVD.

From the HD DVD camp I tried Toshiba Corp.’s $499 HD-A2 player. In the other corner of the ring swaggered Sony Corp.’s BDP-S1 Blu-ray disc player, which lists for $999 but is available for less. As a cheaper alternative, I also looked at the Blu-ray function of a $599 PlayStation 3 from Sony.

Our review of the first Toshiba HD DVD player, the HD-A1, in September noted that it was a massive affair that took a minute to start up and another to load the movie disc. The first Blu-ray player, from Samsung, was met by similar complaints, and appeared to degrade image quality slightly.

HD DVDs look sharp on Toshiba player
The HD-A2, by contrast, is a svelte device that looks very much like a regular DVD player. It takes 30 seconds to load a disc, a little slow but not enough to bore you. The fan is louder than you’d expect from a DVD player, but not bothersome in most entertainment centers.

Mark Lennihan / AP Toshiba's $499 HD-A2 will pep up DVDs by ‘upconverting’ them to faux high-definition. For most discs, this works only if the player is connected to the TV using an HDMI cable.

HD DVDs looked, for the most part, fantastic on my 46-inch Sony LCD set, which is big enough to reveal the flaws in DVDs — they all look like they’re shot through a thin layer of jelly. “Deer Hunter” in HD DVD looked jaw-droppingly sharp and beautiful. An older movie like “Casablanca,” which has many medium shots, gained a dimension when I could clearly see the glints in the characters’ eyes.

The HD-A2 will pep up DVDs a little bit by “upconverting” them to faux high-definition, but for most discs, that only works if the player is connected to the TV by a digital High-Definition Multimedia Interface, or HDMI cable. The cheaper and more common three-lead component video cables won’t do. (Annoying fact: None of three devices I tested included a component or HDMI cable, just a standard-definition cable. If you want high-definition output from them, that’s about $30 extra!)

Sony Blu-ray player quieter

Mark Lennihan / AP The $599 PlayStation 3 is a cheaper, but noisier, alternative for Blu-ray discs.

The HD-A2 doesn’t output the very highest-definition signal, called 1080p. The player is limited to a resolution of 1080i, which is 1080 lines of vertical resolution, with alternating lines refreshed every 60th of a second. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, don’t worry. My TV set is capable of showing 1080p, but I didn’t see a shred of difference between that and 1080i. If you really want 1080p output, Toshiba has another model, HD-XA2, that lists for $999.

The BDP-S1 is comparable to the HD-XA2. It’s a big, handsome box that makes you feel like you’re getting a lot for your $999. It was the quietest player in the test. The remote is easier to use and more substantial than the Toshiba’s. It loads a disc in 30 seconds, just like the HD-A2, and it can output 1080p.

Just one niggle: It was sometimes slow to respond to commands from the remote.

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