Ben Drawbaugh

So it finally appears that the format war is over and while the outcome is what I expected, I’m left feeling a little sad. Sure I knew it would end and I knew someone would win, but I’m sad because HD DVD’s interactive features worked so well and maybe if the two camps would’ve gotten together before hand consumers would’ve been better off if both BD-J and HDi were part of the BD spec.

As odd as this might seem, I really enjoyed watching it all play out. With each announcement was a new debate and although I always thought Blu-ray would win because it has more industry support, HD DVD did have me wondering a few times.

In the end, I believe the consumer would be better served if HDi was added to the BD spec. I doubt this will ever happen, but I think it would be a nice option for the studios, especially when you consider that Warner still says a few titles like The Matrix Trilogy isn’t available on Blu yet because of where BD-J is.

If I was famous, then I’d probably get sick of being quoted, but since I’m not even Internet famous, it never gets old. This is the third time my new best friend Chris Tribby has quoted me in Home Media Magazine and I’m glad he feels my opinion is worthy for print. This weeks edition includes an article — on the front page mind you — titled “Web Enthusiasts Abuzz After Warner’s Blu Move” which discusses Engadget HD’s commenters (among others) reaction to Warner going Blu, so once again if it wasn’t for our readers — even the ones who hate me — I wouldn’t be anything. So thanks.

Being a member of the new media, I usually give members of old media a hard time. Mostly it’s because they don’t know how to leverage their content online to make information more available while at the same time making them more money. But that aside, I still like to see my name in print — even when they get they get my title wrong.

In this week’s edition of Home Media Magazine, I’m quoted in the piece about format war fanboys. Personally, I think they’re hilarious, but others take them very seriously. Either way I appreciate being included.

Home Media Magazine Quote

I’ve been fascinated with a few different technologies, and while HDTV is my current hobby, my first was car audio. The little town where I grew up didn’t have a car audio shop of any kind, so we would drive over to West Palm Beach, FL to a little place called Audio Advisors. They had the most high end gear around and the best employees. Their installation team was award winning and I learned a lot from my long talks their sales people. To me it was just my closest audio shop, but here it is now fifteen years later and they are still being recognized for their excellence. Although I couldn’t care much less about car audio now, I’m sure they are up on the latest home automation and theater gear and I’m sure I could still learn quite a few things from them.

My friend Bryan Schneider from TampaHDTV.com knows someone from just about every local TV channel in the Tampa Bay area, so when they asked him to help out with a segment about HDTV, he asked me to help ’em out. Unfortunately for Bryan, although he helped them, they didn’t use any of his quotes. They did used plenty of mine though, and I was very pleased with the quotes that they choose to use and think they did a very good job of educating the public.

If you’re in the Tampa Bay area you can catch in to channel 10 news, otherwise you can click the image and watch it on their website, or you can just read the transcript here.

Thanks Bryan!

Wow, its been a full month since I’ve posted, I have no excuse, just been lazy. I’m pretty excited to write up this one ’cause I haven’t bought a new HDTV in a long long time. I bought my first HDTV in the summer of 2003 and have owned a total of three HDTVs. It’s very hard for me not to buy a new one every year, but luckily I have enough other desires to keep me busy. At CES 07, the second I saw the Pioneer 8th generation plasma demo, I knew that was going to change. I just couldn’t get over how big of a step these new TVs were compared to anything I’d ever seen before. I had to wait almost 9 months to get one in my house, but on Friday I received my new 60″ 1080p PDP-6010FD Plasma from Plasma concepts. After some debate I ended up with a nice wall mount and a new piece of furniture to put my center channel on. Eventually there will be a full review on EngadgetHD, but for now, all I can say is WOW! This thing is really a sight to see and if you haven’t seen one yet, you have to make it to your local retailer and you’ll understand why the new Kuro line is the new standard in HDTVs.

Check out all the pics.

If you decide to buy one too, hook me up and buy the Pioneer KURO PDP-6010FD 60″ 1080p Plasma HDTV from Amazon.

Way back at the end of 2006, I noticed that a crew was laying fiber optic cable in my neighborhood and got excited. Seven months later and still no fiber, but the day has finally come. Almost 8 months since they started and four months after the crews left our hood, and it is finally available. Not sure what took so long, but we’ll see how the install goes this Saturday. I’m looking forward to nine more HD channels and doubt I’ll miss MOJO or Versus/Golf HD (which I really don’t get anyways).