[Vader]

Hi all,

I am glad to be back in the land of HT sanity, after spending the last 6-8 months wading through the garbage over at AVS getting the latest on HDM (I think I went through four pairs of boots!). I jumped in early simply because I have an HD display that had never seen a hi-def signal. My first player was an A1 (which is still kicking), and the plan has always been that once either format appeared to be on it’s way out, I would snag the best player available for that format, then continue forward with the victor. While I strongly believe that the reports of the death of HD-DVD to be more wishful thinking by Sony-cronies than anything else (even if it’s not, my existing library will not “self-destruct” if/when HD-DVD does pass into the netherworld), it is pretty much clear that it will only survive as a niche format, while Blu, due entirely to shrewd, but extremely effective marketing, will become dominant. While I prefer HD-DVD (I just bought an Onkyo DV-HD805 HD-DVD player, after the Warner announcement), I have no problem with moving forward Blu (I am looking at the new Panny 50 player), and am simply glad to see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel: HT enthusiasts that gather to talk about HT (even for those of us who’s “HT” is laughable compared to most here). It’s good to be back home….