There was a time when high-definition wasn’t so complicated. Years ago, as HD TVs first started appearing on the market, they assured us that soon - not right now, but soon enough - we would have high definition DVDs to go along with them. We smiled, and nodded, and kept buying our lowly regular-type DVDs. We were happy. We unconverted to our HD TVs when we got them, and that was good enough.

But somehow, unlike with HD TVs, nobody agreed on an industry standard before different companies began developing discs. HD DVDs were developed cheaply, with fewer extra features and lower quality. Their players are now much cheaper on the market. Then came Blu-Ray: more expensive, less stable, but with many more enjoyable features and considerably higher picture and sound quality.

HD DVD’s biggest advantage is the lower price. However, since both HD DVD and Blu-Ray are new, currently the discs are roughly the same price in most outlets. HD DVD players are cheaper, but with the disc investment being so high, a lot of studios figured it didn’t matter: over 70% of them support exclusively Blu-Ray (Sony, MGM, Disney, Fox, New Line, and Lionsgate).

Paramount and Dreamworks have fallen in the HD DVD camp, though they are not severing their ties with Blu-Ray completely. Citing the lower costs as the reason, they announced that - for now - they would be releasing titles exclusively in HD DVD.

As for gaming consoles, while the Microsoft Xbox will have an HD DVD plugin, the Sony PS3 comes with Blu-Ray functionality.

At the moment, consumers don’t quite know what to think. In a stunning example of Godwin’s law, one technology fan created a video from the Hitler biopic Downfall with fake subtitles, making it seem as if Hitler is the head of the HD DVD production company. But the average buyer is going to weight price against quality and convenience - and right now, nobody knows what the future holds for high-definition DVDs.

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