So, which format is better: HD-DVD or Blu-ray? Wrong question.

Remember the VHS versus Beta battle? Better is irrelevant. Blu-ray has won, the battle is over. And it seems that no one really cares anyway. But this was a very hollow victory and one which HD-DVD was probably not that sad to lose.

Why? Because by the time the cost of media and players has come down to Wal-Mart level (probably $99), we will all be streaming and downloading our movies. And it is not clear that people feel the need to re-build their DVD collections when the experience is not that much better. TV in the USA (NTSC) has up to 480 horizontal lines, the same as a DVD. European TV (PAL) has 576 lines. So you can see that already their TV is “better”. While 1080 lines is a large increase they seem to have felt less incentive than the USA to upgrade.

I am not a gamer so I’m not lured by the prospect of buying a Sony PS3 to watch Blu-ray. The picture that I get from a regular DVD, played from a computer DVD drive, and displayed on the wall by my projector (approx 130 inches), is very good.

I’m not the only one less than impressed with the extra resolution. Actors in Hollywood have to go to work everyday knowing that you are going to see every pore on their face. Same goes for TV.

Now lets muddy the waters and introduce HDTV. Some HDTV’s have 720 horizontal lines, while some have the full 1080. There is a much better than even chance that if you buy an HDTV which is less than 60 inches, you could not tell the difference between 720p and 1080i content. With a good upscaling DVD player you might decide to save your money and never buy a Blu-ray player.

But that is only one side of the viewing equation. The other is what you are feeding the TV. Not all HDTV is created equal. Well, it might be created equal but by the time you receive it, it is a very different beast.

If you watch HDTV over-the-air using an antenna (which I do) you are receiving the full, high quality picture. If you get your TV over cable or satellite, some of the channels will be compressed more than others.

I have DirecTV at home, but other family members have Dish Network. The HD I viewed from the Dish feed was absolutely awful. Completely unacceptable. Of course it depends what channel you are watching. Why? Compression. If the Super Bowl looks bad the broadcaster is going to hear about it. If Monk on USA looks bad, who cares. So while all the providers brag about how many HD channels they have, be ready to be disappointed.

I understand that DirecTV, as of today, has the best selection of HD. I can’t comment first-hand on the HD quality.

I also had the opportunity to watch a couple of Blu-ray movies. To me they did not have any of the “film” look to them – they could have been TV documentaries. Not impressed.

I am actually considering cancelling our TV service and watching all our shows online. I am not going to go with an Apple TV, but am close to buying the Nero Liquid TV package. (We love the TIVO ease-of-use.) With this loaded on the PC in our media room, I can send the signal around the house to other televisions, PCs, or handheld devices.

Bottom line? Forget Blu-ray. Start investigating Amazon.com's video on demand and download service, hulu.com, Netflix, and the individual TV station websites for online content.

(If you are interested in home theater and everything associated with it, I can highly recommend the HT Guys HDTV Podcast.)

Now if only I can find a legal PPV source of Formula 1 racing …