Every day seems to bring yet another story regarding the different companies lining up into the HD-DVD or Blu-Ray DVD camp. Personally, I’m thinking that Blu-Ray will win out in the end, due to a combination of adoption by many studios and its inclusion in the PlayStation3. Also personally, I have concerns about issues such as price, Digital Rights Management, and available space and storage with each format–the rumors and innuendo regarding all of these issues are flying fast and furious, from onerous protection schemes for BluRay to cheaper production costs for HD-DVD.

Regardless who wins though, I think that it is ultimately to the benefit of the filmmaker.  What we think of today as the traditional theater experience–drive to the theater, buy popcorn, watch movie–is so inherently limiting, for a host of reasons, not the least of which is how expensive that experience is.  I don’t think it’s a surprise that studios and distribution companies play it so safe by trying to produce hit movie after hit movie because theaters and theatrical releases have large overhead. That overhead drives a hit-based mindset.

I think that High-Def-DVD is exciting, in whatever format ultimately wins, because it’s an amazingly high-quality/low-cost way for filmmakers to get their work out there, to wherever people live in the country. The internet pipes aren’t there yet to be able to deliver HD content. Plus, there’s no boot-up and login time on a TV. Imagine a high-definition screening of a film using equipment that fits in the trunk of my car. It really opens the debate over what we traditionally think of as a “movie theater.”

I think that filmmakers need to embrace DVD, and get proactive about getting their content out to the public, instead of passively waiting for a traditional distributor to buy and release it. The theatrical “black-box” experience is wonderful and valuable, but if we want to tell stories to as many people as possible I just don’t see it happening through the traditional theatrical distribution.