James O’Connell stares at the flat screen television that is playing the latest Harry Potter film on the latest player. It is a Blu-ray, the device now tipped to replace DVD players in every living room.

“It’s all right,” he says. Then he crosses the floor of the branch of Curry’s in South London to examine another screen playing Batman Returns. This time the film is running on an HD DVD player, a device that – until the beginning of this week – seemed just as likely to be the next descendant in the family tree of home cinema devices.

“I can’t really tell the difference,” he says. Both are producing sharper pictures than he is used to on his DVD player. Still, the leap in quality is far smaller than the leap that persuaded millions to abandon their VHS machine and buy a DVD player.

James O’Connell stares at the flat screen television that is playing the latest Harry Potter film on the latest player. It is a Blu-ray, the device now tipped to replace DVD players in every living room.

“It’s all right,” he says. Then he crosses the floor of the branch of Curry’s in South London to examine another screen playing Batman Returns. This time the film is running on an HD DVD player, a device that – until the beginning of this week – seemed just as likely to be the next descendant in the family tree of home cinema devices.

“I can’t really tell the difference,” he says. Both are producing sharper pictures than he is used to on his DVD player. Still, the leap in quality is far smaller than the leap that persuaded millions to abandon their VHS machine and buy a DVD player.

Source: The Times - 11 January 2008