Paramount Deal: Consumers Lose

If you are heading out to your local movie retailer today, keep an eye out for a Blu-ray copy of 'Blades of Glory' as a few copies have reportedly made it to store shelves. If you find a copy, you will have the opportunity to own a prime example of how the recent Paramount deal hasn't hurt just Blu-ray consumers, but all high definition consumers. The Blu-ray release of 'Blades of Glory' was to be the first Paramount title to use a lossless/uncompressed audio track, in the form of a PCM encode. The HD DVD release contains a Dolby Digital Plus track, presumably due to the space constraints of the HD DVD format. High definition consumers are now forced to settle for a lower quality audio track as the result of, essentially, a $150M bribe. Audiophiles will tell you, there is simply nothing that can compare to a lossless/uncompressed audio track, which is why all Disney, Fox, MGM, and Sony releases contain either PCM or the lossless variants (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio). Warner has even made great strides to providing Dolby TrueHD or PCM on many new releases. Some may accept the HD DVD release, but most will simply reject the notion that a high definition release should be compromised due to the limitations competing format. In this situation, its not just Blu-ray consumers who lose, but all high definition consumers. *This is an opinion piece by Josh Dreuth, and does not necessarily reflect the feelings of Blu-ray.com, its owners, employees, or members.*