Jonathan Takiff: In this high-def duel, Blu-ray carries day

THE GIZMOS:

Panasonic DMP-BD30 Blu-ray player vs. Toshiba HD-A35; Mitsubishi HC4900 LCD Home Theater Projector.

WANTED: Video lover seeking a truly high-definition experience for fun, adventure and possible long-term commitment.

THE BLU-RAY WAY: How can a high-def video-disc player that costs twice as much as a comparable model still qualify as the better buy?

Today we're nodding toward Panasonic's new DMP-BD30 (discounted to about $440) compared with Toshiba's HD-A35 (spotted online for $220).

Both deliver the most pristine, 1080-line (progressive) picture quality and the highest-resolution audio formats, better than the HD signals you can pull in from satellite, cable or even over-the-air broadcast HDTV.

Both also deliver the advanced, picture-in-picture features that filmmakers are exploiting to deliver an enhanced, behind-the-scenes viewing experience to high-def-disc buyers. Oh, and both players do a very good job of upconverting standard-definition DVDs. They play CDs, too.

But Panasonic's DMP-BD30 is a Blu-ray format, high-def disc player, while the Toshiba is an HD-DVD format player, one of several being offered at distress sale prices. (Models with slightly fewer features can be found in the $130-$150 range.)

And even with that price advantage, I'm thinking only a miracle will save HD-DVD.

Warner Home Video's New Year's announcement that it was going to back Blu-ray only started the juggernaut. Effective this spring, about 70 percent of Hollywood studio HD releases will be exclusively in the format.

Now the high-profile video rental and retail community - which really steered the ship in the days of the VHS vs. Beta videotape fight - has begun to pick sides.

Just the other morning, Netflix let customers know that HD-DVD was essentially dead meat. Within a few months, the only high-def titles you'll be able to rent from the massive mail-order operation will be Blu-ray.

Later that day, Best Buy picked its favorite.

While not totally abandoning HD-DVD just yet, the nation's leading electronics chain will guide customers to the trough, "prominently showcasing" and recommending Blu-ray as "the preferred format," starting in March, announced president Brian Dunn.

FIRST TO LAST: As in the early days of the home-videotape wars when there were several short-lived formats - including the Avco Cartrivision, Sanyo V-Cord and Quasar Great Time Machine, as well as Sony's market-establishing Betamax and then JVC's longer-playing VHS - a lesson to learn here is that the first product to market is not always the one that succeeds.

Like Betamax, HD-DVD enjoyed a timing advantage and some technological "firsts" that are just starting to show up as software or hardware upgrades in Blu-ray players like this second-generation Panasonic player and Sony's PlayStation 3 (actually the most versatile and future-proof of Blu-ray machines).

But it was just Toshiba, development partner Microsoft and HD-DVD software makers Universal Studios and Paramount/DreamWorks, going up against a horde of Blu-Ray-backing hardware and software companies.

How could the former not be squeezed out eventually, especially as the number of available disc titles has grown? Video rental stores, which were running out of shelf space, eventually decided that the weaker of the two tape formats had to go.

PLAY TIME: Panasonic's second-gen Blu-ray machine is really sweet.

The slim-line, metal-cased player also boasts attractive cosmetics, a quicker boot-up, a good jack pack and versatile remote control. There's an SD card slot for playing back digital still pictures and camcorder-generated videos, including high-def AVCHD recordings, with amazing quality on a high-def screen.

Yet the DMP-BD30 is still lacking one feature found on every HD-DVD player (and the PS3) since day one: namely, an Ethernet port to ease software upgrades and encourage online interactivity.

Nonetheless, the Panny still gets my vote in a shoot off, because Blu-ray ain't going away.

A MITS MOMENT: Unlike the 103-inch Panasonic plasma TV or soon-coming 108-inch Sharp LCD TV, you don't need a forklift and a king's ransom to bring home the really big-screen, high-resolution pleasures of the Mitsubishi HC4900.

This compact, 12-pound video projector puts out an equally large (or even bigger!) 1080p high-def picture that's yours to customize easily with its remote-controllable, power-zoom (and tilt) lens.

Color reproduction, especially revealing with skin tones, is perfect. Image clarity from a high-res source like Blu-ray is so good, pictures look almost three-dimensional.

Check out that dizzying scene in "Spider-Man 3" where our hero and his girlfriend are hanging out over the city in their spider-web hammock, or the fire-licking antics of "Ghost Rider," or just about any frame in the amazingly animated "Ratatouille."

This 3LCD-based image-maker's ability to reveal subtle shadings in dark scenes (often a projector's shortfall) is also reasonably good.

But for best results, you must showcase this 1000-lumen baby in a room with lighting almost as "controlled" (dim) as you'd find in a movie theater, with the projector throwing the image onto a pristine white wall - or better, a good-quality screen from a maker like Elite (the bargain brand), Da-Lite or Stewart.

Mitsubishi is best known on these shores for its rear-projection, big-screen TVs, now a fading category. But it's been a front-projection leader in space-squeezed Japan for decades and markets the goods very competitively.

Online retailers now discount the HC4900 to $1,999. (Last year its predecessor went for three grand, and just a couple of years ago, 1080p projectors started at $5,000!)

But wait, there's less.

Through February, Mitsubishi is offering a $500 rebate on this model that effectively cuts the cost to $1,499. And if you're willing to jump by tomorrow, projectorpeople.com will cut the price another $100 and throw in free shipping as a Valentine's Day special.

Pinch me, I'm in love. *

Send e-mail to

takiffj@phillynews.com.