RIP, HD-DVD

The writing has been on the wall for several weeks now, but HD-DVD has finally surrendered. Blu-Ray wins the high def DVD war.

Engadget has the official word and a short eulogy here.  In other news,  Engadget says 1.3 million of you aren’t happy about this news because you already took the HD-DVD plunge (the 10 million of you who went Blu-Ray feel good about it, though).

The lesson, if there is one, is that early adopters can easily get burned in the tech world. For churches to whom good stewardship is important, avoid rushing into the purchase of a BetaMax, laser disc, or HD-DVD player until the technology demonstrates some staying power. Of course, the risk isn’t always that your new technology will become obsolete. The more frequent risk is paying the early adopter tax–the premium price for a new gadget found in the early stages of the product’s life-cycle. The most highly publicized instance of this phenomenon is the iPhone price cut, when 8 GB iPhones went from $600 to $400.

Think about your computer, your TV, your projector, your Blu-Ray player–chances are you paid an early adopter tax on one of them. That’s OK, but it’s something to consider as you outfit your church with new gear. The people in your church will probably enjoy what you accomplish with that gear, but they’re also trusting you with their hard-earned and cheerfully tithed dollars.