Aug 21
HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray War Intensifies
Boy was I sad when I read this yesterday on Destructoid. It had really seemed that the high definition dvd war was finally approaching an end with Blockbuster choosing to only stock Blu-Ray discs, Blu-Ray outselling HD-DVD 2:1, and 7 out of the 8 major movie studios putting their movies on Blu-Ray.
BUT all that changed with word yesterday that Paramount and Dreamworks were dropping Blu-Ray to sell exclusively on HD-DVD.
What the Devil Happened?
According to the NY Times says Engadget HD, Paramount and Dreamworks were essentially paid off to make the switch. Somewhere in the tune of $150 Million in incentives for 18 months. *ugh*
What this Means for You
If you were waiting to buy DVDs for one system or another (like myself), you may have to wait a little bit longer. And even though the major movie studio support is now about 5:4 for Blu-Ray, it is STILL outselling HD-DVD 2:1, offers MORE capacity on its discs, and seemingly has more support and from the high def industry. Now even though it seems like I’m a super Blu-Ray fanboy, it’s moreso I just want this war to be over with, so us consumers can just start our collection and move on.
Oh hey – I forget what I was exactly searching for yesterday, but I came across this great video from CES 2007 where the reporter asks people on the show floor which format will win. The best part of the video comes when one guy responds, “Well, I’m in front of the HD-DVD guys now so I’ll say HD-DVD”. Then the camera zooms to a Toshiba guy behind him who looks like he’s about to go strangle him. Ha ha. Check out the vid by clicking the picture above.
Am I the only guy who cares about this stuff?
August 21st, 2007 at 12:15 pm
There’s a good chance that this battle will result in a lot of jockeying for not much spoils. Consumers are more interested in instant, convenient access to movies than they are in laser-crisp HD.
Plus, you might not have to chose one or the other 10 years from now…
August 21st, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Well, I personally think Blu-Ray is only doing good because so many people who don’t care about the format war are buying players, also known as the PS3. That is a huge advantage for Blu-Ray that they have a player that also plays games.
On the flip side, I think once everyone really starts adopting High Definition more people will choose HD-DVD since combo discs exist that will play in an old DVD player or a new HD-DVD player.
Either way though, it took VHS a long time to fade away, so that being said normal DVDs are not going anywhere, and until they start to vanish and High Definition players drastically drop in price, the format war will rage on.
August 21st, 2007 at 1:31 pm
why don’t blueray and hd dvd sat down and merge themselves up….
new storage technologies with 3d recording are also in the works…more confusion for the enduser
August 21st, 2007 at 1:34 pm
@Chuck – I don’t know man! There are a lot of Home Theater snobs like myself out there! (Though I don’t have a decent HDTV to enjoy the picture right now (#):( )
@Apexad – You raise a lot of good points. (And I am so glad to see VHS go)
@Shashank – You mean we’re finally gonna get imaging technology like R2D2 used in Star Wars?! “Obi Wan Kanobi, you’re our only hope!”
August 21st, 2007 at 6:17 pm
shashank,
Well, there is the $1000 player made by LG that will play both formats. Microsoft has not ruled out that a Blu-Ray drive for Xbox 360 if Blu-Ray were to win and HD-DVD went away. Warner Bros. also demo’d a Hybrid disc that had both formats on it, but I think it breaks some patents or copyrights (still though, that could be fixed if consumers demanded it)
August 22nd, 2007 at 7:20 am
That guy is a legend.