It seems the makers of Blu-ray and HD-DVD are determined not to come to a compromise and so the two formats will remain separate according to this article on the BBC. As stated, the problem then is that neither format will be adopted, consumers simply won’t buy until either a) one format prevails (hard to say which, Blu-ray has better support at the moment) or b) multi-format players are released.
The article raises some interesting points. The first is that people are unlikely to rush out and replace their normal DVDs with HD ones. There isn’t the same need as there was to upgrade from VHS, which was poor quality and only offered linear playback. The difference between DVD and HD DVD (in either format) simply isn’t as big. Another is price. Current DVDs drop in price very quickly from the RRP of £14.99 or whatever. HD discs can go on sale at that price, but people won’t be rushing out to buy them when a much cheaper alternative is on offer. Personally, I don’t buy DVDs over £10 these days, they drop below that threshold so fast I really have to have something to pay full whack for it. I picked up a copy of Sideways the other day for £2.97 on Amazon a year after it was released, most of my purchases are in the £5-7 range and until HD-DVD can compete they’ll be left on the shelf. Lastly, most people don’t have HD ready TVs yet, so the new hardward is pointless. Discount or combo packs would help solve this.
Strangely, it seems that the Blu-ray discs are currently looking worse than the HD-DVD ones due to technical equipment problems, despite Blu-ray storing more data, and it’s also twice as expensive (you think they’d take the loses at this stage to make them equal and hope they win long term).
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