The New York Times has an article about the newly released Total HD high-definition DVD format. Warner Bros. have launched a new disc format that will be playable on both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD drives, saving consumers from choosing one of the other. They also have another disc, not yet released, which would hold both HD formats and a regular DVD format version of the movie.
Obviously this is good for a consumer (except they’re likely to cost more), but as a couple of studio heads come out in support of Blu-Ray purely because it holds more data, and obviously this disc will share that between each format (unless they put it on the opposite side of the disc of course), it seems it may not be a hit with the studios.
The article also mentions that LG have announced a player that will play both formats (we knew they’d come), but it will more expensive than machines for either format currently.
I tend to agree with Richard Greenfield’s view as stated in the article, disc purchasing will probably decline for a bit while consumers wait to see which format wins out or dual format players become more common place, none of us want to commit to one format and end up with discs that won’t play. DVD did so well because it was an agreed standard from the outset. I still think we’re a way off before HD goes mainstream, maybe 2008, when players and discs drop to a reasonable level, improvements in manufacturing will cut costs and then uptake will begin to create economies of scale.
As stated in the article, format wars are still going on:
For now, Sony; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which is owned by private equity firms in partnership with the Comcast Corporation and Sony; 20th Century Fox, a division of the News Corporation; and Walt Disney Pictures are all exclusively releasing their DVDs in Blu-ray.
Universal Studios, which is owned by General Electric, is releasing only in HD-DVD. Warner and Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom, are issuing DVDs in both formats.
Behind these allegiances are complex strategic questions revolving around everything from manufacturing costs to profit margins, debates over each format’s technical strengths and weaknesses, and how these players relate to Microsoft and Sony’s video-game strategies.
(Blu-ray players are built into the new Sony PlayStation 3, while Microsoft is selling HD-DVD drives that attach to its Xbox 360.)
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