Blu-ray or HD-DVD: Who will win the high-definition game?
By Ruben Francia
The war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD is hotting up. Sony will offer a cheaper Blu-ray DVD player to battle against the least expensive HD DVD player on the market, while Toshiba will launch a HD-DVD player with Blu-ray-like 1080p playback. At stake is a potentially huge upgrade market for next generation high-definition DVD movies suitable for playback on HD flat-panel displays. Who will win the game? Whose technology will become the standard for next-generation high-definition DVD content?
SONY announced the coming of cheaper Blu-ray DVD player this summer as part of its strategy to ensure that their technology becomes the standard for next-generation high-definition DVD content. The move highlights the battle between Sony and the backers of the Blu-ray format and the rival HD-DVD led by the Toshiba camp.
The new Sony player, dubbed the BDP-S300, will cost $599, but will have the same features and performance as Sony’s current Blu-ray player, the BDP-S1, which costs $US999. It will be able to output a signal in the highest high-definition format, known, as 1080p and it will also be able to play CDs, which the BDP-S1 does not.
The new player will mean more price competition for the least expensive HD DVD player HD-A2 of Toshiba, which costs $499 but doesn’t offer 1080p playback. However, last January, Toshiba said it would launch a third player, the HD-A20, offering 1080P in spring this year for around $600.
If both companies proceed according to plan, they will end-up with product whose price and feature are almost the same but of different high definition format.
In terms of hardware support, Blu-ray camp compose the world’s highest-profile consumer electronics companies including Sony, Apple Computers, Dell, LG, Hitachi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, and Sharp. HD DVD on the other hand is supported by Toshiba, player manufacture NEC, GE, Kenwood, Canon, Onkyo, Teac and Mitsubishi.
Among movie studios, 20th Century Fox, Goldwyn-Mayer, Walt Disney Pictures, and Sony are exclusively releasing DVDs in Blu-ray, while Universal Studios is distributing only in HD DVD. Paramount Pictures and Warner are the only two major studios that are releasing movies in both formats.
Both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD were commercially launched in 2006 but so far have received a cool response from consumers. This has been due in part to the high price of players but mostly to the format battle. Consumers are still confused and a bit cautious about which high definition DVD player format to buy.
Should consumers decide that dual format player is a good alternative to purchasing the high definition DVD players separately, LG Group, which has recently introduced its own all-in-one solution, DVD player that can play both formats (Sony’s Blu-Ray and Toshiba’s HD DVD) would most likely be the winner in this battle.
Related:
Entry was posted
on Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
under
Read more entries by Ruben Francia.
Stumble It!
March 1st, 2007
Blu-Ray!!
March 1st, 2007
Where have you been, Bluray already won.
March 1st, 2007
Blu-ray FTW (for the win)!!! :)
March 1st, 2007
I bought the PS3 – and I vote with my money… so far 4 votes (movies) and I intend to keep voting.
Still I have the sneaking suspicion that the format war will continue while the majority have not voted. What will it take to get the majority to jump on the bandwagon?
Simply… much much much cheaper players. I don’t really recall DVD becoming popular until sub $200 players hit the street.
Now considering that just the blue laser in these players costs $100 – we may have a year or more to wait.
March 2nd, 2007
With internet downloads becoming the next big thing for TV and movies, why do we need blu-ray or HD DVD? AppleTV will be here soon. Xbox360 offers TV and HD movie downloads. Microsoft and other companies are soon to jump in to mass market sales for downloads as well. Sony TVs will plug into the internet directly pretty soon, too.
I have an HD DVD player. I love it. The pictures are great and the sound is awesome. I bought it because it offers Combo discs and was WAY cheaper than blu-ray. Plus, the interactive features are better also.
I also don’t want to be bullied by Sony. And that’s what this feels like to me. Blu-ray is not a superior technology to HD DVD. Their pictures are essentially the same. This is going to be a tough sell to the public – since they have just recently totally converted to DVD and the picture quality is more than adequate. It will come down to price and content.
I want my HDTV to look great, so I bought an HD DVD player. No regrets, no complaints, lots of money saved! When others start to buy the stand alone players, not PS3s, then the war will be on.
Movie studios that have “picked sides” are totally STUPID. Why turn your back on customers who would buy your products? You’ll see an about face by some studios to make nice with a growing demand from pissed consumers from the ‘other’ format. And with WB wanting to sell TotalHD discs, that means they will make one disc and sell to both ‘groups.’ That makes good business sense to me.
I think HD DVD and blu-ray will co-exist. Neither will win. Internet downloads will take over, and quickly, based on convenience. You won’t have to leave your house to ‘buy’ an high defiinition movie. No more rentals and no more having to choose a format.
Think I’m wrong? Just wait and see.
May 24th, 2007
It seems like everybody’s fighting on the wrong turf. Cheap blu-ray to compete with HD-DVD? 1080p playback on HD-DVD? Instead of each technology concentrating on it’s own strengths, they are concentrating on the strengths of it’s competetor.
December 17th, 2008
yahoo yahoo