For anyone who endured the VHS vs. Betamax wars two decades ago, the brave new world of high-definition video is starting to feel like déjà vu all over again.
Comparisons between the two eras don’t march in perfect lockstep, but the looming conflict between high-definition video’s competing camps has spawned familiar, bad-old-days anxieties among consumers and corporate honchos alike.
The rub: Owning a high-definition television set means little if you don’t have the right content. More important, you need a way to deliver that content.
High-def sports and drama continue to expand on digital cable, but high-def DVDs represent the next frontier in this uncharted land. Promising six times better resolution and three times better sound quality than standard DVDs, the emerging technology exploits the crystal-clear possibilities of digital entertainment.
But a new war is underway. Like the videocassette era, two formats are competing for supremacy in an untested market. Blu-ray, backed by companies including Sony and Apple, and HD DVD, backed by Toshiba and Microsoft, are gearing up for a holiday clash in which many Americans will take their first crack at immersive home theaters.
Everyone wants to back the winning horse and avoid buying multiple formats, but the two technologies have important differences.
“More than 170 companies have joined the Blu-ray Disc Association, but also with products and content, it’s clear Blu-ray has a dramatic support difference,” said Andy Parsons, senior vice president of product development at Pioneer. “We have 10 consumer electronics companies and seven out of eight Hollywood studios. HD DVD has three, and two of them support Blu-ray.”
Parsons, who also acts as chairman of Blu-ray’s U.S. promotion committee, has an obvious stake in the format, but the odds are on Blu-ray’s side. When Sony launches its oft-delayed Playstation 3 on Nov. 17, it will exclusively feature a built-in Blu-ray player.
Video games require an immense amount of memory as they grow more complex, and in that Blu-ray also trumps HD DVD. Multiple layers – read at different surface depths by the machine’s laser – hold more information. A single Blu-ray disc layer can hold 25 gigabytes (GB) – a dual layer can hold 50 GB. That compares with HD DVD’s 15 GB and 30 GB, respectively.
Still, HD DVD’s proponents think their format will appeal to the average consumer.
“The price point is 50 to 100 percent more for Blu-ray over HD DVD players,” said Omar Wasou, a technology analyst for the HD DVD Promotion Group. “People aren’t going to care about all the technical mumbo jumbo the blogs talk about. They’re going to look at the price and the title, and I think both of those tilt strongly in favor of HD DVD.”
Also attractive to studios is HD DVD’s manufacturing cost, which is the same as a regular DVD’s. Blu-ray discs and players require an entirely different process to manufacture.
Nearly 40 million homes will have an HDTV by the end of this year, according to Jennifer Reilly of communications management firm Weber Shandwick. Delivering content for them will be the next major push.
“From an overall publishing point of view, having a huge array of content is essential for the format to take off,” said Blu-ray’s Parsons. “You’re going to have a content vacuum. That’s never really happened before when you’re launching a new format – having such an enormous influx of players without anything to play.”
Of course, both the HD DVD and Blu-ray players are backward-compatible with standard DVDs. But studios are hoping that in-picture interactive menus and the ability to hold several films will make high-def DVDs more attractive. As DVD sales level off, studios are desperate for additional revenue sources.
HD DVD boasts the least expensive player, a Toshiba model retailing for $499.99. Blu-ray, with machines for $1,000 at the low end, promises to bring down prices on its models by the end of the year, but so far HD DVD players have outsold them.
Would combining the formats make a difference? Warner Bros. engineers recently filed a patent for a single disc that can hold HD DVD, Blu-ray and regular DVD formats.
“Having a single player that plays both formats wouldn’t solve any problems, because the format war is still going on,” Parsons said. “Retailers and content producers don’t like to release things on different formats if they don’t have to.”
Don’t declare an advantage at the retail level just yet, said Chris Hummel, a product specialist at Best Buy on Colorado Boulevard.
“For me, I don’t see a big difference,” Hummel said. “But it’s different for everybody. Personally, I like the Blu-ray.”
In other words, it’s too soon to say which will outlive the other, although Blu-ray clearly has more industry support. But unlike the VHS or Beta question, it’s more than just a matter of finding your favorite film on your chosen format.
HD DVD supporter Wasou said the number of places in which we get high-def content is far more important than the format war. He cited Amazon
.com and Netflix as companies that already offer HD DVD titles, circumventing the neighborhood video shop.
“Whether or not Blockbuster decides to get on this is irrelevant,” he said. “In the era of the Internet, there’s no constraint on the availability or distribution of titles. The real war isn’t between platforms but between HD and standard definition.”
