The high-density optical disc format war is slowly tipping in Blu-ray's favor. Blockbuster has announced that they will support Sony's format over the HD-DVD format. Though some stores will still carry HD-DVD, all of the Blockbuster stores will have Blu-ray. This, coupled with Blu-ray maintaining a sales lead, makes it seem that Sony's high-definition format may win the war.
Thank goodness.
As I have stated before, I dislike format wars. I have a hi-def television with no hi-def disc-players. Since there are no clear leaders, there aren't enough manufacturers creating players and bringing down the price on the players. I will not buy a $500 player or a $300 player that doesn't have full capabilities. I will not buy an HD-DVD player knowing I will also have to buy a Blu-ray player. But it seems that is changing.
With any luck, in one year all of the Hollywood studios will support Blu-ray and then all players will have full capabilities (1080p picture, true-HD sound) at $300. And then I, and many others I suspect, will finally jump-in.
What will it take for either Blu-ray or HD-DVD to come out in the lead? Will one format have to conform to the other in order to be successful?
Related Stories: | Topics:Technology, technology + computers, Computer Technology, Computer Storage Devices, Optical Storage Devices, Computer Hardware and Peripherals, Technology |
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Recent Comments | 3 Total
June 18, 2007 at 6:39pm by Austin
I would say this has a whole lot more to do with the future of Blockbuster then the winner of the format war. Customers want more choice, not less. Blockbuster is limiting choices based on necessity not format superiority. Netflix will be able to use their usage statistics to adapt to the market. I have a feeling you are much more likely to see HD-DVD/Blu-Ray combo players before you see this one get settled.
June 24, 2007 at 10:16am by Jeff
The price of high-end Blu-ray players has recently dropped to $599/$499 MSRP led by Panasonic with their just released model DMP-BD10A that includes 5 free Blu-ray movies. I just purchased one a Best Buy for 10% off MSRP. So, subtract $60 and the value of the included movies, and the cost of the player is about $400. To get to $300 will require another 25% price drop...and no movies.
This player includes 7.1 HD and standard DVD upconversion to 1080P output. You can wait, if the extra $100 is an issue, by November...the format war winner will likely be even more obvious. It's Summer, take the plunge!
June 24, 2007 at 10:28am by Jeff
Panasonic DMP-BD10A Features:
+ Delivers greatly enhanced video performance with standard DVDs by upconverting their video resolution to HDTV-compliant 1080p via the HDMI interface
+ Built-in Dolby Digital Plus, True HD and DTS-HD decoders, plus 7.1-channel analog audio outputs
+ Backward compatible with DVD, DVD+R/-R DL, DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW, DVD-RAM, CD, CD-R/-RW, CD-DA and SVCD formats