A couple of updates in the world of the DVD format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD today, nothing exceptionally major, but some interesting developments for those of you following this and not just already agreed that Blu-Ray have clinched it.
From Kung Fu Cult Cinema they have the news that HP are looking to jump ship from Blu-Ray to HD-DVD, something they’ve been threatening for a long time. To summarise, HP want one way of securing content, the way HD-DVD are going but Blu-Ray don’t, or rather they’ll look at it but not so as it will affect roll out of the technology.
The HD-DVD technology is incorporated in Microsoft software, whereas Blu-Ray want to go the way of Java, a much more open, multi-platform and generally more sensible way of doing it.
HP have been talking about jumping ship if Blu-Ray won’t decide, but the industry is already starting to speak out that Blu-Ray are the winners, and quite frankly it seems that they’re the better choice.
However, looks like their marketing stinks with the news from Screen Rant that Sony has produced the first Blu-Ray format DVD. They’re really gone to town on it too, they’ve thought long and hard and produced the DVD that’s really going to push both the technical barriers and punt those sales through the roof.
Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle
Damn. How could anyone compete with that?
I totally disagree.
Size is an issue, imagine a whole series on one DVD, that’s a nice cost reduction.
As for the OS tie in, it is quite a big deal for future development. With MS you’re tied to what they do, with Java you can flip from OS to OS through the lifetime. I see that as a major inventive for the developers – as do they.
On the subject of Sony, how quickly we turn. Sony are backing down big style, something you hardly (if ever) see MS doing when they are caught with their hand in the middle of your PC and data.
Having seen much about both systems and their detailed specs, I’m more than happy with Blu-Ray, as are the industry analysts, never mind the majority of hardware and media providers.
As a consumer I haven’t seen a negative side to Blu-Ray yet.
I’ve seen a variety of articles on the Movie Blog and elsewhere. Capacity alone is not reason enough to say one platform is better than another. HD DVD also boasts the ability to cost effectively build players that can play both DVD and HD DVD, and they’ll likely be available earlier and less expensive to manufacture. That’s not reason enough to jump on the HD DVD bandwagon, but it does demonstrate that there’s more to the war than capacity alone.
Also, I don’t see HD DVD as being a Microsoft tie-in. The only thing I’ve seen about Microsoft is that the players will run Windows CE and use Microsoft’s DRM. While that may not be my first choice, I don’t see it being a way that Microsoft can take control of anything, and I would imagine a manufacturer could build their own if they liked. My guess is that the Windows CE player is part of the licensing deal Toshiba, etc. would sell.
The recent event at Sony demonstrates the contempt Sony and media companies in general have for consumers. Microsoft is not a media company and cares only about having a PC compatible product so that they can keep pushing XBox and Windows MCE into the home. That’s why their DRM in HD-DVD stresses managed copy analagous to Apple’s Fairplay. Sony is still on the fence about managed copy from what I’ve read and doesn’t even want a PC sending the data over a home network to an HTPC.
The way I see it, the consumer has a fighting chance with HD DVD. With Sony, the media companies get everything they ever wanted because Sony is, in fact, a media company.
I don’t think that Sony are going to have that much of a negative impact on the format, after all it technically is the better format. If you’d seen the previous articles on the specifications you’d see it’s the better format.
https://www.themovieblog.com/archives/2005/10/bluray_vs_hddvd.html
Also, major industry analysts are saying this is the winning format.
https://www.themovieblog.com/archives/2005/10/bluray_will_win_research_claims.html
It’s also obvious that it’s going to have saturation in the marketplace.
However swapping to favour the other format because of recent events at Sony is a bit crazy, especially when that means getting in bed with a format that will embed itself in Windows technology! If you were concerned about Sonys recent software lockins just look at Microsofts history!!
Sony have for all this time been a pretty good company with some excellent products, and this rootkit has been an obvious mistake which they are back tracking. I don’t believe that’s a reason to drop their obviously superior format.
Bullet – I don’t see that the consumer is going to go solid state. That technology doesn’t have a major hold in the marketplace, DVD does. People just don’t have the knowledge or belief in it yet. DVD is in a huge amount of homes. People will upgrade rather than leap technology.
Thanks Clark. That’s what the Internet is all about. Being picky and pedantic. Next article I’ll spend the time and find a better image.
Saying that Sony is the better choice after the events of the last few weeks (rootkit on audio cds) seems like you’re asking for trouble. And although I’m a huge Java and OS proponent, you can’t forget that it’s being used to develop possibly the most closed, fair-use robbing format in history. We need to get behind Jobs, Cuban, and *gasp* Gates if we want our fair-use back. Neither HD-DVD nor Bluray is the answer, but I have to admit I prefer HD-DVD simply because of Sony’s recent history.
There’s a good chance no one will care what happens in this format war as more and more people go solid state.
As a picky FYI– The picture you’re using to illustrate Blu-Ray is innaccurate. Sony has dumped the blue cartridge in favor of the traditional “naked” disc thanks to disc protection improvements.
LOL @ Richard.
When are you getting your copy Rich? *smiles*