A couple of days ago, I told you the war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD was only a few days away from truly being over. As of today, it is officially over. Toshiba, inventors and makers of HD-DVD, officially announced it will make no more HD-DVD players. The world of high definition DVD players now belongs to Blu-Ray.
Some writers have dubbed this announcement by Toshiba as their "BetaMax Address," referring of course, to that day many years ago when Sony announced they would cease production of BetaMax video tape recorders. On that day, sales of VHS machines started to take off. Expect the same for Blu-Ray machine sales. It is ironic that Sony lost the BetaMax/VHS war, but won this one.
Another loser of this war, although probably only in the short term, is Microsoft. They supported HD-DVD as a plug-in to their X-Box game machine. As of right now, their sales have dropped below that of Sony's PlayStation for the first quarter of this year, putting them in last place in game box sales (Nintendo is still in first place). The PlayStation, of course, supports Blu-Ray.
Shortly after, the Toshiba announcement, Universal Studios announced their support for Blu-Ray, leaving only Paramount still officially supporting HD-DVD. Expect that to change very shortly.
Now that you know who won the war, you may be tempted to run right out and get a Blu-Ray player for your Hi Definition television. If so, you might be interested in this recent article on the CNET website, "5 Blu-Ray Players for Less than $500." As I said the other day, Blu-Ray players are still on the pricey side, but that will change as it inevitably does.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
DVD Wars Nearing an End
Do you remember my blog some months ago about the the on-going war between the two types of next generation high definition DVD players? If you don't remember, the two types are Blu-Ray and HD-DVD...the former supported by Sony and the latter by Toshiba. For many month, it was unclear which format would win the battle for high definition supremacy as the lead switched back and forth a few times.
Most tech writers, including myself, advised consumers not to purchase either type of machine until there was a clear winner. We are only days away from having an absolute clear winner, but there is very little doubt now who it will be.
And the winner will be....Blu Ray!! Several events have occurred just recently that indicate that there is little or no doubt about the final outcome.
This was a strange war that hearkened back to the battle between BetaMax and VHS in the early days of video tape recorders. The big difference in this new war was that the major motion pictures studios chose to back one format or the other for their new releases, which I always found strange. Back in the early video tape wars, studios released their movies in both formats.
As for retailers, the majority have been carrying both types of DVD players, also waiting to see who will win. Now, that is all changing.
In the last few days, both Wal-Mart and Best Buy announced they will only carry Blu-Ray players and disks. Meanwhile, Netflix and Blockbuster, the two competing kings of video rentals, announced they will no longer carry HD-DVD titles...only Blu-Ray from here on in.
As for the major motion picture studios, Warner Brothers recently switched over to Blu-Ray, leaving only Universal and Paramount as the last two hold-outs for HD-DVD. Expect to see both those studios switch shortly because of retailer's decisions to carry only Blu-Ray. Sticking with HD-DVD will cost them millions of dollar of potential revenue. Interestingly, Paramount switched from Blu-Ray to HD-DVD just last year. You have to think that heads will roll over that decision.
If you have a high definition TV and you have been waiting to see which type would emerge victorious, you probably can run out now and get a Blu-Ray machine, although you will still pay a fat price for it. Like everything, prices will be dropping. If you didn't take my advice to wait and went out and bought an HD-DVD player, be on the lookout for some incredible sales on movies in that format as retailer will be dumping their inventory. I would buy as many as you can as they won't be available much longer.
Who did I think would win? Actually I predicted that Blu-Ray would win...not because I had any great insight or studied the market in depth. No, my reason was that Blu-Ray was a much cooler and sexier name than HD-DVD. It has a good ring to it. A cool name means a great deal.
Remember, Adolph Hitler's name by all rights should have been Adolf Schicklegruber. Can you see anyone running around in the 30's and 40's lifting their right arm in salute and saying "Heil Schicklegruber?" I don't think so. A cool name can make all the difference. And Blu-Ray is really cool.
Most tech writers, including myself, advised consumers not to purchase either type of machine until there was a clear winner. We are only days away from having an absolute clear winner, but there is very little doubt now who it will be.
And the winner will be....Blu Ray!! Several events have occurred just recently that indicate that there is little or no doubt about the final outcome.
This was a strange war that hearkened back to the battle between BetaMax and VHS in the early days of video tape recorders. The big difference in this new war was that the major motion pictures studios chose to back one format or the other for their new releases, which I always found strange. Back in the early video tape wars, studios released their movies in both formats.
As for retailers, the majority have been carrying both types of DVD players, also waiting to see who will win. Now, that is all changing.
In the last few days, both Wal-Mart and Best Buy announced they will only carry Blu-Ray players and disks. Meanwhile, Netflix and Blockbuster, the two competing kings of video rentals, announced they will no longer carry HD-DVD titles...only Blu-Ray from here on in.
As for the major motion picture studios, Warner Brothers recently switched over to Blu-Ray, leaving only Universal and Paramount as the last two hold-outs for HD-DVD. Expect to see both those studios switch shortly because of retailer's decisions to carry only Blu-Ray. Sticking with HD-DVD will cost them millions of dollar of potential revenue. Interestingly, Paramount switched from Blu-Ray to HD-DVD just last year. You have to think that heads will roll over that decision.
If you have a high definition TV and you have been waiting to see which type would emerge victorious, you probably can run out now and get a Blu-Ray machine, although you will still pay a fat price for it. Like everything, prices will be dropping. If you didn't take my advice to wait and went out and bought an HD-DVD player, be on the lookout for some incredible sales on movies in that format as retailer will be dumping their inventory. I would buy as many as you can as they won't be available much longer.
Who did I think would win? Actually I predicted that Blu-Ray would win...not because I had any great insight or studied the market in depth. No, my reason was that Blu-Ray was a much cooler and sexier name than HD-DVD. It has a good ring to it. A cool name means a great deal.
Remember, Adolph Hitler's name by all rights should have been Adolf Schicklegruber. Can you see anyone running around in the 30's and 40's lifting their right arm in salute and saying "Heil Schicklegruber?" I don't think so. A cool name can make all the difference. And Blu-Ray is really cool.
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