What is Happening in the Battle Between HD DVD and Blu-ray?Compared to
standard DVDs, both HD DVDs and Blu-ray DVDs offer an improved picture quality.
While Blu-ray has been reported to have a better picture, this claim is actually
inaccurate. Because both systems are able to support the coveted 1080p and 1080i
picture formats, there really should not be any distinction between the two
types. Despite the similar technological benefits of HD DVD and Blu-ray, Blu-ray
has gained competitive advantage by slowly cornering the market of high
definition DVDs. Also, Blu-Ray (25 GB) offers more memory space than HD DVD(15
GB), so more movie can be packed onto one disc. This is the main difference,
with the rest of the "specs" being very technical and very similar. With the
recent victories of Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Netflix announcing that they will
only carry Blu-ray DVDs, Blu-ray continues to edge out HD DVD. Best Buy said
that it will recommend Blu-ray to its costumers, but will also carry HD DVD. The
movie industry has also helped sink HD DVDs. Warner Brothers announced last
month that it would only distribute on Blu-ray (detailed below).
Warner to Go to Blu-Ray Format
"Warner Brothers Home Entertainment announced Friday that it will begin
offering its high-definition DVDs exclusively in the Blu-ray disc format,
striking a major blow in the marketplace battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD."-
CNN
In another winning battle for Sony's Blu-Ray, Warner Entertainment, the
largest media company releasing DVDs in both HD and Blu-Ray format has
announced that it will begin formatting its DVDs exclusively Blu-Ray. Warner
represents between 18 - 20 percent of DVD sales in the United States. Warner's
choice to go with Blu-ray format means about 75% of new movie releases are
available Blu-ray disks, according to Tom Adams,the president of Adams Media
Research in Carmel, CA.
Along with Warner, other major companies have contributed to Blu-ray emerging
as the front-runner over HD DVD with their support, such as major electronic
retailer Best Buy Inc. In fact, starting in June, Wal-Mart will sell only Blu-ray
disks and players because according to company spokesman Steven Restivo, "they
believe that one format will help increase interest, and with more adoption
comes more selection and affordability."
Other major studios that are embracing Blu-ray include 20th Century Fox, Walt
Disney Co., Lionsgate Entertainment Corp., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., and, as to
be expected, Sony Pictures. This leaves only Paramount and Universal supporting
HD DVDs right now and that could very well change in the near future in favor of
Blu-Ray.
The following February 25th article from the NY Times explains the views of
various experts on how successful Blu-ray DVDs are expected to be, how movie
studios, like the ones listed above, are adjusting to this change, and why
Toshiba has decided to support Blu-ray (which is detailed in the next section).
Studios Are Trying to Stop DVDs From Fading to Black
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Toshiba Backs Blu-Ray"Sony's Blu-ray technology is emerging as the
likely winner in the format battle for the next generation of DVD players after
Toshiba appeared ready to ditch its HD DVD business." - CNN
The move has come about after the announcements by Wal-Mart and Netflix that
they will carry exclusively Blu-Ray DVDs. This decision will likely disappoint
the over 1 million Toshiba customers who have already purchased HD DVD players.
A large portion of the Blu-Ray momentum has spread to Japan, where Blu-Ray DVD
player sales account for 96% of overall DVD player sales. HD does have the
current benefit of being cheaper, since its technology is more similar to
current HD television, but Blu-Ray does tout more recording space. Both systems
are compatible with HD television. Just this past week Toshiba announced that
they were done with HD DVD.
CNN
Video: Blu-Ray is winning the DVD war
Downsides for Sony in How Blu-Ray Emerged Victorious
Sony has effectively won the format war for HD TV content distribution with
their Blu-ray disc, considered "the first Sony media victory since the
Microfloppy of 1982." However, what cost did Sony have to pay to win this HD
War? It came in Sony's gaming market with the Playstation 3.The PS3 was
delayed in getting to market due to difficulties in mass producing Blu-Ray
drives that are standard with all PS3 consoles. And even after this delay, Sony
was forced to charge a premium price for the console due to the high cost of the
Blu-Ray drives in comparison to to DVD drives which also stunted sales. Both of
these, along with other factors, have led to Sony falling to third in this
generation of the console wars, behind both Microsoft's XBox 360 and Nintendo's
Wii, opposed to dominating as Sony did with the Playstation 2, of the previous
generation. The addition of the Blu-Ray player, while more expensive and more of
a hassle, turned out to be a brilliant move for Sony. Including this option did
drive the price up, but it also presented more people with the oppourtunity to
see the power of Blu-Ray. This, combined with allegiance from the biggest movie
companies, gave Blu-Ray its
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE. Along with these two factors, Blu-Ray's competitive
advantage stemmed from its FIRST MOVER ADVANTAGE. Blu-Ray first appeared in
stores on April 10, 2003, while HD DVD's did not appear in stores until April
18, 2006. HD DVD was the first to come out with an "HD DVD-only player," but
because Blu-Ray got its name out first, it has triumphed.
Microsoft was able to avoid charging a premium price for the XBox 360 by not
building an HD drive into their console, and instead, marketing the HD drive as
an external add on, Microsoft was able to get the 360 to market more quickly and
for a lower price whereby taking the lead over the PS3 and Wii. This was good
for Microsoft in that it didn't spend money on adding a HD DVD drive, but bad
for HD DVD. Why? Because buying an XBox 360 did not immediately allow the
customer to have access to the HD DVD format. Because it is an external add on,
however, the HD drive will be easily changed from HD DVD to Blu-ray format.
It should also be noted that this past weekend Microsoft announced that it
would stop making HD DVD players for the Xbox 360 game system. Yet another win
for Blu-ray.
Blu-ray Has Won?
Through all of the above information it is obvious that Blu-Ray is winning
the battle against HD DVD. What is so interesting about this victory is that
neither product is significantly 'better' than the other. The bottom line is
that there needs to be only one kind of high definition DVD. Retailers were
complaining about having to make three kinds of DVDs.
Consumers have not been purchasing DVD players of any kind because they do
not yet know which DVD, HD DVD or Blu-Ray, will have more titles. The industry
could not go on like this so one had to come out on top. This was mainly decided
by the consumers themselves because in the last year Blu-Ray DVDs outsold HD
DVDs. For consumers this could be because Blu-Ray discs have more storage space,
but Blu-ray players are also far more expensive than HD DVD players.
Production companies may have sided with Blu-Ray because their discs have
more advanced piracy protection, but this is not known for sure. It should also
be noted that both Sony and Toshiba negotiated with the various production
companies to choose their product. Backing by such major retailers as Wal-mart,
Best Buy, and Netflix definitely aided in Blu-Ray gaining
competitive advantage during this 'High Definition War.' Also, Waner Bro's
choice to offer its high definition DVDs exclusively in Blu-Ray format came as a
significant blow to HD DVD, giving Blu-Ray around 75% of new movie releases,
which can be considered an element of their
competitive advantage.
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