While neither Sony’s Blu-ray nor Toshiba’s HD-DVD have become the clear winner, consumers definitely lose.
A potential compromise two months ago, where Sony’s Blu-ray disc format and Toshiba’s playback and copyright management software would represent the next generation of blue laser DVD players, fell apart.
Toshiba thinks its format, one that can be made on existing DVD production lines, should be the new standard. Sony thinks its higher capacity format Blu-ray will be a necessary as high-definition media content grows in size in the future.
Now it looks like neither standard will win over the other, unless the movie distributors who will be the prime movers of the new format force a compromise. Toshiba will go forward with producing HD-DVD players, and Sony has already decided to go forward with Blu-ray in its PlayStation 3.
While many movie studios have lined up behind HD-DVD, Sony and very heavy DVD-hitter Disney signed on to support Blu-ray. There’s probably no chance a dual-format player can be manufactured.
What a miserable choice for consumers; either purchase only one type of player and miss out on DVD releases in the other format, or buy both players. Or option three, buy neither one and let them both rust on the shelves.
Early adopters will pay the biggest price, since they will be most likely to buy both players. Indeed, Toshiba may have just driven more people to purchase a PlayStation 3 next year, since the PS3 will be able to playback Blu-ray discs. Then, consumers can just wait for prices to come down on HD-DVD players and buy one then, if they haven’t already.
It would be good to think that somehow, someway, someone could step forward and anoint one format as an international standard. But both camps seem entrenched. That’s going to lead to lots of angry buyers who don’t pay attention in the store and buy the wrong format DVD for a movie they want.
David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
