STORY TOOLS

Two formats can co-exist

By Steve Devick -- Video Business, 8/4/2006

Devick

AUG. 4 | I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that the turf battle between Sony’s Blu-ray Disc player and Toshiba’s HD DVD player will have a clear winner—just like back in the ’80s when Betamax got its lunch eaten by VHS.

That’s not going to happen. It’s not even close to the same battle. The Beta/VHS debacle isn’t applicable to this contest for one big reason.

Let me give you a hint: It barely existed in 1975 and now does more revenue than the music business. You retailers know the answer—videogames.

Think back over the last few years. Was PlayStation 2 a big selling piece of hardware? How about the original Xbox; did anyone buy that?

Are the games sold for each of those products compatible with one another? No way.

Did the purchasing consumer really care? Apparently not.

When PlayStation 3 ships a million of its units to stores in November, it’s going to have a Blu-ray Disc player built into it. It’s going to cost $499. (Interesting, since stand-alone Blu-ray Disc players currently cost twice that much.)

So, if I’m a good parent and buy my kid one of this year’s most anticipated holiday gifts, I’m also buying myself a Blu-ray Disc player for half price. (Sorry kid, it’s mine on weekend nights.)

Not to be out done, Microsoft plans to equip its Xbox 360 with an HD DVD player starting in—you guessed it—November.

If you believe industry experts, that means that 5 million to 7.5 million pieces of hardware capable of playing either Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD will be in consumers’ homes by the end of this year.

I think retailers would be wise to have lots of content in both formats available for purchase, so that the folks that own these players have something to play on them besides videogames.

I may be the only consumer on the planet who already has both a Toshiba HD DVD player and a Samsung Blu-ray Disc player at home. Which one would I recommend? Well, that choice is a little like picking between Jennifer and Angelina.

So it is with these two different players. You may like one thing better about the Blu-ray Disc player, like the higher storage capabilities, or one thing better about the HD DVD player, like the standard player disc compatibility potential, but, just like Ms. Aniston and Ms. Jolie, both players are absolutely incredible.

Watching high-definition DVDs in either format is so much better than watching standard-definition DVDs that it reminds me of another turf battle that occurred way, way back in the ’60s: color TV vs. black-and-white.

Any black-and-white TV fans left out there?

Steve Devick is president of Concert Hot Spot, which is releasing titles on both high-def formats.

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ok let me start by saying, as a gam....
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