Blue-ray vs. HD DVD

[aved]

Anyone have any thoughts on how this one is going to play out? Both seem to have near equal support by large companies. The thing I find interesting though is that Apple supports Blue-Ray while Intel supports HD DVD. How does that work with Intel Apples?

Thanks

[fryke]

I guess it doesn't really matter. Apple could choose either over the other, but at the end, I guess we'll have either double-standard drives or one standard will actually win, although I don't believe that. It certainly _looks_ similar to VHS vs. Beta from the outside (Sony being with Blu-Ray)...

But again: I personally guess this is a hype that won't take off this fast. People might want Blu-Ray burners for their computers, because of the disc space. However: Most people are happy with their DVDs and have no need to change to yet another format where it's _unknown_ which one might win at the end. They know that _DVD_ will be supported for quite some time.

[Lt Major Burns]

which companies are behind which formats?

[Mikuro]

My latest information on each side's supporters comes from Mac Observer article and a newer Designtechnica article.

Blu-ray: Apple, Dell, Disney, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, LG Electronics, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Royal Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK, Twentieth Century Fox.

HD-DVD: Microsoft, Intel, Universal Pictures

Neutral companies that used to be on one side or the other: Thomson (from Blu-ray), Paramount (from HD-DVD), Warner Bros. (from HD-DVD)

Blu-ray has been picking up steam consistently for the past year. Here's hoping Microsoft gives up. They're the only one with the weight to change things at this point.

[Lt Major Burns]

microsoft will give up. they're well known for backing off.

[Mikuro]

LOL. Right.

It's also worth noting that Sony's support extends to the PlayStation 3. It will be Blu-ray based, and I don't think anything can change that at this point. The PS3 will, of course, also play movies, on both DVDs and Blu-ray discs. That alone will give Blu-ray some good market penetration early in the game. There's no equivalent on the HD-DVD side.

[aved]

Yeah I just read an article in the Economist about Sony delaying the PS3 launch by several months. "Ken Kutaragi, the head of Sony’s game division, blamed the delay on the late finalisation of technology standards associated with Blu-ray, a next-generation DVD format in which PS3 games will be delivered."

And here is some more of the article:
"But while the confirmation of a delay will have disappointed gamers in Japan, where the console was expected to launch first, there was good news for those in America and Europe. Mr Kutaragi said that Sony intends to launch the PS3 almost simultaneously around the world, which means the American launch will happen in November, as most observers had expected; and the European launch, widely anticipated for spring 2007, will actually happen earlier than predicted. (That said, Sony originally planned a simultaneous worldwide launch for its PlayStation Portable in 2004, but was so overwhelmed by demand in Japan that the American and European launches were delayed by several months. The same could easily happen with the PS3.)

Sony’s announcement ended months of silence from the company regarding the PS3, but it will not entirely quell the rumours about its status. Not everyone believes the company when it says delays with Blu-ray’s copy-protection standards are the reason for the hold-up. The standards have taken longer than expected to finalise, but Sony says it will launch Blu-ray-equipped laptop computers and stand-alone Blu-ray video players during the summer, months before the PS3 goes on the market. As a result, some analysts think Sony is using a small delay to Blu-ray to justify a longer delay to the PS3. The extra months will give it time to ramp up manufacturing, and will give software developers longer to finish their launch titles for the PS3, thus ensuring a reasonable selection of games by November. Blu-ray, in short, may be only part of the problem.

The timing of the PS3 launch is critical to Sony’s broader corporate strategy. The company is betting on the technologically ambitious new console to do more than just continue its profitable dominance of the games industry. (The PlayStation 2, the clear winner among the current generation of games consoles with sales of over 100m units and a market share of around 70%, has sustained the company in recent years.) That is because Blu-ray is currently locked in a standards war with a rival high-definition disc format, HD-DVD, backed by Toshiba. Billions of dollars in future licence fees are at stake as the two formats fight to establish themselves as the high-definition successor to the DVD format."

[Satcomer]

I am taking the wait and see approach. I was burned years ago with Laserdisk and I am going to wait for the winner this time. Hopefully this fight will pan out in the next 2 years.