THE ECONOMIST mag chimes in about HD format war

[1080iBeVuMin]

THE ECONOMIST mag has a new and interesting article on the HD format wars. Click here.

The article makes all the same points everyone here would know from reading the WAR ZONE posts. What is new (for me at least) is that Blu-Ray will be more centered on consumer electronics and home entertainment while HD DVD will be more centered in the computer hardware sphere, and they predict that both formats will coexist in both markets for a long time, until another media format comes out in a few years or until all video is entirely available on the Internet.

Pretty interesting read and food for thought......
My apologies if this has already been posted.

 

[CochiseGuy]

Interesting to read a Financial reporter's take on high def home entertainment. While they can probably tell you Gross National Product of Albania, they always manage to get something wrong -

"The surge in Blu-ray rentals at Blockbuster was predictable, given such recent box-office hits as "Casino Royale", "Spider Man" and "Pirates of the Caribbean", all of which came out only on Blu-ray."

Dang - I spent an hour at Blockbuster yesterday and couldn't find a single copy of Spider Man on Blu-ray.

Thanks for the link - their Screensaver they're promoting for download looks interesting.

Interesting the British pub The Economist is predicting "that both formats will coexist in both markets for a long time", while the U.S. News & World Report claims it's all over but the shouting -

Blu-Ray Wins a Battle in the High-Def War

Neither side is close to conceding, but the death match over which format will dominate the next generation of movie disks is swinging in favor of Blu-ray, the technology backed by Sony and most of the studios that produce the flicks themselves. Blu-ray was outselling Toshiba-backed rival HD DVD by 2 to 1—though sales for both are still slight—before recent word that Blockbuster, the movie retailer, would not bother stocking HD DVDs.

 

[navychop]

Well, the Economist didn't even scratch the surface. HD DVD for computing? With greater storage capability, actual and potential, for Blu-ray? And more computer device manufacturers joined in early on Blu-ray. They just saw Microsoft and made one hell of a leap. Intel? Really, they'll sell chips either way.

HD DVD's best chance is in home movies, or perhaps overseas. Even if they become a niche product in the U.S., they might profitably continue overseas, especially in India. Unless the French get a wild hair, again, I suspect Europe will lean toward the winner in the U.S.

Still, both might survive. We'll see.

 

[tnsprin]

THE ECONOMIST mag has a new and interesting article on the HD format wars. Click here.

The article makes all the same points everyone here would know from reading the WAR ZONE posts. What is new (for me at least) is that Blu-Ray will be more centered on consumer electronics and home entertainment while HD DVD will be more centered in the computer hardware sphere, and they predict that both formats will coexist in both markets for a long time, until another media format comes out in a few years or until all video is entirely available on the Internet.

Pretty interesting read and food for thought......
My apologies if this has already been posted.

They must be assuming Microsoft will influence the "computer electronics and home entertainment", but to date their is more availability of blue-ray drives for computers. And several pieces of computer software to generate blu-ray discs are out, but fewer include hd-dvd.

 

[mike123abc]

All I have seen are Blu-Ray recorders for PCs. Are there HD-DVD recorders out? I have seen people use the Xbox player, and seen players put in some laptops, but not recorders. How can they claim to be computer centric when all the add in recorders are blu-ray?

 

[FreddyvsJasonvsAsh]

Spider-Man isn't out on BR yet