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It seems the format war over next-generation DVDs between Sony, in the Blu-ray corner, and Toshiba, in the HD DVD camp, may be over, meaning consumers seeking sharper movies on high-definition DVDs no longer have to choose between rival incompatible formats and run the risk of being stuck with a 21st century equivalent of Betamax -- Sony's videotape technology that lost out to VHS in the 1980s. As long as there's been technology, there's been competing standards, right from George Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel promoting different rail gauges in the early days of the railways and onwards to the present day, when 'format wars' in media distribution are commonplace.
Back in the early 20th century it was a question of whether Thomas Edison's cylinder records or Emile Berliner's disc records would become the norm for audio recordings. After that it was EP vs. LP, 8-track vs. compact cassette, AM stereo vs. FM stereo, and most famously the Videotape format war between VHS and BetaMax. Where there's a winner there are also losers, and format wars are no exception - not just the obsolete Betamaxes of this world, but to some extent both camps in the format war end up losing out. Consumers afraid of committing to a losing standard will hold back from buying either. Format wars benefit no one, and yet although they have been avoided in some cases - such as the DVD Forum for unified DVD standard - they still occur each time two or more companies have a new high-tec solution to market.
The most recent format war has been between the Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD optical disc standards for storing high definition video, and has rumbled on since 2000-2002 when the two standards emerged and each attracted both the mutual and exclusive support of major consumer electronics manufacturers, personal computer manufacturers, television and movie producers and distributors, and software developers. Attempts to avoid a costly format war failed, and consumers were back in the VHS vs. Betamax days. Each format had its ups and down the next few years. Supporters switched sides, many sat on the fence and waited. Shoppers, faced with rival machines that played only one type of disc or the other, have held back from committing, meaning sales of both formats have been small.The writing was on the wall for HD DVD when in January this year Warner Bros. announced it would stop issuing HD DVD movies and rely exclusively on Blu-ray Disc. Last week, NetFlix and BestBuy, announced they would phase out HD DVD, and the final blow came when Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer and Sam's Club, announced on 15th February that it planned on phasing HD DVD by June 2008. The next day, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported that Toshiba, the leading manufacturer and supporter of HD DVD, had halted production of HD DVD players - this was confirmed today, when at a press conference in Tokyo Toshiba announced its decision to discontinue its HD DVD business, with an aim of cessation by March. So there you have it. The winner in the The High Definition Optical Disc Format War is Blu-ray Disc. Those of you stuck with the HD DVD exclusive of Transformers may apparently expect a Blu-ray Disc version shortly. In the longer term, having one format should also help accelerate the shift to the new technology, and on a rather ironic note analysts have commended Toshiba's move to pull the plug on HD DVD just two years after launching its first players. It took Sony more than a decade to quit Betamax. |
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