[opendtv] Fiddling With Format While DVD's Burn
- From: Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: undisclosed-recipient: ;
- Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2005 00:41:47 -0500
Fiddling With Format While DVD's Burn
By KEN BELSON
December 26, 2005
The war for control of the next-generation DVD is approaching a
critical juncture: next week in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics
Show, companies championing the two competing high-definition DVD
standards - Blu-ray and HD-DVD - will unveil their lineups of new
players and movie titles.
There are growing signs, though, that the battle for supremacy in
this multibillion-dollar market may yield a hollow victory. As
electronics makers, technology companies and Hollywood studios haggle
over the fine points of their formats, consumers are quickly finding
alternatives to buying and renting packaged DVD's, high definition or
otherwise.
"While they fight, Rome is burning," said Robert Heiblim, an
independent consultant to electronics companies. "High-definition
video-on-demand and digital video recorders are compelling, and
people will say, 'Why do I need it?' " when considering whether to
buy a high-definition player.
The fight between the Blu-ray and HD-DVD groups is based on different
views of what consumers want. The HD-DVD camp, led by Toshiba,
assumes that consumers will buy high-definition DVD's and players,
but only at the right price. So it is improving existing DVD
technology, which can be made cheaply and quickly.
The Blu-ray group figures that something brand new is needed to get
consumers interested, so it is developing discs with enough capacity
to allow for innovative features in the future.
Both sides agree, however, that now is the time to introduce
high-definition DVD discs and players. Sales of high-definition
televisions, with their sleek design and superior picture and sound
quality, are soaring, and the major networks are broadcasting more
programs in high definition.
Game console makers like Sony see high-definition video games as a
way to increase sales, and Hollywood hopes that high-definition discs
will offset slumping sales of current-generation DVD's in the $19
billion prepackaged disc market.
Yet the alternatives to these new players and DVD's are growing by
the day. The most promising is the on-demand programming, both
standard and high definition, being offered by cable companies. The
percentage of cable customers who watch on-demand television has
doubled in the past year, to 23 percent, according to the Leichtman
Research Group.
With thousands of free movies available at any time, consumers have
fewer reasons to rent a DVD at Blockbuster or buy a new one at Best
Buy. They are also likely to think twice before spending $1,000 or
more for a new high-definition DVD player, or $25 or so to own a disc
of a movie they might already have in standard definition.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/26/technology/26format.html?ex=1293253200&en=48e4321ad3a69d37&ei=5090
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