Spring Break
Warner turns Blu - Tips scales in next-gen DVD war
Technophile
Jonathan Harrop
Issue date: 1/16/08 Section: Life & Style
Last semester, I wrote a column touching on the next-generation "format war" between HD DVD and Blu-ray Discs. Personally, I was sitting on the fence with both players, which is all the better to offer you, dear reader, a more balanced view of both formats.
That said, my Blu-ray player has gone through some changes as of late. It's gone from a Playstation 3, to a Panasonic DMP-BD10 and then upgraded to a DMP-BD30. As of January 5, it upgraded once again to a Pioneer Elite BDP-95FD.
Why the splurge and constant upgrades? Well, the format war is over.
On January 4, barely a week before the Consumer Electronics Expo in Las Vegas, Warner Brothers announced it would be exclusive to the Blu-ray format. Almost immediately thereafter, HD DVD tucked its tail and ran, canceled its conference and left a skeleton crew to staff its booth, according to a Warner Brothers press release.
The move is a "strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want," said Barry Meyer, Chairman and CEO of Warner Brothers in a press release. He also noted, "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger."
Warner will continue to release movies on both HD DVD and Blu-ray until May 2008, but after that, it's Blu-ray only.
Meyer raises an interesting point.
Even though my work cohorts and I have sold over 200 HD DVD players of some kind to customers who chose the cheaper format and based on the content of films available at the time, many times more were sitting on the fence completely, opting to stick with their current DVD player or go for an up-convert DVD player.
Meyer's supposition that if "confusion continues to linger" then there might not be a window that holds a lot of weight. Many technophiles hold out hope for HD on-demand movies to replace hard copy media. Many other technophiles believe that videophiles and audiophiles will always prefer hard copies of their movies and the average movie-lover will, too.
That said, my Blu-ray player has gone through some changes as of late. It's gone from a Playstation 3, to a Panasonic DMP-BD10 and then upgraded to a DMP-BD30. As of January 5, it upgraded once again to a Pioneer Elite BDP-95FD.
Why the splurge and constant upgrades? Well, the format war is over.
On January 4, barely a week before the Consumer Electronics Expo in Las Vegas, Warner Brothers announced it would be exclusive to the Blu-ray format. Almost immediately thereafter, HD DVD tucked its tail and ran, canceled its conference and left a skeleton crew to staff its booth, according to a Warner Brothers press release.
The move is a "strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want," said Barry Meyer, Chairman and CEO of Warner Brothers in a press release. He also noted, "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger."
Warner will continue to release movies on both HD DVD and Blu-ray until May 2008, but after that, it's Blu-ray only.
Meyer raises an interesting point.
Even though my work cohorts and I have sold over 200 HD DVD players of some kind to customers who chose the cheaper format and based on the content of films available at the time, many times more were sitting on the fence completely, opting to stick with their current DVD player or go for an up-convert DVD player.
Meyer's supposition that if "confusion continues to linger" then there might not be a window that holds a lot of weight. Many technophiles hold out hope for HD on-demand movies to replace hard copy media. Many other technophiles believe that videophiles and audiophiles will always prefer hard copies of their movies and the average movie-lover will, too.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Bill
posted 1/15/08 @ 10:34 PM CST
After reading this article, my question is why aren't you still using a PS3 as your Blu-Ray player? Why the change to the other Blu-Ray players, eventually landing on the much more expensive Pioneer Elite BDP-95FD? (Why the splurge and constant upgrades?) I thought that with all the firmware upgrades Sony has provided for the PS3 that the PS3 fully supported Blu-Ray as much or more as any other player (1080p, 24 fps, Blu-Ray Profile 1. (Continued…)
dale
posted 1/16/08 @ 5:01 PM CST
to jonathon, i sure am glad that you feel relieved and all but in the last two weeks i feel like i've been punched in the gut by sony. first i hear all these stories of how they spent $500 million to get warner bros. (Continued…)
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