HD DVD Down And Out

[GeekDude]

From 1976 until the mid 80’s Sony was involved in a bitterly fought tech battle over VCR format supremacy. By all accounts Sony’s Betamax video recording standard was superior to JVC’s VHS standard in all but one aspect – recording time. Despite having come to market first and backing a technology which boasted better video reproduction, Sony found itself on the loosing end of the war mainly due to its early failure to adapt to the public’s desire for longer recording times.

Fast forward now to present day where Sony was again engaged in a new battle involving the latest and greatest video reproduction and distribution technologies. Long after the demise of VHS, at the hands of the laser disc and the DVD, Sony found itself at odds with rival company Toshiba over which next generation DVD format would become the de facto standard. However, there seems to have been a role reversal this time around as it was Toshiba who came to market first in April 2006 with two HD DVD entry models (Toshiba's HD-A1 and the higher-end HD-XA1) . It wasn’t until June of the same year that Sony partner Samsung shipped the first Blu-ray player (BD-P1000), and while the Samsung player ($1,000) cost almost twice as much as those from Toshiba, it boasted up-converting circuitry, full 1080p playback and the capacity for more content.

Today, while Sony players still carry $400+ price tags, comparable players from either camp can be had for under $300 bucks. Both standards produce extraordinary picture quality and prices will continue to fall. Blu-ray discs can hold 50GB of data vs HD DVDs 30GB, but it is yet to be demonstrated how much of a deciding factor this was in the end. But, I digress…

So, how could a smart consumer avoid the slow and painful death that befell the poor Betamax owner of ancient times? Despite the analogies to the Betamax vs VHS wars, time has morphed the battlefield to such a degree that the old rules simply don’t apply. Sony is now the owner of a movie company, the legal and technological logistics for protecting copyrighted material developed during the VCR battles have long been in place and this, essentially, means that market forces would probably have less of a hand in deciding a victor. Thus, in this latest engagement it wasn’t John Q public that decided who got the spoils. It seems to have been Sony’s movie industry ties along with fair ’07 4th quarter sales of its PS3 that gave it the winning edge. The final nail in the preverbal coffin came when Wal-Mart (the world’s largest retailer) and Netflix both announced that they were backing Blu ray exclusively.

On February 18th, Toshiba conceded defeat and announced plans to cease production and sales of its HD DVD players. The irony here is that despite having won this campaign, Sony’s victory may be short lived. Competition from other media distribution technologies (cable, DSL and PC companies) promise to derail any thoughts that Blu ray will be as long lived as the standard DVD. Nonetheless, this week the suites at Sony have much to celebrate.