Daily Blog – Ross Jones – February 1, 2008: OH, THE HUMANITY! A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE ON THE BLU RAY/HD DVD TUSSLE

As we speak, the pundits are busily writing their obituaries for HD DVD. Cause of death: Warneritis. I never took sides, so tend to read the articles with a certain detached bemusement (perhaps less so than early adopters who plunked down $1,000 for a new Toshiba HD-XA2). For all I know, the reports of HD DVD’s demise may be greatly exaggerated. But as someone who has seen their share of technology format disputes, I fail to understand the martial analogies attached to the Blu Ray/HD DVD clash, complete with the moniker of a format “war,” and shameless propaganda. It might be really be the end this time, but if I had a dollar for every press release over the last two years saying that the “war was over,” well… I’d have a lot of dollars. And that’s just from the professional PR and media outlets. Online discussions became so intense that one forum had to temporarily shut down their HD media area due to posts that allegedly threatened physical violence. 

Putting aside for the moment that we’re discussing home theater and not real war (you know, where people get killed in large numbers), people seem to forget that Blu Ray and HD DVD are evolutionary rather than revolutionary products. The videotape recorders (Beta/VHS) gave consumers the ability to time-shift recordings for the first time.  DVD (which many don’t realize was another narrowly avoided format “war”) was the first digital video medium. It offered a tremendous increase in video quality, the ability to instantly skip to various chapters of a film, and was backwards compatible with the new and popular CD audio format.

HD physical media, on the other hand, was a hard sell from the beginning. Consumers need a hi-def display, which although rapidly becoming more popular are still in a minority of homes. Moreover, the increased video quality of HD media (particularly on smaller displays) is far less obvious to the casual observer than the difference between videotape and DVD (I can see the difference, but don’t count as a casual observer). Indeed, various reports show that a significant number of HDTV owners don’t actually receive HD programming, but still think they are watching hi-def.

So I have difficulty relating to the outrage, the emotions, the “war” analogies (although I have to admit that  Downfall parody video is pretty darn funny). Like most people, I wish that there weren’t two incompatible formats. But it’s not that big a deal. All those folks who bought Beta VCR’s, laserdisc, Minidisc and 8-track tape managed to survive. Heck, people are still having a spirited, yet respectful debate about whether vinyl sounds better than CD. So don’t get caught up in the hype. Five years from now, we’ll be having the same discussion about some new A/V technology with competing formats; it’s the nature of the industry. Enjoy the ride!