HBKDinobot

From the AP...

SAN FRANCISCO - The possibility that consumers will have to choose from two competing DVD formats next year is growing now that negotiations have broken down between the groups behind the different standards.
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Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news)., which supports a format known as Blu-ray, and a bloc led by Toshiba Corp., which backs the rival HD DVD system, began discussions this year to see whether they could agree on a unified format. But the talks have been suspended indefinitely, according to Andy Parsons, a Blu-ray spokesman.

"We are hopeful that we can still find a resolution," Parsons said. "We still have time to find a way to avoid having two formats go to market, which isn't good for consumers or us."

This is the latest snag in the efforts to avoid a war between the groups, both of which represent Hollywood studios, manufacturers of DVD players and the disk makers. Both sides have publicly criticized the other's technology.

Should the two groups launch their own disks, disk players and separate content, the costs to each group could be in the billions.

Confused shoppers most likely would stick to their old DVDs until a single format is established, said Josh Martin, an analyst with the technology research firm IDC. He said video-rental stores probably wouldn't want to cram their shelves with both Blu-ray and HD DVD disks.

"DVD sales are already hurting and this is not going to help spur sales," Martin said.

Sony's Blu-ray disks have a more sophisticated format and store 25 gigabytes of data, compared with HD DVD's 15, but are more expensive to produce.

Taro Takamine, a Sony spokesman, said that while Sony remains open to discussion with the Toshiba bloc, the firm's goal is to agree on a single format, not a jointly developed one.

"We have no intention on settling on a compromised format that only plays back 20 gigabytes, for example," Takamine said.

Toshiba spokesman Junko Furuta also acknowledged that a unified format did not look likely for the time being. Blu-ray disks would be harder to adopt for use in laptop computers, as well as in car navigation systems that are popular in Japan, Furuta said.

"We have doubts as to whether the Blu-ray format is a viable technology in terms of production cost," she said. "We're also not convinced that consumers would need to store so much data on disks, especially now that internal hard drives are more popular."

Both sides are already developing products that feature their respective DVD formats. Toshiba plans to roll out HD DVD players by the end of this year, while Sony's popular game console PlayStation 3, which will play Blu-ray disks, is due in spring 2006.

Entertainment companies are also split over the two formats. Walt Disney Co. and 20th Century Fox support Blu-ray, while Toshiba has won the backing of companies like Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures.

Loc Nar

Ah well. I'm reminded of the old saying, "What if they had a war and nobody came?" I'll be sitting this one out.

zombiezilla

I'll be doing the same thing I did when DVDs came out, and took out VHS. I'll sit on the sidelines, picking the winner long after the battle is over, and the winner has a huge stable of titles that I want/need.

However, I get the feeling that the original contender (basic DVD) will win this one....

The Wheez0r

Agreed. To me people don't wanna have to go out and buy a new Blu-Ray/HD-DVD player, along with the movies which could just as easily be bought on DVD.

Breakfast with Girls

PlayStation 3.

DVD King

Yeah, two formats on the market just isn't going to happen. DVD will probably be the king format for awhile.

"DVD sales are already hurting and this is not going to help spur sales"

Is this true? I keep hearing that DVD's are more profitable than their film's run in theaters, sounds curious.

bboisvert

DVD sales are down slightly this year over the previous few, but that's because:

1. There are few "new" DVD people. Everyone now has an established player in their house, so people aren't running out and buying tons of titles like they were when they first got their players.

2. Nearly every "major" film has been released. There are no more Star Wars, BTTF, Indiana Jones type films that people are waiting for.

3. Most new theatrical releases lately blow goats, so DVD buzz on them is lackluster at best.


So, as a natural result of this, sales are not as stellar as they were in 2003/4. They're still pretty damn good, though -- and TV on DVD is going through the roof. Studios aren't really crying poverty, they're just realizing that they're now dealing with an established format and are looking at the next-gen formats as a way to goose revenue.

cajun_junky

I wonder if the studios actually got so accustomed to record increases in dvd sales each year that they thought it would not plateau? Kind of like the dot coms of later years. I can't imagine they are that near-sighted.

PopcornTreeCt

I'll stick to watching HD broadcasts of movies.

joliom

I'll wait until the format war is settled. I already got screwed being an early adopter of HDTV (no HDMI).

marty888

I managed not to be the proud owner of an 8-track or Betamax .... I'll wait, and watch ....

RoboDad

That isn't quite the way I read the reports. The rate of increase is down over previous years, but the actual sales are still increasing year to year. The prediction is that sales will level off soon, but they have not yet done so.

critterdvd

My theory is that Blu-Ray and HD with cancel each other out, leaving regular DVD the victor...

bboisvert

Yes, you are correct. (I'm a bit tired, and my post was poorly worded.)

gcribbs

I will join Blu-Ray then also.

Shazam

Yes, they are that short-sighted. They're executives. Image a horse with blinders on and then having their eyes stabbed with an ice pick. That's how short-sighted they are.

tasha99

What a disturbing image . . .









**(Note my mad photoshopping skills: out of deference to the Otters who think there's too much pornography on the forum, I have given the horse lime green pants. Not that you could see anything, but there you go.)

Rubix

there's no doubt in my mind that blu-ray will win and is the superior format. i will be buying a player as soon as one comes out that is affordable to me, which will probably be a bd-rom drive rather than a standalone.

i remember my first dvd-rom drive by creative labs. man, looking back that thing was a piece of junk, but it was good for it's price/time.

so when is bdtalk coming?

Qui Gon Jim

Impossible to say which is a superior forumat until you have the actual format to look at. At this point, both BR and HD are "paper-ware" (yes I know that there have been BD drives in Japan, yadda yadda but they are not the final BD-ROM spec).

I also don;t think PS3 will be the huge factor that many make it out to be. IMO, if it does clock in at $450-500 as reported. If XBox360 comes out six months ahead and is priced $150 lower than PS3, I think they can take the "crown" from Sony.

DthRdrX

I don't know about the PS3 yet. I think the mass production of this machine is going to help get BR drive prices down really quick while Hd-dvd players/drives stay at inflated prices and lower production. As far as games go PS3 might lose to the Xbox, which I personally doubt, but it still puts more BR users out there while Hd-dvd has to sell stand-alone players at full price.

ShagMan

OK, this topic has been beat to death, but I just watned to say the thread title is great... I imagine somebody at mission control saying "the format war isss a-go!"

TylerDurden_73

Yeah me too. I see HD-DVD/Blueray being like Laserdisc, more for movie aficionado

roger_d

I've said this many times before, i'm not spending anymore money on another format. I've invested too much money in the one format we have now.

gorgo99

All your home video formats are belong to us.

RoboDad

Procedures? Go.
Recorders? Go.
HDMI? We are go.
FUD? Go!
DRM? Go.
Confusion? We're go, flight.
Launch Control, this is Houston. We are go for format war.