Blu-Ray or HD-DVD? Maybe Neither!
Last we heard, high density DVDs were on the way to certain market success and the only question was which format would prevail - Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. Although the question was moot, since “none of the above” remained a definite option: “Not only is the race about even, but if the new formats never reach mass adoption due to high prices and other factors then consumers might decide to just keep their old DVD players.” Judging by a recent report in BoingBoing, it looks as if that’s exactly what’s probably going to happen:
Sales of Blu-Ray and DVD-HD - two train-wrecks masquerading as products - have been disappointing. No one seems to want to buy a box whose selling price has been doubled through the inclusion of “security” measures that treat the box’s owner as a potential criminal. What’s more, the actual performance of the devices is reportedly poor, the picture just not as sharp as promised (standard DVD pictures are substantially degraded through a series of superfluous digital-analog-digital-analog conversion steps meant to frustrate home copyists).
Source: Cory Doctorow. “Winner of HD Wars: None of the Above,” BoingBoing 09/01/06.
Related Post: “Blu-Ray or HD-DVD and How Long?” EBT Blog 07/27/06.
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December 2nd, 2007 at 6:02 pm
[…] There is much confusion between the standards, Blu-ray vs HD DVD, with consumers delaying their purchases to avoid being stuck with another Betamax. The jury is still out and a bit has been written about this on Japundit with a lot elsewhere (like here, here, and here). What does the average Japanese consumer think? […]