Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Burning Questions: Why the Rush to Blue?
Posted by Chris Gohlke in "THOUGHT" @ 07:00 PM
"For more than a year now, those who follow the future of optical drive technology have heard blue-laser this, and blue-laser that. We've watched a new format war brew over these blue-laser based technologies, with both the Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD camps battening down the hatches for a long, drawn-out conflict. At stake for the industry is who will control the market for delivering entertainment content in the future; that is, whose next-generation DVD format will win out. For those of us who'll be consuming that entertainment, the conflict is more about which technology to invest in for the long haul."
Now that DVD has fairly universal market penetration, the consumer electronics industry is looking for their next hit, and what would be better than replacing all those DVD players that they sold in the last few years with new high-definition players. Great plan, but wait, two different groups of players in the industry have their own ideas for how to go about doing this, uh oh, problem. So, we are left with Blu-ray and HD-DVD as to competing standards on the verge of being released.
Competing standards have never been good for the consumer. Doubly so in this case, because neither standard has a clear technical advantage over the other. But still, pick the wrong one and you are out in the cold if it is the loser. So, what to do?
Here are my thoughts. I think most people will stay away from either until there is a standard. While HD looks great, current DVDs look pretty darn good and frankly, most people don't even take advantage of the quality offered by DVD (how many people do you know who just use a composite cable to hook up their DVD player to their TV). Also, can current content that was not recorded in HD be improved much over what we currently have on DVD? I know I am not keen to be replacing most of my DVD's unless there is a compelling reason to do so.
So, who knows what will happen, but I think the PS3 will tip this battle for Blu-ray. For the reasons noted above, people will hold off on buying players, but they will still purchase PS3s and end up with a Blu-ray player and by default, that will become the standard.
Anyway, these are just my thoughts, what do you think.
Now that DVD has fairly universal market penetration, the consumer electronics industry is looking for their next hit, and what would be better than replacing all those DVD players that they sold in the last few years with new high-definition players. Great plan, but wait, two different groups of players in the industry have their own ideas for how to go about doing this, uh oh, problem. So, we are left with Blu-ray and HD-DVD as to competing standards on the verge of being released.
Competing standards have never been good for the consumer. Doubly so in this case, because neither standard has a clear technical advantage over the other. But still, pick the wrong one and you are out in the cold if it is the loser. So, what to do?
Here are my thoughts. I think most people will stay away from either until there is a standard. While HD looks great, current DVDs look pretty darn good and frankly, most people don't even take advantage of the quality offered by DVD (how many people do you know who just use a composite cable to hook up their DVD player to their TV). Also, can current content that was not recorded in HD be improved much over what we currently have on DVD? I know I am not keen to be replacing most of my DVD's unless there is a compelling reason to do so.
So, who knows what will happen, but I think the PS3 will tip this battle for Blu-ray. For the reasons noted above, people will hold off on buying players, but they will still purchase PS3s and end up with a Blu-ray player and by default, that will become the standard.
Anyway, these are just my thoughts, what do you think.
