So HD-DVD has bought the farm and gone the way of Betamax, 8-Track, audio cassette and the floppy disc drive. Bit of a shame really as I quite liked the product and technically there is very little between the red laser HD-DVD format and its Blu-Ray cousin, at least in the consumers’ eyes.
With industry heavy weights like Michael Bay saying that, for film- makers, Blu-Ray is easier to work with and offers more scope for future developments, then maybe this ending of the ‘Format War’ is for the best. However, Sony, a key backer of Blu-Ray, have a pretty poor track record of late so hopefully the other backers including TDG fave Philips will counteract their influence. Microsoft have now joined the Blu-Ray alliance as well so I am looking forward to getting my Blu-Ray add-on for my 360 sometime soon.
Funny thing is….will anyone even notice? It is not as though the two technologies have been widely adopted as yet and with services like the Xbox Live marketplace offering movie downloads (including HD), the shift is likely to be away from physical delivery to download only. This will be cheaper, much more convenient, more economical for all parties and therefore help keep prices down. It might help the industry stem the piracy aspect as well.
Unfortunately, like any war, there will be casualties – namely those of us who have invested in HD-DVD technology already. Early adopters always play with fire in circumstances like these and it’s a shame that there will be so much technology and media out there that will become obsolete. Toshiba, the primary hardware manufacturer of HD-DVD have indicated that they will look at continuing to incorporate the technology in to pcs and laptops so maybe there is hope that those of us with kit already can expect to be able to keep using it beyond Christmas!
