Ever since both formats were released, I knew there could only be support for one player, and that would be Blu-ray. I recommended Blu-ray to my friends and clients…I just had a feeling.
Not that Blu-ray picture was any better. To be honest, both formats, when compared side by side, were amazing. Even when comparing the same DVD in both formats, it’s hard to tell the difference between the two.
I think it was more of the marketing, as well as by looking at who was supporting which format. Also, Blu-ray is the only true 1080p format on the market. Even though that doesn’t mean its picture is better than HD-DVD, it’s great for marketing.
Even looking at the manufacturers that were supporting HD-DVD. Toshiba was the only big name manufacturer, along with Microsoft with the X-box. LG had a combo HD-DVD/Blu-ray player. But there were many Blu-ray players on the market. Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic, Samsung and more.
Just before the January 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Warner Brothers studio announced that it would support Blu-ray. The HD-DVD camp tried to downplay this, but soon after slashed the price of their HD-DVD players. The Blu-ray booth at the CES show was buzzing…in contrast to the HD-DVD booth, which seemed pretty quiet when I visited, and when I passed by at other times.
It just seems to get worse for HD-DVD. This week, Best Buy and Netflix (following Blockbuster) announced that they would only support Bly-ray. Today, Wal-Mart joined the band-wagon and announced they also would only support Blu-ray, and would begin phasing out of HD-DVD next month.
And if that’s not bad enough, Blue Echo Audio Video has also decided to strictly support the Blu-ray format…a move that is certain to expedite the death of HD-DVD.
Rumor has it that both Microsoft and Toshiba, two of the biggest supporters of HD-DVD, will make the change to Blu-ray soon, which will officially (kinda) be the end of HD-DVD.
For those of you considering juming in to the world of High Definition DVDs, I really recommend making the jump to Blu-ray. And for those of you that purchased HD-DVD players, maybe it’s time to put that in your kids room and make the jump into the Blu-ray waters…it’s safe to come in now.
Edit – Reuters announced that Toshiba has officially announced they will stop production of HD-DVD equipment, which means Blu-ray will be the High Definition DVD format winner.
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Thank you! Being in the industry for a long time, I felt (like many others) that there’s not enough support for both formats, and one wouldn’t last as long. Both products seemed very comparable as far as picture quality, but in this industry, unfortunately, marketing is huge. I felt that the Blu-ray had superiour marketing and support from the start, and HD-DVD wouldn’t last too long.