A lot has been said over the past year or eighteen months regarding which of the High Definition disc will win the so called "format war" and become the new standard in digital home entertainment.
The figures are still inconclusive. While HDDVD seems to be miles ahead in some parts of the world, Blu-Ray is taking the lead in other areas. Some say that the success of either format depends on the Porn industry getting behind (so to speak) one format or the other. Others believe that Sony is doomed to failure based on their past experiences with both the Betamax video tape format, and the more recent UMD format for their Playstation Portable hand-held game unit. Until recently I had a strong feeling that HDDVD would win out in the end - but that was, I think, based on my dislike for the Sony brand.
A few nights ago I was at the local Blockbuster Video shop having a look through the new releases. I noticed that they had a HDDVD/Blu-Ray "section" comprised of one rental copy of the animated film Barnyard. My hopes were dashed because the disc itself was Blu-Ray and simply could not work on my new HDDVD player at home. After choosing some decidedly average movies to watch that evening I approached the counter with the intention of asking the staff if they would be getting any HDDVD movies in stock for rental.
I was met with an interesting response from behind the counter. Upon asking if there were a) any HDDVDs in stock? and b) when would some be coming in? I was told that they are expecting a range of Blu-Ray discs very soon, and that they would only be dealing in Blu-Ray because the shop manager figures everyone will be watching them on their Playstation 3 consoles.
What a shocking prospect. People inherently invest in technology when they know they can get content for it. Will the "format war" be decided by the DVD rental companies? For them to even make the assumption that one format should be the preferred choice over another is ludacris. The Xbox 360 has been an excellent seller, and with the addition of the new HDDVD drive at a cost of $250.00NZD this console provides the cheapest method of bringing High Definition content into the home. The market is already flooded with Xbox 360s so if any conclusions were to be blindly drawn, as they have been by the Blockbuster manager in question, it would be that the masses who already have an Xbox 360 will buy this cheap HDDVD addon and then want HDDVD content for it. This person is hanging on the fact that the PS3 - only just released here mind you, will sell enough numbers in the next few months to equal the Xbox 360 market share and make Blu-Ray a viable rental option for his customers. For shame I say! Where is the fore-thought? Where is the market research?
All of this begs the question: Which of the larger DVD rental company chains are in bed with which of the production houses? Sony Pictures clearly will only release content on Blu-Ray. So can we draw a wild conspiracy theory conclusion that Blockbuster receives the majority of its content from Sony? Of course we can't, in the same way that Blockbuster can't conclude that Blu-Ray will be the predominant player format among consumers at this stage. They need to give both technologies the right amount of time to see which is selling better. And my guess at this stage is that HDDVD will take the lead purely because it is cheaper.
