We Go Blu-ray

For the past year or so I've been watching the brewing 1080 DVD format battle between "Blu-ray" and "HD DVD."

The confrontation between the Blu-ray consortium led by Sony and the the HD DVD one led by Toshiba seemed reminiscent of the early 1980s struggle between VHS and Beta in the video tape arena.

Some pundits have predicted the battle may go on until 2009. Like many of you, I'd been sitting on the sidelines waiting for a clear winner to emerge before plunking down several hundred bucks or so on a high-def player. After all, who wants to own obsolete and/or non-supported hardware?

My son Alex, however, got me into the game with a Christmas gift to me and my wife of a Samsung Blu-ray player. So, now I'm a Blu-ray partisan! It provides a great viewing experience.

He also gave us the Blu-ray edition of the BBC production of "Planet Earth." It's quite a viewing treat! Alex calls it "nature porn" and he's not far off the mark.

Netflix has also made it easy for customers to change their preferences to Blu-ray (which I've done).

I'm sure the HD DVD viewing experience is also enjoyable. I will say, though, that from a marketing perspective it sure has a clunky name. To my ears, the Blu-ray name has always seemed sexier.

Furthermore, I think that in five or six years this format battle will seem quaint as more and more people download their movies directly.

Comments

[John Koetsier]

Interesting that you've been sitting it out. I have been too ... just because like you, I hate to invest in something and then get the carpet pulled out from under my feet.

My brother-in-law, of course, who was a VC and has money coming out the yin-yang, has bought both, and doesn't really care if one gets obsoleted.

[Roger von Oech]

John: You shouldn't be surprised: VCs are used to pissing away money.

[Jeff Mordan]

Funny, I was just reading about this.
I'm assuming you saw this too:
Warner Backs Blu-ray, Tilting DVD Battle

[Roger von Oech]

Jeff: I saw that. That would seem to give Blu-ray a lot of momentum.