Sony’s Blu-Ray DVD and Toshiba’s HD DVD are competing to be the successors to the DVD format.  The new discs are able to carry more data than regular DVDs (HD DVD 15GB per layer, Blu-Ray 25GB per layer as opposed to DVD’s 4.7GB) and, as a result, give high-definition resolutions to your movies when you play them in their respective standalone players.  Despite this advance in technology, the two formats are struggling in the DVD market.

Netflix.com is an online subscription service that delivers movies to customers’ front door.   Their CEO, Reed Hastings, recently said that both Blu-Ray and HD DVD sales amounted to “less than 1% of our volume.”  A tragic statistic, since Netflix subscribers are high-definition DVD’s target market: movie addicted consumers who want only the best home theatre experience.  If they’re not buying, then others are staying away, too.

Too scared to put their feet in the high-definition DVD waters
Consumers are afraid to buy because Sony and Toshiba continue to fight over which technology is better.  On technical specifications alone, Blu-Ray is marginally superior. It can store more data and, thus, play longer movies without having to put them on both sides of the disc like HD DVD.  But technical specifications don’t win a format war.  Who supports the technology is the key factor.  On this point things are decidedly split: Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Toshiba and Microsoft support HD DVD, while Pioneer, Samsung and Sony back Blu-Ray.  With such hefty corporations and entrenched interests on both sides, the war looks to last well into the forthcoming years.  In the meantime, people don’t want to choose a loser.

And no wonder, because if they lost, they’d lose big.  The standalone players required to play the high-definition DVDs are prohibitively expensive.  When Panasonic’s first Blu-Ray player, the DMR-E700BD, came out in 2004 it cost $2,780 USD.  Prices have dropped, with Toshiba’s HD-A2 priced at $499 USD, but they’re still expensive relative to other DVD players.  As a compromise between the two factions, some companies are producing hybrids that can play both formats, but these, like the VidaBox Slim, are similarly costly: $1,679USD.  

All that money, for little choice; the major Hollywood studios are split between the two formats.  Universal Pictures exclusively make Toshiba HD DVDs, although Columbia Pictures, MGM, Disney, Lionsgate and 20th Century Fox have sided with Blu-Ray.  Those studios, however, are reluctant to manufacture Blu-Ray discs, since to make them one needs all new, costly production lines.  Less compatibility means fewer movies to watch on your high-priced player. 

But does all of this really matter?
Analysts say that it’s still too early to determine the future of high-definition DVD.  When prices come down in a few years and companies decide on one format, consumers may want the HD experience.  But by then it might be too late.  Buying a silver, shiny disc to play in your home isn’t as a revolutionary concept as it was with the advent of DVD.  Now people can get high quality videos in divX-HD and XviD formats right on their computers.  Plus, HD Network Media Players like Helios Labs’ X-series can stream them direct to your HDTV.  Or, if you want the high-definition experience without losing your old DVD collection, an upscaler like the Helios H4000 will play your DVDs to your HD TV’s native resolution.  No need to buy new discs, and thus, no need to support Sony and Toshiba’s format war.