Consumers Should End High Def DVD Wars
I wanted to vent about the silly high-definition DVD format wars as it’s a pain for consumers. I liken the HDDVD and BluRay battle to having 3-4 phone books in a city. Of course competition is supposed to be great for the consumer, but imagine how many titles will have to be replaced once the studios and manufacturers decide on a single format. In the end, the consumer loses so not all competition is good.
The BluRay disc holds 50 GB of data compared with the HDDVD’s 30 GB and it seems they are winning over more studios and titles. I had considered buying a BluRay player but then see press noting that the movie Bourne Ultimatum will only be available on HDDVD. My only recourse is to wait it all out, or buy a multi-player by LG. At $1200 retail (although reducing to $999 given Samsung will introduce their dual format player soon), this is a steep price to pay.
The reason I liken the war to having multiple phone books is because of how they hurt businesses and ultimately, consumers. For many years in my hometown, the USWest (now DEX) was the only phonebook. Businesses would advertise in the Yellow Pages and consumers knew how to find them. Then another publisher decides to come into town and dropping books on doorsteps. Now salesmen are hitting up businesses twice, spending twice the budget to reach the same amount of consumers. There are now 4 phone books in Missoula and if businesses choose to advertise in all 4, their prices will rise to cover the costs and this ultimately hurts the consumer. I personally advise consumers to throw out all other books and all businesses to advertise in only one.
Consumers should also take control in the high-definition DVD battle and only purchase one format of disc. This will end the war, bring the equipment prices down and ultimately benefit the consumers. It looks like Toshiba might lose this time (they beat Sony during their last format war).
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Loading ...
September 15th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
I learned something new that is a plus for HDDVD format. BluRay is not backwards compatible meaning a BluRay player will not play your old DVDs. If you’re like me, you have a lot invested in the ol’ DVD collection so I will think twice about a BluRay only player. I think we’ll be investing in a multi-player. There should be a new one out from Samsung or Panasonic and LG has a new one out as well w/ a price drop to compete.