The Format Wars Begin - Best of Both?
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Will this turn out more like the VHS vs. BetaMax battle, or more like the current DVD+R vs. DVD-R? One important lesson we can take away from the current DVD format war is that both can peacefully co-exist. If you look at any DVD players or recorders you can buy now, they all for the most part will read both DVD+R and DVD-R discs. This worked well for DVDs since they are the exact same size and could be made into a drive the same size as a single format drive. With VHS/Betamax they weren't the same size, so an additional drive would have been needed.
Combining Blu-Ray and HD-DVD into a single drive proses problems. the biggest is the need for two heads on it since Blu-Ray uses a blue laser to read. At the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) this year, LG showed off a device that is capable of playing Blu-Ray as well as HD-DVD discs, and many other companies plan similar devices. I believe this hybrid device will be the most popular player. No one is going to want two devices just to watch movies. The hybrid designs will hit the market mid- to late 2007 and be priced around the $1,000 mark. This might be the same price as buying Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players separately, or even more by that time.
Compatibility
One of the great things about the next generation DVD is that both are backwards compatible. They will both be able to play video DVDs as well as audio CDs. This is something that hasn't been done before. In previous generations, they was no compatibility. If you had a movie on VHS, you had to buy it again on DVD. This isn't great for the studios; they could sell movies to people twice. But it is great for consumers. While they may enjoy selling us the whole Star Wars saga twice, we really only need one copy; it doesn't get better with new formats.
There are also hybrid media to go along with backwards compatibility. Some of the new movies contain not only the new HD video for the new Blu-ray or HD-DVD player, but also the DVD version as well that can be read by a standard DVD player. This is a great move by film studios; we can buy movies for future use and also are able to watch them in the same way you would if you bought the regular DVD video.
Conclusion
Now that Blu-Ray is hitting the market, we can see the format wars heating up again as they did with VHS vs. Betamax or DVD+R vs. DVD-R. Blu-Ray appears to have the upper hand as far as space and speed, but HD-DVD has the upper hand in production costs. For now, they will be sold side by side in stores. With players that support both formats we may see both sold for a long time to come. The compatibility is at a level unheard of before. You can play your DVDs in your next generation player as well as the next generation discs in a DVD player. Not only is the next generation a big step in the right direction but it is also a huge benefit for consumers now. The next year will be an exciting time for the movie industry.
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