Video Asylum

Posted by Joe Murphy Jr (A) on February 18, 2008 at 23:47:05

In Reply to: RE: I found this particular format war MOST interesting posted by DavidLD on February 18, 2008 at 05:03:38

Before there was one format, the competition was between 2 manufacturers/formats -- Toshiba/HD DVD vs everybody else/Blu-ray. Now that there's one format, the competition is simply everybody. Prices will go down due to the natural competition between manufacturers.

HD DVD players were priced unnaturally low because the sole manufacturer was desparate to win, regardless of the cost. The consumer was given the biggest break in price for a new technology -- HD DVD -- because the format, for all intents and purposes, only had one CE company supporting it. You cannot say the same for the Blu-ray format. Companies need to make a profit and Blu-ray players, when you look at the history of the initial prices of new format technology, are not priced high (technically they're on the low side due to the Toshiba/HD DVD price cutting).

As far as the Blu-ray format winning, a format that was better on almost every step of the ladder, much was learned from history -- VHS vs Beta and DVD.