Video Asylum

Sorry, but I for one beg to differ.

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This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

In Reply to: RE: Exactly, and as long as there is a format war instead of a clear upgrade path, they never will be NT posted by Jazz Inmate on December 19, 2007 at 14:10:59

My apologies (to Jack) for butting into your diatribe, but your little doom and gloom rants about the niche status of both formats is just a little premature. If these formats remain niche products it won't be because of the format wars. In fact, I'm pretty sure that things would be no better, perhaps much worse, if only one relatively expensive format were dominating right now. Here are my reasons for assessing this:

1) releasing films in one HD format or both is less of an issue for studios than piracy fears (which really isn't an HD issue when you get right down to it), and it's of little concern to consumers since the technologies produce similar results in PQ (leaving aside the Jazz Inmate capacity manifesto). Seriously, the only folks genuinely impacted by this format war are brick & mortar businesses such as major appliance stores like Frys, Circuit City & Best Buy and video rental stores which are forced by the current circumstances to carry dual inventories.

2) competition between the formats have forced hardware prices down, pushed both to rapid implementation (both to the good and the bad) and will continue to drive the technology. Disc prices are still too high to elicit across the board interest from Joe Public when compared to current standard DVD prices, but those prices will eventually drop as well.

3) As prices for up-converting, backwards compatible HD players get closer to what standard DVD players were several years after their introduction more folks will opt to replace their aging DVD players, but the clincher, when combined with plummeting hardware prices, will be the dual-format player, because it will make exclusivity issues moot.

4) HDTV will force this format issue into the spotlight as more and more folks buy 1080P flat screen sets to replace their old analog sets that are mandated to go away next year. Standard DVD will definitely NOT be a good enough delivery system as folks get used to watching HDTV broadcasts of films available for free over the air and on various premium movie channels.

So, there you have it. While you can argue to your heart's content that HD formats are stuck in niche format hell, it is my considered opinion that one, more than likely both, of these formats will not only survive but prevail over the current DVD standard. That doesn't mean that standard DVDs will go away completely because the backwards compatibility and up-scaling abilities wisely incorporated into the new players will only make them more attractive as their prices come down.

Cheers,
AuPh

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