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SHIFT: Microsoft could have stopped the Blu-ray/HD DVD war
Red states and blue states. With the presidential primary season in full pander mode, red states and blue states are currently a big political story. But in the world of technology, red states and blue states refer to the red and blue lasers that dogmatically separate the two competing and incompatible high-definition disc formats, the blue laser-powered Blu-ray and red laser-powered HD DVD.
Competing technology formats are as natural as, well, Democrats dueling Republicans. But the HD blue/red war could have been averted. How? Ask Bill Gates. Why? Read on.
Both courts courted IBM, the King Kong of the computer world in an era in which PCs were still referred to as "IBM compatible." Wielding its formidable clout, IBM essentially dictated terms for a unified DVD format to the benefit of everyone.
But unlike IBM, Microsoft had a horse in the race: Xbox. Sony, naturally, would add Blu-ray to PlayStation 3, leaving Microsoft at a competitive disadvantage. Microsoft couldn't very well add a Sony technology to the Xbox. So just a month after Sony and Toshiba broke off their unified format talks, instead of using its great power for good and lock the protagonists in a room until one format emerged, Microsoft partnered with Toshiba and announced that Xbox 360 would include an HD DVD option.
So, as Dr. Phil would ask, how's that working out for you? Sony has a Blu-ray drive built into the PS3. But Microsoft's HD DVD drive is a $199 add-on to the Xbox 360 and doesn't include an HDMI connector. You can only connect the drive via USB through an Xbox 360, and only the Elite version includes an HDMI out. The bottom line: adding HD DVD hasn't helped the Xbox differentiate itself from PS3. Hell, Nintendo's HD-free Wii is kicking both of their asses.
In other words, without Microsoft selfishly choosing sides, HD DVD would have been dead in the water, and, for better or for worse, we'd all be shopping for Blu-ray players now. Instead, the sides are about even. While Blu-ray is outselling HD DVD in the U.S., the reverse is true in Europe. And China, tired of paying royalties to Japanese companies, will introduce its home-grown red laser-based EVD (Enhanced Versatile Disc) format next year.
DVD hardware makers and the movie studios are doing their damndest to resolve the resulting red/blue battle. Warner and Paramount are releasing titles in both formats, and those studios that aren't yet likely will (except Sony/Columbia, of course). Warner announced a Total High Def (THD) format, a single disc with the Blu-ray version on one side and the HD DVD version on the t'other. The first THD discs are rumored to be coming later this summer, with The Lord of the Rings trilogy an odds-on favorite to be among the first. But no other studio has signed on yet.
On the hardware side, you can already buy the tech equivalent of Hillary Giuliani. (Rudy Clinton?) LG's dual-format Blu-ray/HD DVD player, the BH100 ($1,300), has been selling surprisingly well for months (according to our super-scientific sampling of one Manhattan retailer), and Samsung says its more fully HD DVD-compatible dual HD player, the BD-UP5000, will be available for the holiday season, probably for around $1,000. For less than either, you can already buy a Sony BDP-S300 ($499), a Toshiba HD-A2 ($299) and an XtremeHD 4-1 HDMI switcher ($100) to connect both to your A/V receiver, with enough left over for copies of Black Snake Moan in both formats.
By martiner at 8:03 PM ON 06/07/07
I guess even with a honorary doctorate from Harvard (see him get one at http://www.theedinburgstar.net/), Bill Gates isn't always smart enough to do the right thing for the rest of us. He has such power to bring unity, but what does he use it for?
By emmjay28 at 8:20 PM ON 06/07/07
Nice analogy to politics, but check your facts.. you said "the blue laser-powered Blu-ray and red laser-powered HD DVD." The HD DVD format uses the the same "blue" range of the spectrum that Blu-Ray does. See the DVD Forum's site for an explanation:
http://www.dvdforum.org/images/Forum_HD_DVD_Universal_24.pdf
I would argue that Bill Gates/Microsoft had much less to do with the format war than you give them credit for. If you understand the nature of the electronics and computer industries, you'll know that they despise royalties. Sony has a long history of imposing their proprietary technologies on the industry and failing miserably. The reason is because the industry would much rather rely on royalty-free "industry standards" like ones JEDEC or the DVD Forum provide with the cooperation of many competing manufacturers than have to pay one company for use-rights. See MinDisc, Beta, Rambus, and so on.
If it were truly an Xbox 360 versus PS3 thing, then the 360 would have had an HD-DVD drive built in and the titles would be in the HD-DVD format, not as an add-on.
By murcielago05 at 12:02 AM ON 06/08/07
emmjay28 - I agree with all you said.
and yeah...Both formats use a BLUE laser...so so many people get that wrong because HD-DVD chose red as the color of their dvd cases.
By carvega at 1:40 AM ON 06/08/07
This article has quite a few incorrect facts. HD-DVD has not been outselling blu-ray in Europe since March. As of two weeks ago, blu ray was actually outselling hd-dvd's 3 to 1 in Europe. HD-DVD's are nearly knocking at death's doorstep now, being the format receiving the least support... even from studio's supporting both formats.
Toshiba's announcement to make hd-dvd drives standard in 2008 may help add life to the fight... but that may be too late seeing that as of now, hd-dvd sells are pretty dead. Plus, most people do not use their laptops to watch their movies... so even that may end up being a lame duck attempt.
By Snoogins at 12:27 PM ON 06/08/07
Wow - this "article" is pretty sad. I suppose it's just a blog on a cable channel's site, but some people may look to these blogs and think that they are written by people who actually know something. Who the heck is Stewart Wolpin?? Oh, wait, I found this:
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Stewart Wolpin has been writing about technology for more than 20 years for such publications as Playboy, CNET, Consumers Digest and American Heritage of Invention and Technology. He's also a Mets season ticket holder and has played poker every Thursday night for the last 22 years
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um....yeah....
"red laser-powered HD DVD"? Nice - 5 minutes of research on dvdforum.org could've prevented that (as noted above). I guess at that point it's hard to read anything else in the piece and give it any credibility, but others have already pointed out some of the obvious inaccuracies.
Here's another one, just for fun:
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'Warner and Paramount are releasing titles in both formats, and those studios that aren't yet likely will (except Sony/Columbia, of course)'
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Says who? Frankly, I wish that this were true, as this would mean that the result of this format war would be decided by consumers, but I highly doubt that this will be the case. Does anybody that is paying attention really think that the major non-Sony BR-supporting studios aren't locked into an exclusivity agreement for the foreseeable future (the same for the HD-DVD studios)? If there is going to be a clear winner (and many think there won't), it will probably be Blu-Ray, simply because of the number of studios that have colluded to support it (yeah, I said it).
The only reason why "we're screwed" is because the content providers have taken sides. If they had just stayed out of it, aside from approving the various copy-protection schemes, and released content equally on both formats, it would've put the power into the consumers' hands. Now, we are forced into investing in a certain technology based on our desire for a particular piece of content, instead of basing it on which technology is better, cheaper, more reliable, etc. In other words, it is almost impossible to evaluate the technology on its own merits when so much content is exclusive to one or the other.
Heaven help us if the Star Wars movies ever hit Blu-Ray - that would pretty much do it, I think...
(end rant...)
By georgebush at 6:13 AM ON 06/15/07
Again Bill Gates is a lier.
“HD” movies downloaded from internet ARE NOT HD! they are 1.3 Mb/s.
A normal SD DVD is 6Mb/s, and the simple fact that a movie is 1280×720 doesnt mean it’s HD because the compression is so high that you will see LESS detail than your SD TV post can feature.
SHAME on Microsoft.
By thomas at 9:54 PM ON 01/04/08
I say forget both of them and save yourself a bunch of cash. Buy the new samsung BD-UP5000 with HQV processing. Yes it will play both but here is the real. You can get excellent 1080P out of your existing DVD's(money saved) and you can buy new DVD's saving $10-$30 each. How long will it take to pay for the $799 player. DVD's that you already own will cover the cost for alot of people. That way no matter who wins YOU HAVE WON.
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thomas:
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