The next gen DVD format war heats up again

Sep 30, 2005: After simmering for the last few months, the battle between next generation DVD formats is back on the boil as Dell and HP announce their adoption of Blu-ray in the face of Microsoft and Intel's support for HD-DVD.

Both formats also have strong support extending to Hollywood with Sony, MGM, Columbia Tri-Star, Twentieth Century Fox and Disney committing themselves to Blu-ray, and Time Warner, Universal and Paramount to HD-DVD.

Arguments for each side abound with Blu-ray seen as technically superior, but HD-DVD as having lower manufacturing costs and faster production speeds. Sony isn't digging in like it did with betamax, which is promising news, however if a single format cannot be agreed on then the division could slow investment by consumers.

Consumers may end up settling the debate if the technology industry cant reach an accord. However, even then the eventual winner still cannot be divined as yet.

"Ordinary people know what DVD is all about, and they can easily see that HD-DVD has the benefits of DVD, but with HD content." said Henning Molbaek, editor-in-chief at HDDVD.org "With Blu-ray you have to explain all over again that it is like DVD, only better."

From a consumer standpoint, the power of HD-DVD's name is attractive, however for PC users Blu-ray's higher storage capacity and increased access times may prove more so. "From a PC end-user perspective, Blu-ray is a superior format," said Maureen Weber, HP personal-storage unit general manager. Adding that it offers anywhere between two-thirds to 150 percent more storage space.

Talks regarding a single format continued earlier this month however a compromise is yet to be reached between the two camps.

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