And the format wars rage on: HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray

Cry havoc and let slip the discs of format wars! With the release of the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray high definition video disc formats, videophiles are lining up on both sides of the battlefield. As a film enthusiast, I’ve taken a look at both contenders. Sorting through the marketing hyperbole isn’t easy, but I’ve come to an inescapable conclusion: there are no winners in this war and the only loser is the consumer.

The history of home entertainment is marred with war and strife. One of the more famous battles was waged between the VHS and Betamax formats. VHS, as we all know, emerged from the rubble victorious. You can now find Betamax players collecting dust in attics across America (and you might come upon one in the occasional yard sale).

Then came DVD, which took a few years to catch on. But with strong support from studios and no competition to speak of, DVD eventually became the reigning champ of home entertainment. Offering vastly improved picture and sound, menu systems, filmmaker commentaries and a slew of other cool features, you’d now be hard pressed to find a house devoid of a DVD player. For film fans, DVD has been a blessing.

How humanity ever survived without the five-disc unrated director’s cut of “Carrot Top Rocks Las Vegas” (with three minutes of added footage!) is beyond me. DVD made it possible.

But just when your DVD collection peaks at 500, two new formats hit the market. HD-DVD, developed by Toshiba and NEC, is the cheaper of the two. Blu-Ray, created by Sony, Matsushita and Philips, offers greater disc capacity but at a higher price.

So, what's the benefit of investing $1000 in a new format player? Both formats offer a hi-definition picture (1080 lines of resolution versus the 500 of DVD). Many films, especially digitally recorded features (i.e. Pixar flicks and Dreamworks animated movies), will benefit from the upgrade. But what about older movies? Unfortunately for features recorded on film (i.e. almost every movie ever made), it's only a marginal improvement in picture quality.

The sad truth is, there really isn’t much of a difference in features between regular DVD and the new discs. If it wasn’t for the fancy new logos splashed across the DVD case, the average consumer wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. A good quarter of the population doesn’t understand why “black bars” appear on widescreen DVDs – who’s to say they’ll notice a slightly improved picture?

And herein lies the rub: in order to enjoy the hi-def picture, you need an HD enabled TV. According to studies, only 15% of American households own a hi-def capable television, and only 15% more are considering purchasing one in the future.
Are these formats going to succeed when only 15% of America is even capable of watching them? The chances are exceedingly slim.

But the winner of this format war stands to generate billions of dollars in licensing. Some suggest that Sony is using it's overpriced PS3 (set to sell in small quantities later this year for $599) as a host for the Blu-Ray format. Yes, the PS2 is firmly established as the number one gaming console worldwide, but that doesn’t mean that gamers are willing to fork over $600 for the new machine.

Sony is using the PS3 as a stealth infiltration device to establish a beachhead in this format war, and they expect gamers to line up and foot the bill. Personally, I think they’re shooting themselves in the foot with their own marketing strategy. If Blu-Ray fails, Sony may go the way of Sega and surrender the console war to Microsoft and Nintendo.

So, what should we as consumers do? Let the studios duke it out and watch the carnage from afar. There’s simply no compelling reason to invest in any particular format at the moment.

Trust me, if there’s one thing I remember from the 4-disc ultimate unrated director’s cut of “Alien vs. Predator,” it’s this: whoever wins, we lose.