Format Wars: Blu-Ray Versus HD DVD February 08, 2008 Has Blu-ray won its format battle with HD DVD?
By Alex Palmer
With developments in technology, there are inevitably clashes over which particular format will become the industry standard. As each side pushes its product as the highest quality, or most consumer-friendly, the ups and downs can get as dramatic as a heated political campaign. And incentive planners are generally impelled to keep an eye on these duels.
The current rendition of the format wars has pitted the Blu-ray DVD format against high-definition HD DVDs. Both have made efforts to get themselves ahead, through advertising campaigns and getting the endorsements of DVD and DVD-player manufacturers. But at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, HD DVD was dealt a potentially lethal blow when Warner Home Video, the biggest player in the video market, announced that it would be shifting to Blu-ray for all of its films going forward. Without the thousands of Warner titles in its corner, HD DVD is reduced to a much smaller customer base.
A victor in this format war would be comforting to incentive planners, who have had to consider whether they are giving winners DVD players that might soon become obsolete.
The mainstream press and Blu-ray Disc Association has been busy proclaiming the death of HD DVD, especially since consumer sales of Blu-ray discs and players spiked according to industry research, outselling HD DVD more than five to one in the weeks following Warner's announcement. But not all experts are so sure.
"The Warner announcement at CES did nothing more than stir up some excitement in the category," says Donna Davis, purchasing manager of Rymax Inc. Marketing Services, which carries both formats' hardware. "By no means did it declare a dominant format. I don't believe there will be clear winner, as there is more than enough room in the category for both formats to have a strong presence."
Even the NDP Group, a Port Washington, N.Y.–based retail market research firm—whose figures tracking high-definition players led the New York Times to report on an HD-DVD player "sales plunge" in late January—sounded a note of caution, pointing out that one week's sales figures do not make a trend. The firm pointed out that the time frame in question saw the end of an HD DVD rebate program and a couple of blockbusters released on Blu-ray.
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