Consumers could be the losers in battle for next-generation DVD standard
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As videocassettes fade into history, a full-fledged battle is on to establish the next standard of DVDs which could open up a new realm of possibilities in interactive home entertainment.
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For many collectors, owning DVDs is becoming more important than actually watching them.
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Two days after it lost an important ally in the high-definition format battle, Toshiba put on a defiant face at the Consumer Electronics Show and declared the HD DVD format is a long way from being dead.&quot;We remain firm in the belief that HD DVD is the format best suited to the wants and needs of consumers,&quot; said Akio Ozaka, head of Toshiba America Consumer Products, at a news conference. He said Toshiba was surprised by the announcement, which came on Friday, that&#160;Warner Bros. was dropping HD DVD&#160;and exclusively backing Blu-ray.&#160; &quot;We are especially surprised that this decision was made in spite of the significant momentum that HD DVD has gained in the U.S. market and other regions.&quot;Warner was the only major Hollywood studio releasing movies on both formats and the decision to go with Blu-ray Disc meant Toshiba has only two major studios, Paramount and Universal, backing its technology.The decision also left Toshiba with a potential public relations disaster as it came just days before CES, the annual North American gathering of the consumer electronics industry that kicks off officially here on Monday. In response to the Warner news the HD DVD Promotion Group canceled its news conference, leaving some to conclude that backers of the format were ready to concede defeat.&quot;As you can imagine this is a tough day for me,&quot; said Jodi Sally, vice president of marketing for digital audio and video products at Toshiba America Consumer Products. &quot;It&#39;s difficult for me to read all the pundits declare that HD DVD is dead. Clearly the events of the last few days have led you to that conclusion but we&#39;ve been declared dead before.&quot;But Toshiba might have a hard time convincing the analysts and media that follow the battle closely that HD DVD is still in the race.&quot;It&#39;s interesting the CEO said he was surprised. I think that&#39;s an understatement. Devastated would probably be more accurate,&quot; said Peter King, an analyst at U.K.-based Strategy Analytics, who attended the Toshiba news conference.&quot;They really have an uphill battle,&quot; he said. &quot;They are left with a couple of the smaller studios but there is no doubt the major studios have voted with their feet. It&#39;s hard to see now what they can do. Maybe focus on the PC market as a format, but they have a major struggle and that was very clear today.&quot;King wasn&#39;t willing to call the battle over just yet but he said a lot would depend on comments made during CES by other industry leaders, like&#160;Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who is scheduled to speak in Las Vegas Sunday evening.But if the battle is over then what&#39;s bad news for Toshiba will be good news for consumers and the consumer electronics industry, he said. &quot;Everybody in the industry can get behind one format [and] start promoting. The message will be simple and clear, prices will come down and it&#39;s a good thing for the industry.&quot;Toshiba said 1 million HD DVD players are currently in the market in North America.In a statement issued on Saturday the company also expressed surprise over Warner&#39;s move &quot;despite the fact that there are various contracts in place between our companies concerning the support of HD DVD.&quot; On Sunday it didn&#39;t elaborate on those contracts or what its next move may be in the march to make HD DVD the de facto replacement for DVD for high-definition content.
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A patent application has been filed for   a disc that would play two competing high-definition DVD   formats which, if successful, could help appease a battle that   has divided Hollywood and confounded consumers.
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A high-tech DVD format battle for the hearts, minds and wallets of consumers is shaping up to be a 21st century version of the 1980s VHS/Betamax brawl.
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To promote the format where the DVD Forum fears to tread?
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Three top Hollywood studios are throwing their considerable weight behind one of two competing formats for the next generation of DVDs.
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Want to get into the market for DVD players? Intense competition and standardization mean that you might make more as a mime.
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Several movie studios choose a side in the battle of DVD formats.
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Players and discs using a new high-def format will appear soon--but will consumers make room for yet another combatant in the HD format wars?
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JVC (Japan Victor Co.) is trying to ease the transition from standard DVD to Blu-Ray, a contender in the battle for the next-generation DVD format.
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So Toshiba finally threw in the towel on its HD DVD format today, making Blu-ray  the winner in the hi-def war. Consumers, however, could be the losers because without competition, there's no incentive for cheaper Blu-ray players.
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What could eventually resolve the value proposition for mainstream consumers to accept an incoming ultra-high-bandwidth pipeline into their homes is the ability of high-definition, on-demand video. But that will require a level of cooperation that competitors thus far have been unable to muster.
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The Walt Disney Co.&#39;s endorsement Wednesday of the Blu-ray technology has increased the possibility that consumers, electronics manufacturers or both will be the real losers of the format war over next-generation video discs.
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Open market set to close The DVD Forum, the organisation which oversees the DVD and HD DVD formats, looks set to introduce a region-coding system for the next-generation optical disc technology next year.â¦
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HD DVD backers are reeling at the world's top consumer electronics show in the wake of a major blow by rival Blu-Ray in the battle to be the reigning format for high density DVDs.
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Data from several researchers indicate that Blu-ray may be beginning to falter as HD DVD builds momentum thanks to price cuts on its standalone players.