Feb 18, 2008
Posted by Mike in Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD,Digital TV
0 Comments
Am I Blu (Ray)? (Part 3)
It’s been quite a while since I wrote anything about the whole Blu-ray vs. HDDVD fiasco, mostly because, well, it never really heated up beyond a slow burn. But recently, a couple of developments seem to be shifting the format war (slap fight) in the direction of Blu-ray.
First, Netflix announced last week that they would only be distributing high-def movies on Blu-ray:
Citing the decision by four of the six major movie studios to publish high-def DVD titles only in the Sony-developed Blu-ray format, Netflix said that as of now it will purchase only Blu-ray discs and will phase out by roughly year’s end the alternative high-def format, HD DVD, developed by Toshiba.
Second, electronics juggernaut Best Buy announced that they would:
…recommend that consumers choose Sony Corp’s Blu-ray high-definition video format.
Third, general-all-around-”we’re-not-really-evil” juggernaut Wal-Mart announced on Friday that they too would:
…phase-out at 4,000 U.S. Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores by June, saying it was responding to consumer preference.
Fourth, hey-me-too-me-too-and-we’re-not-evil-either juggernaut Microsoft is now rumored to be jumping on the Blu-ray bandwagon. According to Smarthouse:
Rumours were circulating today that Microsoft is set to dump HD DVD and bring out a Blu ray Xbox 360 by as early as May 2008.
So all you HD-DVD/Betamax folks out there can probably expect fire-sale prices on HD-DVD players and titles at your local Wal-Mart… or just wait until Woot.com adds one to every Bandolier of Carrots.
So what does this mean to our clients… well, first off, not all that much on the business end (unless you own a whole lot of Toshiba Stock.) Look around your office. Do you see a Blu-ray player or a Blu-ray drive anywhere in your office? I didn’t think so. I know of a couple of cases where the regular plain-old DVD player in the office is less that a year old.
Now look around again, and point out the High-Def TV in the office. Enough said. Down the road, once the current DVD player and TV finally die, you won’t be able to replace them with anything but HDTV and Blu-ray (or whatever the newest technology is in 5 to 10 years.) Until then, we’ve got you covered, and in the future we will for your HD video needs as well.
Our advice is to just not worry about the whole format thing at work, you have enough on your plate. Just sit back, and only worry about the Blu-ray thing at home, it will take you mind off the looming end of analog broadcasting which is officially only 1-year away.
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