As the Businessweek (http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jan2008/gb2008018_681920.htm?c) article says, “Warner announced on Jan. 4 that it would release only high-definition Blu-ray movies starting July, ending its support for the rival HD DVD format.”
That about sinks the battleship. The battle for the future is almost over – there can be only one. Hold on a tick… maybe I can squeak out one more cliché…
…Nope. Sorry, I’ve got nuthin.
“Evil Chicken, what are you talking about?” you may ask; and might I just add, that’s a wonderful question, Gentle Reader. The Businessweek article does a very good job of explaining things. The battle for the future is the battle for how media is going to be sold to us in all of its High Def goodness in the days to come when we all have HDTVs and Blu-ray disc players to replace our DVDs (and DVD players too, I might add). This war has been brewing for the last few years as time and technology march forward High Def is quickly becoming the shape of things to come. So, just how will studios peddle their High Def wares to us? Well there are two choices; the HD DVD format and Blu-ray. Blu-ray is winning. Disney went exclusive Blu-ray early into the fray – that was an important battle. Now with Warner and their voluminous catalog of film going exclusively Blu-ray that just may have been the decisive battle.
I currently own neither. If I were to make the jump Blu-ray would, most likely, be the smarter choice at this point. Buying an HD DVD player would be like buying a Betamax player back in the eighties when VHS is about to become the alpha-video player. One could make an argument that Betamax was better than VHS but the market decided who won that war. This time Blu-ray can actually hold a lot more information on a disc than an HD DVD so, in essence, the better mousetrap may be about to win this go round.
What will the future look like – or rather, what will the next format be? I bet it’ll be something akin to an MP3 or audio file; yup, just a file that you can download. Really – why take up all that space in your living room when you can be jacked into the central nervous system of your home and rent or purchase movies, music, as well as, cable and network programming with the press of a button or monthly subscription? It could all be stored in flash memory since archaic things like hard drives (with moving parts, mind you) are destine to get broken. Hey, while we’re at it, isn’t it time to get that big ole HDTV? You know the one – the 50-inch LCD with that magic number “1080p” attached to it – or better yet, how about that 150-inch plasma from Panasonic.
…Oh yes…
HD DVD cancelled their presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show 2008 after Warner made the announcement on January 4. That doesn’t bode too well either. So hold your stock in Sony and sell your holdings with HD DVD. Let’s see here… that’s five out of seven major studios supporting Blu-ray (according to the above article)?
The fat lady is clearing her throat.
3 comments:
Well my little bro- how are we poor folk 'who don't get state support' going to buy these things! The tech world ought to leave us alone for a little while so we can regroup & get some more money together for the next tidal wave- cause ya know some of us are retired- I may have to get a job! LOL ya know the big guy is a freaking techie! and must have every new thing out there!Really dont know why he hasn't pleaded for blue or HTDV- don't tell him PLEASE
My lips are sealed.
I've seen this coming since my graduation from 8th grade, and I asked for a stereo and I was given an 8-track stereo (with no turntable). I was assured by my dad, that NO ONE would be bothering with record albums any more now that these new fangled 8-track cassettes were the in thing.
Along with the stereo came the following cassettes: Rolling Stones, "Sticky Fingers". Janis Joplin, "Live". For about six months those were the only two albums I could listen to in my bedroom since I had no other tapes.
Post a Comment