Beta vs VHS, SACD & DVD-A. . .and now DVD Hi Def format wars set to begin. Will the industry EVER learn. I suppose some of the blame lies with the labels and studios. They should have absolutely unified and demanded ONE standard format. My god, will they _ever_ learn.
One an unrelated note, SACD still seems to be humming along under the radar in the UK and Japan. The pre order for the 5 UK Moody Blues SACD expanded edition titles out next week is strong indeed! More assorted titles out in the next few months as well as loads of blues and classical titles. While most are not multichannel, it's still great for the audiophile (like me) who just love the high resolution it provides.
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By Sue Zeidler | March 23, 2006
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Consumers about to face a confusing and expensive choice between two conflicting standards for high-definition DVDs will face further costs to upgrade their entertainment systems if they want to enjoy all the benefits of the new movie players.
Hollywood and electronics makers have aligned themselves behind two warring formats called Blu-ray, led by Sony Corp. <6758.T>, and HD DVD, championed by Toshiba Corp. <6502.T, which on Thursday said it may delay its launch from late March to mid-April.
"I don't think all the challenges and costs of next-generation DVDs have been realized by consumers yet," analyst Paul-Jon McNealy of American Technology Research said.
By offering discs with far more capacity than current DVDs, the groups hope to breath new life into the $24 billion home video market. But their failure to use a unified format has paved the way for a costly battle similar to the VHS/Betamax video war 25 years ago that caused widespread customer confusion.
"Our findings are not encouraging about the consumer adoption of HD DVD and Blu-ray early on," McNealy added in a note. He said some high-definition TV sets may be incompatible with copy protection on the HD DVD and Blu-ray players.
Analyst Richard Doherty of Envisioneering said most stereo systems are not up to the full home-theater sound capabilities of HD DVD and Blu-ray.
Both analysts said both new players will likely require consumers to buy new cables, which are not inexpensive.
Several retail chains have already voiced annoyance with the prospect of a format war that is likely to aggravate consumers forced to choose among products and accessories that may ultimately be rendered obsolete the way Betamax video cassette recorders were.
Both formats have faced delays recently. In addition to Toshiba's delay announced on Thursday, Sony has delayed the release of its Blu-ray capable PlayStation 3 console until early November, a launch that was expected to give a huge boost to the installed base of the Blu-ray technology.
Blu-ray continues to target late May for the launch of new disc players by Samsung Electronics Co. <005930.KS> and early summer for a player from Sony.
Additionally, Microsoft Corp. <MSFT.O> this week delayed the release of its much-anticipated Vista operating system for consumers until after this year's holiday shopping season. Vista is slated to support HD DVD, which is expected to give a huge boost to the installed base of HD DVD technology in PCs.
"Toshiba's announcement was a disappointment, coming in a week with Microsoft pushing back Vista a few months. The whole idea of PCs supporting HD DVD is now skewed and delayed," Doherty said, noting that when DVDs were introduced eight years ago, about 70 percent of the DVD systems sold in the first year were in personal computers, and only 30 percent sold were stand-alone DVD players for TVs.
All these factors add up to the fact that the vast majority of homes are not adequately set up to fully appreciate the new generation of high-definition DVD viewing.
"Only one in 10 homes is set up to appreciate the sound quality of these new discs and players, while one in eight homes have an HDTV set with good enough picture quality to properly appreciate Blu-ray or HD DVD," Doherty said.
"The players, costing from $500 to $1,000, are still much lower priced than the television or the kind of sound systems that would do justice to them," he said.
http://www.boston.com/business/tech...xtra_costs_a_worry_for_next_gen_dvd_adoption/
One an unrelated note, SACD still seems to be humming along under the radar in the UK and Japan. The pre order for the 5 UK Moody Blues SACD expanded edition titles out next week is strong indeed! More assorted titles out in the next few months as well as loads of blues and classical titles. While most are not multichannel, it's still great for the audiophile (like me) who just love the high resolution it provides.
____________________________
By Sue Zeidler | March 23, 2006
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Consumers about to face a confusing and expensive choice between two conflicting standards for high-definition DVDs will face further costs to upgrade their entertainment systems if they want to enjoy all the benefits of the new movie players.
Hollywood and electronics makers have aligned themselves behind two warring formats called Blu-ray, led by Sony Corp. <6758.T>, and HD DVD, championed by Toshiba Corp. <6502.T, which on Thursday said it may delay its launch from late March to mid-April.
"I don't think all the challenges and costs of next-generation DVDs have been realized by consumers yet," analyst Paul-Jon McNealy of American Technology Research said.
By offering discs with far more capacity than current DVDs, the groups hope to breath new life into the $24 billion home video market. But their failure to use a unified format has paved the way for a costly battle similar to the VHS/Betamax video war 25 years ago that caused widespread customer confusion.
"Our findings are not encouraging about the consumer adoption of HD DVD and Blu-ray early on," McNealy added in a note. He said some high-definition TV sets may be incompatible with copy protection on the HD DVD and Blu-ray players.
Analyst Richard Doherty of Envisioneering said most stereo systems are not up to the full home-theater sound capabilities of HD DVD and Blu-ray.
Both analysts said both new players will likely require consumers to buy new cables, which are not inexpensive.
Several retail chains have already voiced annoyance with the prospect of a format war that is likely to aggravate consumers forced to choose among products and accessories that may ultimately be rendered obsolete the way Betamax video cassette recorders were.
Both formats have faced delays recently. In addition to Toshiba's delay announced on Thursday, Sony has delayed the release of its Blu-ray capable PlayStation 3 console until early November, a launch that was expected to give a huge boost to the installed base of the Blu-ray technology.
Blu-ray continues to target late May for the launch of new disc players by Samsung Electronics Co. <005930.KS> and early summer for a player from Sony.
Additionally, Microsoft Corp. <MSFT.O> this week delayed the release of its much-anticipated Vista operating system for consumers until after this year's holiday shopping season. Vista is slated to support HD DVD, which is expected to give a huge boost to the installed base of HD DVD technology in PCs.
"Toshiba's announcement was a disappointment, coming in a week with Microsoft pushing back Vista a few months. The whole idea of PCs supporting HD DVD is now skewed and delayed," Doherty said, noting that when DVDs were introduced eight years ago, about 70 percent of the DVD systems sold in the first year were in personal computers, and only 30 percent sold were stand-alone DVD players for TVs.
All these factors add up to the fact that the vast majority of homes are not adequately set up to fully appreciate the new generation of high-definition DVD viewing.
"Only one in 10 homes is set up to appreciate the sound quality of these new discs and players, while one in eight homes have an HDTV set with good enough picture quality to properly appreciate Blu-ray or HD DVD," Doherty said.
"The players, costing from $500 to $1,000, are still much lower priced than the television or the kind of sound systems that would do justice to them," he said.
http://www.boston.com/business/tech...xtra_costs_a_worry_for_next_gen_dvd_adoption/
