A Conundrum: Blu-Ray or HD DVD?

Welcome to another edition of my blog. This week I am going to put my perspectives on the recent high definition format battle between Blu-Ray and HD DVD. Is it already over before it begins? Will one format comes out as the clear winner? Will it be a sustainable advantage in the long run? These are questions which consumers and corporations have to answer before committing to one side.

Today, it is still unclear whether one can win the war outright. Consumers are still testing the waters before they buy a Blu-Ray or a HD DVD player for their high definition consumption.
Manufacturing and content partners have not made one format more desirable than the other. Blu-Ray does have more partners than HD DVD. Still, it has not figured out a way to differentiate itself. If one is to end the war right now, there will be no winner. This is definitely going to be a long battle possibly going into the next decade in 2010. Here, you can see why it is not that easy to declare one format the winner.

Maybe, a better way of looking at this is to let both format be in the mass media. A compromise in a war? Not very likely to happen, but it does spare the public of choosing between two potential winners. The company LG has come up with the first Blu-Ray and HD DVD combo player which will satisfy consumers who are playing it safe in the middle of the war. Such a solution is going to work in the short run where there is no frontrunner. However, it will not work in the long run when one pulls ahead in the race. A combo player can not compete with the cheaper standard.

The truce scenario above could happen, but greed and lust for power will be irresistible temptations for both Blu-Ray and HD DVD supporters. We are humans after all. More likely than not, one format will be the new standard while the other is going to be buried underground.

Gaining the upper hand by relying on technical specifications and manufacturing/content partners is not the wisest thing to do here since both formats are almost identical in the respective factors. I think that the winner will be the one who chooses the right channel in terms of communicating with the customers. It will be up to its partners and their methods of advertising and selling the Blu-Ray and HD DVD products. Again, I have to emphasize that this has to be sustained over a long period of time to become the clear cut winner.

“War, what is it good for?” This saying applies to both the companies and consumers involved in the Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD battle. Companies spend more and more to support its own format, while consumers have to either choose right now or play a waiting game to have a high definition player. Time, my friend, is of the essence. The high definition war will be over and a winner will be declared. When? We do not know. I guess we will just have to wait and watch while two giants are going at each other.