Has Sony finally won a battle for a major video playback format? In the 1980s, Beta was the superior technology but could never beat out VHS mainly due to the price of purchasing a Beta player. However, support for the HD-DVD format continues to drop amongst the major motion picture companies. For instance, Time Warner has already dropped its support for the format, and there has been persistent rumors that Paramount will follow soon.
HD-DVD, developed by Toshiba and supported by Microsoft, has been locked in a battle since it’s inception with Sony’s Blu-Ray which is definitely the superior technology. However, Blu-Ray has maintained a higher cost of product and price tag for the end user ultimately leading many to believe that Sony could be repeating the same mistakes it made with the Beta format. While HD-DVDs can store 30GB of data, the Blu-Ray disc can store up to 50GB on a single dual-layer disc. The end result for you and I is a superior level of sound and picture quality out of Blu-Ray.
In response to the decision of Time Warner to exclusively support Blu-Ray, prices are plummeting on HD-DVD players. As of today, 1.14.2008, Toshiba has lowered its prices on its HD-DVD players. The A3 and A30 have dropped to $149 and $199 respectively at Best Buy. Meanwhile, an entry level Blu-Ray player will still run $399.
Will the price drop be enough to save HD-DVD? In my opinion, probably not. Content is king, and as it dwindles for HD-DVD it will take a major move by Microsoft to convince major motion picture studios to use the format. A Blu-Ray victory would be of enormous importance for Sony who has faces loads of scrutiny for confusing product lines and the perceived failure of Playstation 3 which has had to take numerous price cuts to compete with the Xbox 360.
