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The Company develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a range of software products for many different types of computing devices. View More
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The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries, is a diversified worldwide entertainment company with operations … View More
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A media and entertainment company, whose businesses include interactive services, cable systems, filmed entertainment, television … View More
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The Company is engaged in the development, design, manufacture and sale of electronic equipment, instruments and devices … View More
Will the war over the high-definition DVD be over soon?
It has been the biggest battle over a format since the VHS-Betamax wars of the 1980s, pitting the Blu-ray backed by
Sony against the HD DVD, prompted by Toshiba and Microsoft. Hollywood has a lot riding on its outcome, hoping that sales of high-definition DVDs can make up for sluggish DVD sales.
Sony and its Blu-ray technology appear to have delivered the knockout punch by persuadingTime Warner to support the Blu-ray standard on Friday. Warner Bros. joins Walt Disney, 20th Century Fox, and MGM among the studios in the Blu-ray camp. (Paramount and DreamWorks are backing the HD DVD.)
"It's game over for HD DVD," David Gibson, consumer electronic analyst at Macquarie Securities in Tokyo, told MarketWatch.com. "Now you've got the biggest players all supporting Blu-ray."
But Akiyo Ozaka, president of Toshiba America Consumer Products, told a briefing at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Sunday that HD DVD "has not lost," but declined to comment on Toshiba's next steps, according to Reuters.
While Sony will certainly relish being the victor in this battle (it lost with Betamax two decades ago), victory will not be sweet.
As the Wall Street Journal notes, Sony must still persuade consumers that it is worth trading up for a DVD player that will play high-definition Blu-ray disks. "Blu-ray players cost about $300 and up—and movie titles issued in Blu-ray are often sold for twice the cost of a regular DVD," the Journal says.
Trading up, says Peter Kafka on Silicon Alley Insider "isn't a given, because for many folks, conventional DVDs viewed on nice hi-def screens look pretty good already."
Also on Portfolio.com
Tech Observer: Maybe Blu-ray vs. HD DVD is the Wrong War
It has been the biggest battle over a format since the VHS-Betamax wars of the 1980s, pitting the Blu-ray backed by
Sony against the HD DVD, prompted by Toshiba and Microsoft. Hollywood has a lot riding on its outcome, hoping that sales of high-definition DVDs can make up for sluggish DVD sales.Sony and its Blu-ray technology appear to have delivered the knockout punch by persuading
Time Warner to support the Blu-ray standard on Friday. Warner Bros. joins Walt Disney, 20th Century Fox, and MGM among the studios in the Blu-ray camp. (Paramount and DreamWorks are backing the HD DVD.)"It's game over for HD DVD," David Gibson, consumer electronic analyst at Macquarie Securities in Tokyo, told MarketWatch.com. "Now you've got the biggest players all supporting Blu-ray."
But Akiyo Ozaka, president of Toshiba America Consumer Products, told a briefing at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Sunday that HD DVD "has not lost," but declined to comment on Toshiba's next steps, according to Reuters.
While Sony will certainly relish being the victor in this battle (it lost with Betamax two decades ago), victory will not be sweet.
As the Wall Street Journal notes, Sony must still persuade consumers that it is worth trading up for a DVD player that will play high-definition Blu-ray disks. "Blu-ray players cost about $300 and up—and movie titles issued in Blu-ray are often sold for twice the cost of a regular DVD," the Journal says.
Trading up, says Peter Kafka on Silicon Alley Insider "isn't a given, because for many folks, conventional DVDs viewed on nice hi-def screens look pretty good already."
Also on Portfolio.com
Tech Observer: Maybe Blu-ray vs. HD DVD is the Wrong War
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