Dazed&Confused
08-02-05, 09:35 AM
Entertainment giant Fox announced plans to deliver future films, TV shows and other titles in the Blu-ray DVD format, adding another feather to the Blu-ray camp's cap.
Fox, a member of the board of directors of the Blu-ray Disc Association, plans to release video programming through its Home Entertainment subsidiary as soon as the new Blu-ray players are rolled out, which should be sometime next year.
As part of the announcement, Fox touted the Blu-ray developers' commitment to thwart content piracy and address the concerns of Hollywood studios.
In response, the competing HD DVD group issued a statement saying, "(The) announcement by 20th Century Fox regarding its support of the Blu-ray Disc format is surprising and misleading in terms of which format provides for more robust copy protection."
Heated Rivalry
Advertisement 3
The battle for supremacy in the next generation of optical storage continues unabated, with reports of a truce quashed by both parties. A recent poll conducted by the Blu-ray consortium indicated that the technology is supported by a majority of consumers, although the HD DVD group has released data to refute those results.
Yankee Group analyst Nitin Gupta suggested that surveys can be skewed by any company to get the results it seeks. Gupta noted that the poll about HD DVD versus Blu-ray makes no mention of the cost of Blu-ray players or the availability of content that will be sold on the discs.
"At this point both sides have lined up a number of content providers, so each has offerings that the other lacks," he said. "Adding one more to the list is not that big of a deal." And, said Gupta, both Blu-ray and HD DVD use the same technology to protect the content on their respective players.
"The bottom line is which devices will be accepted by consumers, and that will depend on time to market, price and content availability," Gupta said. The HD DVD group claims it will be the first to deliver hardware, although Blu-ray should provide its players shortly thereafter, he added.
About half of the DVD content providers, including Warner, Paramount and Universal studios, support the HD DVD standard. It is touted as an easy hardware update, costing little to make DVDs based on the technology.
Give and Take
The HD DVD format could permit studios to ship a regular-formatted DVD movie on one side of a disc while a high-definition format would be available on the other side. At the same time, the Blu-ray camp cites the Blu-ray format's ability to offer more interactive games and add-ons as an incentive to buy new equipment. Gupta said plans to put a Blu-ray drive in the PlayStation 3 game console could give the format a significant boost.
Consumers likely will not rush to buy expensive new DVD hardware until they see what content for the players is available. Likewise, studios will not embrace a standard until they understand which hardware consumers are buying.
"The picture may become clearer a year from now, after both types of players are commercially available and content providers will have to make a decision on which format to support," Gupta said.
Fox, a member of the board of directors of the Blu-ray Disc Association, plans to release video programming through its Home Entertainment subsidiary as soon as the new Blu-ray players are rolled out, which should be sometime next year.
As part of the announcement, Fox touted the Blu-ray developers' commitment to thwart content piracy and address the concerns of Hollywood studios.
In response, the competing HD DVD group issued a statement saying, "(The) announcement by 20th Century Fox regarding its support of the Blu-ray Disc format is surprising and misleading in terms of which format provides for more robust copy protection."
Heated Rivalry
Advertisement 3
The battle for supremacy in the next generation of optical storage continues unabated, with reports of a truce quashed by both parties. A recent poll conducted by the Blu-ray consortium indicated that the technology is supported by a majority of consumers, although the HD DVD group has released data to refute those results.
Yankee Group analyst Nitin Gupta suggested that surveys can be skewed by any company to get the results it seeks. Gupta noted that the poll about HD DVD versus Blu-ray makes no mention of the cost of Blu-ray players or the availability of content that will be sold on the discs.
"At this point both sides have lined up a number of content providers, so each has offerings that the other lacks," he said. "Adding one more to the list is not that big of a deal." And, said Gupta, both Blu-ray and HD DVD use the same technology to protect the content on their respective players.
"The bottom line is which devices will be accepted by consumers, and that will depend on time to market, price and content availability," Gupta said. The HD DVD group claims it will be the first to deliver hardware, although Blu-ray should provide its players shortly thereafter, he added.
About half of the DVD content providers, including Warner, Paramount and Universal studios, support the HD DVD standard. It is touted as an easy hardware update, costing little to make DVDs based on the technology.
Give and Take
The HD DVD format could permit studios to ship a regular-formatted DVD movie on one side of a disc while a high-definition format would be available on the other side. At the same time, the Blu-ray camp cites the Blu-ray format's ability to offer more interactive games and add-ons as an incentive to buy new equipment. Gupta said plans to put a Blu-ray drive in the PlayStation 3 game console could give the format a significant boost.
Consumers likely will not rush to buy expensive new DVD hardware until they see what content for the players is available. Likewise, studios will not embrace a standard until they understand which hardware consumers are buying.
"The picture may become clearer a year from now, after both types of players are commercially available and content providers will have to make a decision on which format to support," Gupta said.