The Eternal Debate: HD-DVD vs. BLU-RAY - Essay Example

HD-DVD vs. BLU-RAY s HD-DVD vs. BLU-RAY The upcoming year is sure to be an interesting one when it comes to those working in the DVD market. As the industry holds its breath to see what will emerge as the high definition DVD format--HD DVD or Blu Ray--everyday problems like democratization of tools still come into play. We're now seeing that the DVD marketplace is becoming a robust marketplace for films and television shows that have been less than successful in their initial run in the theater or broadcast. The DVD is opening up a whole new world of opportunities, not only revenue streams for studios, but for fans who want to own these discs. Weaknesses are happening on a couple of fronts. On the content development front, the DVD authoring front, we continue to see extreme price pressure in authoring services. The price of DVD authoring software has come down. The fact that more and more people are doing it puts incredible pressure on the production community to develop a quality product that is certifiable over all of the various players, delivers the same experience to the customer, and builds and maintains margins in their production services. (Sweeting, 2004, p7-46) On the other side, when we look at the next generation high definition DVD disc, which will certainly be all the rage in 2006, a weakness there is how soon the consumer will embrace this technology, particularly if there are two formats. As we all know, DVD was the most successful consumer product ever launched, but if you look at it now, most people have DVD players and are very content with the experience that they get in watching DVDs in their home. How quickly will they want to purchase a more expensive DVD player to play high definition material is something everyone is grappling with right now. (Capps, 2005) It is likely that moving forward the next wave [of opportunity] will fall to special interest categories and even corporate video--outreach and recruiting applications. Certainly, the opportunities for DVD in 2006 are tremendous. Beyond the applications in the corporate, marketing and outreach programs, we'll see special niche DVDs having greater acceptance. Then, of course, we have the whole next-generation issue, which hopefully will come to the forefront in 2006. The threat, especially for high definition, will definitely be how quickly the consumer will embrace that technology, particularly if there are two competing formats. You'll also have, on another front, a continuing piracy concern. That will bring pressure on studios and on the production community to figure out ways to safeguard the transmission of the information and the actual content on the DVD. We will see more movies being released more quickly to DVD. We will see the continued growth of TV programming and music on DVD, We will see the emerging market of 'special interest' DVDs [from educational, travel, marketing, outreach, recruiting, etc.]. And of course we will see the next generation of DVDs, in high definition. Blu Ray will win the high definition DVD arms race, but my guess is that it will take some time for the 75 percent of households who already own a standard definition DVD player to slowly warm up to parting with the cash to upgrade. In all likelihood the adoption will be much slower than standard DVD. The entire industry is holding off until March to launch both formats [DVD HD and Blu Ray]. So we won't be able to see until March of this year how well the fall of this year will be. Also, how fast will HD disc formats be adopted by consumers It took four years for consumers to adopt DVD; will it take six years to get them over to HD We don't really know. (Laser Focus World, 2004. p11-11) A cross-industry debate over the next-generation high-definition optical-disk format turned uglier after Microsoft and Intel publicly backed the HD-DVD standard over its Blu-ray rival. Moving beyond the turf war talk of whether PCs or consumer electronics will rule the digital living room, the HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray battle is focusing more on which device-or whose technology-is best positioned to deliver high-definition video throughout the home. The stakes have grown bigger, since any of the devices-including packaged media like Blu-ray or HD-DVD disks, digital recording systems, media PC centers, digital TV broadcast receivers, broadband IPTV set-tops, next-generation game consoles and even digital camcorders-can be combined or integrated in almost infinite variety. (Silva) The dispute threatens to bifurcate the computer industry. PC makers Dell, HP and Apple Computer are aligned in the Blu-ray camp while PC parts suppliers Microsoft, Intel, Toshiba and NEC are backing HD DVD. The battle could even play out in the courts. Maureen Weber, general manager of HP's personal storage business, warned of "legal implications, if Microsoft is using its dominance in the operating system market-virtually a monopoly-to play favorites and hurt the competition." (Yoshida, 2005, pg 1) Many believe Microsoft Corp. stands to gain the most from siding with HD DVD. Microsoft has already succeeded in promoting its proprietary video codec-now SMPTE's VC-1-into both of the next-generation optical disk formats. (Deffree, 2005, Issue 41) By wrapping the HD DVD camp around its finger, Microsoft advances its presence in the consumer market, not only with its content protection scheme but also the interactive software layer for HD DVD. THE battle over which technology will be used for a new era of information-rich DVDs is starting to lean heavily in favour of Sony's Blu-ray standard. This is bad news for Toshiba, which champions an alternative, also based on blue-laser technology, called HD-DVD. In recent weeks two big Hollywood studios, Warner Brothers and Paramount, that had previously plumped exclusively for HD-DVD have agreed to support Blu-ray as well--citing Blu-ray's wide support and strong copyright-protection mechanisms. That leaves only Universal Studios solely committed to HD-DVD, and even it is expected to adopt Blu-ray in addition. But several other studios including Columbia Tristar and MGM (both owned by Sony) and Disney have committed exclusively to Blu-ray. (Gruenwedel, 2004, p1-44) If Sony does win out over Toshiba, it will be sweet revenge for its defeat in previous standards wars. In 1995 the current format for DVDs was based more on Toshiba's technology, rather than a rival format devised by Sony. Even earlier, Sony's Betamax video technology lost out to the more open VHS system. The Betamax-VHS war taught a generation of executives about the importance of building industry-wide support for a new technology. That is why the fact that a majority of Hollywood studios have now adopted Blu-ray is such good news for Sony. In both previous standards wars, the allegiance of the studios proved decisive. Both Blu-ray and HD-DVD hold so much more data than today's DVDs that they can carry an entire season's worth of sitcoms, or splash high-definition films across a huge screen. However, they are incompatible because they are physically different. So it is costly for content suppliers and DVD-makers to adopt both technologies. HD-DVD is less expensive to manufacture because firms can simply upgrade existing production lines. But Blu-ray has an advantage because it will get into customers' hands by virtue of its inclusion in Sony's PlayStation 3 video-game console and in PCs, while HD-DVD technology will often require customers to buy a stand-alone HD-DVD player. Whoever wins the standards war will profit handsomely from the royalties for the technology. Around 70 companies have contributed intellectual property to Blu-ray, and slightly fewer to HD-DVD. (Tarr, 2005) The licensing fee to use either standard is not set, but it is expected to be a bit more than the current $12 for a DVD player, $5 for a PC drive, and around 15 cents for a disc. Sony's Blu-ray counts Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Philips among its backers. Toshiba's HD-DVD is supported by Microsoft and Intel. In October, Hewlett-Packard proposed that Blu-ray adopt both features. Meanwhile, China has proposed its own standard for high-capacity DVDs, to avoid paying royalties to foreign firms. (Renstrom, 2005, p10-10) If HD-DVD does not admit defeat and the standards war remains unresolved, it will delay the adoption of a new DVD format by two years as consumers balk before buying, predicts Ted Schadler of Forrester, a market-research firm which has just issued a report predicting that Blu-ray will ultimately win the battle. Strangely, the war comes at a time when the very notion of having a physical product to hawk intangible media threatens to become anachronistic. In future, consumers will increasingly get content over networks, not on shiny disks. (Gizmodo, 2004) Consumer electronics: The switch to high-definition (HD) television will gather pace in 2006--but beware the jargon COLOUR television, which first emerged in America in the mid-1950s, was not an overnight success. (Henning, 2006) There were fights over competing standards, the first colour sets cost a fortune, and for years there were very few colour broadcasts. Only in 1972 did sales of colour sets outstrip black-and-white. Now a similar transition is under way with the switch to "high-definition" television (HDTV) which, as its name suggests, offers sharper, more detailed pictures. It is still early days: while there are around 1.5 billion televisions on earth, the number of HDTV households grew from around 8m to around 14m during 2005, according to IMS Research, (Sweetling, 2005) a consultancy. HDTV broadcasts have been available for some time in America and Japan, have recently launched in France and Germany, and will reach Britain and the Netherlands early in 2006. But unlike the switch to colour, the process of switching to HDTV is rather difficult to explain without descending into jargon. Conventional television is broadcast in an "interlaced" format, in which the screen is divided into several hundred horizontal lines. Half of these lines (the odd-numbered lines) are redrawn, then the even-numbered lines, then the odd-numbered ones again, and so on. The American NTSC system, for example, divides the screen into 480 lines, half of which are updated every 60th of a second (an approach known as 480i). (McNulty, 2004) HDTV involves increasing the number of lines even further; the two main formats are 1080i and 720p. 1080i is an interlaced format with 1080 lines. 720p increases the number of lines to 720 and improves quality further by doing away with interlacing, updating the whole screen every frame instead--a technique called "progressive scan". (Dravis Group, 2004) This results in much smoother images, particularly of fast-moving subjects. To qualify as an HD set, a television must be capable of displaying both 1080i and 720p signals, as well as existing formats. But then things get more confusing. An "HD Ready" set, marked with a special logo in Europe, is one capable of displaying HD signals from external sources. In America, "HD capable" refers to HDTVs with built-in tuners that can decode terrestrial HDTV signals; while a "digital cable ready" HDTV set contains a decoder for HDTV signals delivered via cable. All of this gobbledygook helps to explain HDTV's dirty little secret: that around 80% of HDTV sets are not receiving HDTV broadcasts. In many cases, this is because consumers are unaware of the distinction; they buy a big new flat-panel HDTV and plug it into their existing cable or satellite tuner. The picture gets bigger, but does not get any sharper. "I have known people who say 'Look at my new HDTV', and I have to tell them they are watching regular broadcasts," says Anna Hunt of IMS. Admittedly, some people are buying HDTVs to use them with "progressive scan" DVD players, which produce a 480p signal. (Chronis, 2005, p4-16) This looks much better than a 480i signal, though it is still not technically HD. But watching television in HD quality requires access to a source of HDTV broadcasting. The trouble is, not much HDTV programming is available: of the hundreds of channels available to most satellite and cable viewers, only a few dozen are available in HD. (Boulton, 2005) The launch during 2006 of two rival HD disc formats, HD-DVD and Blu-ray, and the ability of new games consoles to produce HD signals, could boost adoption. And the industry hopes that the football World Cup, which will be broadcast in HD, will increase awareness of the distinction between HD and conventional broadcasts, particularly in Europe. The idea is that people will watch a World Cup match in HD at a pub or a friend's house, and then decide to upgrade. Declaring 2006 the "year of HDTV", then, as some in the industry have, is overdoing it. Several previous years have also been declared the "year of HDTV" too, so scepticism is warranted. More consumer education and more HDTV content are needed; prices will have to fall too. You will hear a lot about HDTV in 2006, but the transition, as with the switch to colour, will take many years. References Aaron Dobbins, January 7, 2006HD DVD: Blu-ray Has Problems. BetaNews http://www.betanews.com/article/HD_DVD_Bluray_Has_Problems/1136673259 Associated Press. Talks Between DVD Groups Break Down. SiliconValley.com. Aug. 23, 2005. Bennett, Ray; Williams, Chad. WHV on way to Blu-ray. Hollywood Reporter -- International Edition, 10/11/2005, Vol. 391 Issue 16, p69-69 Boulton, Clint. October 21, 2005. Warner, The Latest on Blu-ray Bandwagon http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3558186 Capps, Robert, "Discs are so dead," Wired Magazine, April 2005 http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.04/start.htmlpg=2 Chronis, George T. PS3 launch key for Blu-ray. Video Business, 12/26/2005, Vol. 25 Issue 52, p4-16 Deffree, Suzanne. Blu-ray Takes Blow as Intel, MS Go with HD DVD. Electronic News (North America), 10/10/2005, Vol. 51 Issue 41 DravisGroup. Blu-Ray & HD-DVD: Next Generation Digital Dynamics. December 2004 http://www.dravisgroup.com/HTML/reports/Blu-rayHD-DV(dravis)12-04.pdf Gizmodo, "Blu-ray has already won", OCT 22 2004 http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/bluray-has-already-won-023974.php Gruenwedel, Erik. Blu-ray Disc Group Unveils Specs. Video Store, 8/15/2004, Vol. 26 Issue 34, p17-17 Gruenwedel, Erik. Blu-ray Video Coming by 2005. Video Store, 4/4/2004, Vol. 26 Issue 14, p1-44 Henning Molbaek HD-DVD Status and Editorial: January 4th, 2006 http://www.hddvd.org/hddvd/ Hettrick, Scott. BLU-RAY WINS, NO WAR. Video Business, 10/10/2005, Vol. 25 Issue 41, p28-28 Hettrick, Scott. HD DVD has surprise for Blu-ray. Video Business, 5/16/2005, Vol. 25 Issue 20, p8-31 Hettrick, Scott; Fritz, Ben; Sweeting, Paul. Par lights on Blu-ray. (cover story) Daily Variety, 10/3/2005, Vol. 289 Issue 1, p1-13 IRMA, "Have no fear, DVDs are here," International Recording Media Assoc., http://www.recordingmedia.org/news/rmonews.html Laser Focus World, Jun2004. Paper Blu-ray DVD is recyclable. Vol. 40 Issue 6, p11-11 McNulty, Liam, HD DVD vs. Blu-Ray, The Saga Continues, SEP 2004 http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/hd-dvd-vs-bluray-the-saga-continues-020663.php Omatseye, Sam. Blu-ray to bring wireless digital to home. RCR Wireless News, 9/6/2004, Vol. 23 Issue 36, p21-21 Process Engineering. Blu-ray processing breakthrough boost. Jun2005, Vol. 86 Issue 6, p4-4 R&D Magazine. Blu-ray consortium increases in number. Mar2004, Vol. 46 Issue 3, p10-10 Renstrom, Roger. Finessing a format: HD, BLU-ray, hybrid Plastics News, 10/3/2005, Vol. 17 Issue 31, p10-10 Silva, Robert, "The Impact of Blu-ray and HD-DVD on Consumers," About.com, http://hometheater.about.com/od/dvdbasics/a/bluhddvdinfo_2.htm Sweeting, Paul. Blu-ray opening more doors. Video Business, 5/31/2004, Vol. 24 Issue 22, p7-46 Sweeting, Paul. Blu-ray ups production abilities. Video Business, 5/30/2005, Vol. 25 Issue 22, p6-39 Sweeting, Paul. Interactivity tops for Blu-ray demos. Video Business, 12/26/2005, Vol. 25 Issue 52, p3-3 Sweetling, Paul, "Hi-Def DVD talks stalling," Daily Variety, 5/16/05 Tarr, Greg. Sony Unveils '06 Blu-ray, BRAVIA Lines. TWICE: This Week in Consumer Electronics, 1/16/2006, Vol. 21 Issue 2, p10-34 Tarr, Greg. Paramount Adds Support for Blu-ray Disc. TWICE: This Week in Consumer Electronics, 10/10/2005, Vol. 20 Issue 21, p1-8, Ted Schadler, Josh Bernoff, Paul Jackson, Tenley McHarg. October 19, 2005Blu-ray will win a Pyrrhic victory over HD-DVD: Annoyance, Apathy and Alternatives Will Keep Consumers Away. http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,38085,00.html Yoshida, Junko. PC big guns snub Blu-ray f0r HD-DVD. EETimes. 10/03/2005. Pg1 of 2 http://www.eet.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtmlarticleID=171202192 Read More