“Companies selling PlayStation 3 will have Blu-ray built in, which will make it into homes faster,” Digital Playground co-founder Joone told XBiz. “The security features of Blu-ray also are really good for copyright protection.”
PS3 is scheduled to hit stores during the first quarter of 2006, which has motivated Digital Playground to act quickly, though the company has planned for this move for almost three years. The company’s first releases in Blu-ray formatting will follow the release of PS3, most likely beginning with “Fever Island 3” and “Pirates.”
Joone added that Blu-ray possesses a larger storage capacity than HD-DVD, by about 10 gigabytes. Rewritable Blu-ray discs can store up to 27 gigabytes of data on a single-sided, single-layer disc. In contrast, HD-DVDs house only about 15GB of data but are claimed to require fewer modifications to existing DVD production equipment, making them less expensive to create and more affordable for consumers..
“They’re pretty similar in every other way,” Joone said. “We went with Blu-ray because storage and security are the main issues for us.”
Blu-ray, backed by Sony, and HD-DVD, backed by Toshiba, are competing video and storage formats for succeeding DVDs. Both use a blue-laser-based format, enable more content per optical disk and are backward-compatible with current DVDs, which use a red-laser-based technology format.
The two technology camps failed to reach a unified technological front last summer, setting the stage this year for a format war similar to the costly VCR and Betamax battle of the 1980s.
"We are frustrated," Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson said. "We are going to wind up with some number of consumers probably buying a format that dies, and we are probably going to wind up having to sell it to them. They are not going to be happy with us."
Both Blu-ray and HD-DVD backers hope to spark the sagging home video market with new high-definition DVD players and discs, offering greater capacity and interactive features.
But the situation is problematic for sellers, who are seeking a huge penetration into homes as quickly as possible.
"Customers clearly have an appetite for high-quality content,” Circuit City Chief Executive Alan McCollough added. “The shame is it is going to take longer than we need it to.”
Legal agreements, intellectual property issues and technological pride may keep the two camps backing incompatible next-generation technologies from coming together in the near future.
"Until everyone agrees to check their egos at the door and help the consumer, there is nothing we can do about a universal product," Peter Weedfald, a senior vice president of marketing at Samsung North America, said. "The conundrum is that you've got two different camps. You've got licensing issues, you've got trademarks, you've got copyrights. You can't just be on the Blu-ray side and say, 'We will put HD-DVD in there,' and the reverse is true."
Currently, Blu-ray is supported by Sony, Dell, LG, Panasonic, Samsung and a host of other CE and computer companies, in addition to a number of Hollywood studios. HD-DVD is supported by Toshiba, NEC, Sanyo and the DVD-Forum. Warner Brothers and Paramount are committed solely to HD-DVD as well.
Specifically, Warner Home Video, Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures, HBO Video and New Line Home Entertainment announced they will release more than 150 HD-DVD titles by the end of 2006. Warner Brothers, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, Sony BMG, Buena Vista Home Entertainment and MGM also have announced they will release Blu-ray titles during 2006.
“On the mainstream side of things, there are a lot of big players behind Blu-ray,” Joone told XBiz. “We see PlayStation 3 as the Trojan horse that will lead the way and Blu-ray as the format that will be around longer – and we can do more interesting things with it.”
Toshiba has already had to delay its December 2005 launch, announcing it will ship HD-DVD products in March. Blu-ray has announced it will ship players beginning in April.
Various companies also have expressed surprise at the lower-than-expected price of both the HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc players, which are being priced at $499 and $1,000, respectively.