A few days ago the High Definition Optical format war was declared over with announcement from Toshiba they would cease production of their HD DVD format. This leaves Sony in the clear running to have their Blu-ray format to be the standard media for High Definition Movies and optical computer data storage.
If you are unaware of what has been happening in the world of High Definition and the format war then here is quick recap.
Both Sony and Toshiba have developed their own formats to provide mainly the next generation of entertainment for High Definition Movies. The discs are intended to replace DVD’s. Both offer the full quality of Full High Definition 1080p and HD sound but each disc carries a different capacity.
Unfortunately the two formats are incompatible so it left consumers with the dilemma of picking one side and hoping their choice would win the format war. Otherwise it would mean their disc format and player would join videotapes, MiniDisc, laserdiscs and eventually DVD’s in the obsolete format bin.
If it sounds familiar then you probably recall the last format war for video entertainment back in the 1980’s. This was between Sony’s Betamax and JVC’s VHS. The eventual winner was VHS even though Betamax was superior in quality and had been available on the market a lot longer. Obliviously Sony learnt from their past mistakes and used it to get support behind Blu-ray leading them to come out victorious.
One of the main winning points behind Blu-ray was to include it as standard in their Playstation 3 console. With all the criticism regarding the PS3 late arrival mainly due to the scarce components of the Blu-ray drive it finally looks like it was worth it.
The Sony Playstation 3 has helped beat the format rival HD DVD
Now that the Playstation 3 sales figures have surpassed 10 million worldwide they provided their consumers with a Blu-rau player that has helped their figures beat Toshiba’s HD DVD. Also Blu-ray Movies been sold were beating HD DVD by 2 to 1 during the Christmas period. Of course these alone were not the only reasons but last month Warner Bros. one of their big Film Studios that was backing them switched camps and joined Blu-ray stating their intention to only sell their movies on Blu-ray format. This was the final nail in the coffin but to rub more salt into the wound retailers and stores like Wal-Mart stated they would only be selling Blu-ray Movie Titles. No one at that point believed HD DVD would make it through the year.
With Blu-ray victorious and HD DVD now heading towards that obsolete format bin another challenge lays ahead for Sony, this is the problem of illegal movie downloads and the cost to the film industry. Hopefully Sony’s strategy to tackle this is just as effective as their recent one that helped them win the format.
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