Gordon Laing

On 19 February 2008, Toshiba announced it would discontinue its HD DVD business. As the major backer of the format, this essentially ended the HD format war.

Within 24 hours, statements received by Hollywood media claimed HD DVD’s remaining studio backers, Universal and Paramount, were also pulling out of the format and, like Warner Brothers, backing Blu-ray instead. Sony had won the war and once again I found myself with a player which had effectively become obsolete.

After years of suffering format defeats, it could be argued that Sony deserved a break. It lost the VHS versus Betamax battle of the 1980s, Dat (Digital Audio Tape) was forced into niche markets due to lack of pre-recorded content and Mini Disc failed when MP3 players and the Apple iPod became dominant.

With each defeat, Sony learned an important lesson and the first was having content for its new platforms. By owning music and movie studios, Sony could guarantee there’d always be content for its own formats. This, however, wasn’t sufficient to win the Blu-ray versus HD DVD war. While backing from the other movie studios was essential for long-term success, the catalyst for their support was a larger installed base of compatible players than its rival.

By producing one of the leading games consoles ­ the Playstation 3 ­ and equipping it with a Blu-ray drive, Sony ensured a large number of homes could play its new HD disc format even if few owners ever intended to. This installed base of HD-capable players turned the tide in favour of Blu-ray, which in turn attracted support from movie studios and retailers.

Arguably the first nail in HD DVD’s coffin came when Microsoft decided to fit its Xbox 360 console with a plain DVD drive and only offer HD DVD as an optional peripheral. Had the 360 come out with a built-in HD DVD drive from day one, the outcome could have been very different.

Sony’s format has emerged triumphant. So where does that leave anyone who, like myself, invested in HD DVD hardware and titles?

Like all defeated formats, new releases will grind to a halt at some point soon, but existing titles don’t suddenly stop working. Any HD DVD movies you own will continue to play on your hardware, of course while the hardware itself remains operational. As a self-confessed early adopter, I bought a Laserdisc player, Dat recorder and a Mini Disc portable, and only recently sold off my Betamax. All still work.

Operational is the key word though, as once the hardware of a defeated format gives up the ghost, you’ll invariably find it harder to fix or replace. Toshiba says it will provide full support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products, but for how much and how long? There certainly won’t be any new players to replace them or upgrade to in the future.

If you have a significant investment in HD DVD titles, you might consider buying a backup player. At the time of writing, prices on HD DVD hardware and software hadn’t fallen significantly, but bargains are sure to be had before long. You can’t legally back up your titles onto your PC using an Xbox HD DVD drive and play them from there, so that’s another option out the window.

As I mentioned in last month’s column following Warner Brothers’ announcement, I’m disappointed that HD DVD lost, as unlike Blu-ray it was a finished standard with affordable hardware and no regional coding. Of the two formats, it’s also the one I have a bigger personal investment in, but with my Xbox drive costing £90 and 15 imported titles working out to around £10 each, it’s not as bad as it could have been.

Ultimately I’m happy there’s a resolution to this latest format war and hope new Blu-ray titles and affordable players become widespread sooner rather than later. Sony must also realise it now has a limited window of opportunity to sell HD in a physical format. Mainstream HD downloads aren’t far away, while anyone with a newsgroup subscription and little respect for copyright has enjoyed access to plenty of HD material for a long time. So the big question is, if you’ve been sitting on the fence, will you now buy into Blu-ray?

This article appeared in the May issue of PCW

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