Dual HD DVD - Blu Ray Player
Apathy Kills
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 60,714
Likes: 0
From: The Left Lane
The prime example of a format war, VHS vs. Betamax, needed to have a winner because of physical incompatibilities between the media formats. Having two formats which could never be compatible with each other wasn't sustainable by the companies publishing movies to video.
Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD on the other hand, have no physical incompatibility. The discs are the same size and use the same laser. It was only a matter of time until someone came out with a player that could read both. If LG and other companies get this rolled out to the mass market, all the manufacturers that are only on one side of the fence or the other will have to adapt to the other format to compete. Then the content providers have no real incentive to pick one standard or the other, and they can probably publish exclusively on one or the other, legions of early adopters be damned. Plus there's always the option of publishing on dual-format discs.
Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD on the other hand, have no physical incompatibility. The discs are the same size and use the same laser. It was only a matter of time until someone came out with a player that could read both. If LG and other companies get this rolled out to the mass market, all the manufacturers that are only on one side of the fence or the other will have to adapt to the other format to compete. Then the content providers have no real incentive to pick one standard or the other, and they can probably publish exclusively on one or the other, legions of early adopters be damned. Plus there's always the option of publishing on dual-format discs.
While it's encouraging that there are no physical incompatibilities... I refuse to commit any money to either HD-DVD or Blu-ray until the marketing war is won. I would expect that a lot of buyers are also taking a wait-and-see approach.
IMO, it's the next generation of hi-def DVD rentals which will determine which format wins out.
h:
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