HD DVD stung by the Blu-ray

EDMONTON (CUP) -- Most industry wars fought for profit and control end up making average citizens the biggest losers.

Those simply wanting to live their lives and maybe bask in some pretty high-definition video without the fear that their hard-earned money is being wasted are about to suffer significantly. The battle to see who will be profiting from your desire to see the individual pores on Scarlett Johansson's beautiful face is just gearing up.

With two new formats, HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc, competing to replace DVD within the next six months, both parties are moving to ensure that you'll be shelling out for their product first.

Developed by Toshiba and backed by the likes of Microsoft, Sanyo and NEC, HD DVD uses similar production methods as those used by DVD discs and thus allows them to be produced for significantly cheaper.

Blu-ray, on the other hand, was created by Sony and has the support of Panasonic, Apple Computers and TDK. It uses a new production method that has proved quite costly compared to HD DVD, but will ultimately have much higher storage capacities than its rival.

But technical aspects aside, the two formats might as well be identical from a consumer's point-of-view, as they will both give you high-definition video in your home. It then comes down to two factors: price and content.

The initial launch of players in Canada has been less than stellar. Both debuting during the summer, HD DVD has the slight advantage launching for a mere $700 compared to Blu-ray's nice round $1,000. But at these price points, consumers have been less than warm to the products.

Content-wise, most major studios have stated that they will support both formats with the exception of Universal Studios; they have decided to support only HD-DVD, a move that is actually being praised by many.

So we have players that are expensive and not selling well, movie studios that are reluctant to put out content, but a growing marketplace of consumers with fancy new HDTV sets that demand content that the cable and satellite companies aren't giving them. This doesn't make much sense.

A new format war is not what the market wants, especially when many consumers have just shelled out upwards of two grand on a new TV. Giving consumers a choice when there is inherently failure destined for one of the formats is not going to create sales; it only serves to alienate buyers from both formats out of fear of losing in the long run.

While the two sides came together in the summer of 2005 to try to agree on a unified format, they ultimately failed and went their separate ways.

Sony has seemingly learned nothing from the Betamax fiasco of the 1980s, and is cramming Blu-ray down the throats of consumers by shoehorning one into the Playstation 3. All the while, the HD DVD camp has done very little to bring their costs down to counter the slow progress that Blu-ray is posting.

Consumers are once again going to get the short end of the stick and high-definition content in the home will be relegated to the minuscule amount of HD television that is broadcast and watching high-definition trailers on Apple's Quicktime site.

I don't know about you, but Scarlett Johansson's pores just aren't worth the price of half a semester of tuition fees.