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Tech.co.uk: The original DVD format is Blu-ray’s main rival, not the high definition HD DVD. That’s according to Frank Simonis, the chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association.

He made the comments in a very forthright interview with Tech.co.uk last week. “The main BD competition is with current DVD businesses, not HD DVD,” said Simonis. “[This means] the main hurdle [is] consumer understanding. For example when the consumer does not understand the benefits of or enjoy high definition. Hence, consumer education is key,” he said.

Simonis also said that Blu-ray is closing in on victory in the high definition format war with HD DVD and that a big lead in hardware and software sales is opening up.

“The tipping point will be the overwhelming availability of Blu-ray Disc (BD) hardware and BD movies at retailers.”

At IFA, 14 brands introduced BD CE players which were Philips, Sharp, Sony, Denon, Onkyo, JVC, Panasonic, Samsung, Funai, Pioneer, Hitachi, LG, Loewe, Daewoo, PS3.

HD DVD has just one: Toshiba,” said Simonis. “We believe content is what will drive adoption of an HD format. And with seven of the eight major studios now releasing blu-ray titles in earnest, Blu-ray’s content advantage is apparent.”

Blu-ray has already surpassed HD-DVD in terms of the number of titles available for purchase and the gap is continuing to expand as five studios are publishing content exclusively on Blu-ray.

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VNUNet: The European Commission has launched an informal investigation into the market for next-generation DVDs.

Information has been requested from manufacturers and content providers concerning the decision of which high-definition DVD format to support.

The market is currently split between firms backing Blu-ray, led by Sony, and firms backing HD-DVD, led by companies including Toshiba, Intel and Microsoft.

European Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd told Reuters: “We have sent a request for information to a number of studios concerning possible discrimination against one or other DVD format.

“We are at the stage of basic fact-finding, and have not yet opened a formal investigation.”

The Commission is particularly interested in why so many studios went for the Blu-ray format exclusively. Only one Hollywood studio, Universal, has an exclusive agreement with HD-DVD, while some are producing films for both formats and five exclusively for Blu-ray.

There have been no complaints of anti-competitive behaviour but it is understood that the HD-DVD camp has been lobbying behind the scenes for an investigation.

The Commission has asked for briefing documents, emails and any phone records relating to the issue.

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GamePro.com: New facts concerning the sales figures of the Xbox 360′s HD DVD drive may breathe new life into Toshiba’s proprietary format just yet.

A piece on U.K.’s CNET reports that Microsoft has so far sold 155,000 HD DVD drives for the Xbox 360 in that country, making it the console’s “biggest-selling accessory”.

However, the company refrained from revealing statistics of how well their product is selling worldwide. But according to the same report, other regions of the world may actually end up being HD DVD’s saving grace.

Even if Blu-ray eventually becomes the industry standard for the U.S., the site hypothesizes that other sections in the world, such as the U.K. and the rest of Europe, may end up embracing HD DVD simply due to the cheaper costs involved with manufacturing its discs.

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TV Predictions: Sony said yesterday that it might increase shipments of Blu-ray players in the U.S. by 600 percent this year, according to an article from Bloomberg News.

The news service reports that Sony believes that Blu-ray sales will rise dramatically this year due to the exclusive release of several blockbuster films on the high-def DVD format.

Four of the eight major film studios are backing Blu-ray exclusively with only one (Universal) supporting HD DVD exclusively.

Sony shipped less than 100,000 Blu-ray players in the U.S. last year, but could ship up to 600,000 in 2007.

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AV Zombie: Blu-ray and HD DVD could be obsolete in just five years. So believes Microsoft’s program manager for Media Entertainment Convergence, Richard Doherty.

Speaking at the annual Digital Hollywood conference in California, he suggested that advances in download and broadband technology could render the current format war moot. 

“I don’t know that high definition will be delivered on an optical disc in five to 10 years. At Microsoft, we’d rather HD wasn’t on a disc.”

For the time being however, he added that Microsoft was happy to support HD DVD, principally because it has delivered interactive content in a way that Blu-ray hasn’t.

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FOXNews: Toshiba aims to put disk drives for high-definition DVDs on all its laptops next year as it strives to gain an edge in the high-stakes next-generation DVD format battle, a Toshiba executive said on Tuesday.

Sony equips its PlayStation 3 (PS3) game consoles with Blu-ray Disc drives to win people to the rival high-definition DVD format, and Toshiba should use a similar tactic, said Toshiba Senior Vice President Hisatsugu Nonaka.

“The demand is there: people want to watch their favorite movies in high-definition on the road,” he told reporters at a news conference.

Toshiba, which research firm IDC said shipped 9.2 million notebook PCs in calendar 2006, is seeking to land a knock-out blow against the Sony-led Blu-ray camp, but adding high-definition drives to PCs would mean higher prices and could hurt sales.

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TVPredicitions.com: Universal’s Ken Graffeo says the format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD is good for consumers.

Additionally, he says Universal will continue to support the HD DVD format exclusively, the only studio to do so.

Blu-ray and HD DVD are locked in an intense battle for the new high-def disc audience. Four of the eight major studios are backing Blu-ray exclusively while Universal is behind HD DVD. The others are releasing titles in both formats.

However, many industry officials, particularly retailers, are urging an end to the format war, saying it’s confusing consumers. Consequently, they say, high-def player and title sales are well below what they should be.

But Graffeo tells the Daily News that his studio still believes that HD DVD offers the “better set of mandatory specifications” because every HD DVD player has an Ethernet port and carries the software to support interactive features.
“In Blu-Ray, the interactive specs are still just an option. The only Blu-Ray player now sold with an Ethernet port is the PlayStation 3,” he said.

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AV zombie: A survey of UK consumer electronic store staff reveals that most believe that HD DVD and not Blu-ray will win the next generation disc format war.

A survey conducted by technology field marketing agency Gekko of 425 shop staff from Currys.digital, Comet and John Lewis were asked by to name the format they thought would win out.

A massive sixty per cent voted HD-DVD, leaving 38 per cent backing Blu-ray. 2 per cent were undecided. HD-DVD pricing (21 per cent) and availability (16 per cent) were seen as key factors for potential buyers.

The news will doubtless come as a surprise to Walt Disney Company president and CEO Bob Iger who recently told US reporters that outside of the US, there isn’t even a HD format war happening.

“If you look across the globe, the only place there is really a format war is in the United States,” he proclaimed. “In other markets where next-gen DVD is starting to penetrate, Blu-ray is winning, and substantially – so much so there isn’t even a perceived format war.”

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EE Times: Hewlett-Packard plans to make available this week on select consumer desktop PCs dual-format drives that can play HD DVD and Blu-ray high-definition discs. (…)

Computer makers are moving aggressively with high-definition features in hopes that consumers eventually will use the machines to manage content and deliver it to the HDTV in the living room. Even though the amount of HD content on cable and DVDs is limited, HDTV sales are strong because of falling prices.

The dual-format drive HP plans to start offering May 9 can read/write Blu-ray discs, but is read only for HD DVD, the company said Monday. The drive also will be able to read/write standard DVDs and CDs. (…)

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Guardian: Sony’s dream of an early victory in the next-gen DVD format fight has been dashed by poor PS3 sales.

If it was a Hollywood movie it would be a remake of Alien v Predator. On one side is the giant Sony corporation, which is backing the Blu-ray high definition DVD format by building it into its PlayStation 3 games consoles.

Facing it across the global battlefield is Toshiba, backed by Microsoft and Intel, promoting the rival (and incompatible) HD DVD format.

The stakes are very high indeed for companies on both sides. Yet Sony, the pre-fight favourite – with the best-selling games console franchise in the world and the backing of seven Hollywood studios (basically all of the big ones except Universal Pictures) making their movies available on Blu-ray – is nowhere near delivering the early knockout blow it wanted.

Instead, early defections from the Blu-ray-only camp and lagging sales of PS3 consoles have blurred the picture of which format will win. Samsung broke ranks with Blu-ray last month by announcing it will make players that play both HD formats, following a similar move by LG.

In addition, most analysts acknowledge that the PC manufacturers will play a key role in the format war – and having Microsoft and Intel behind HD DVD is significant. Neither of these two Toshiba allies has shown signs of switching camps so far. (…)

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Higdef digest: In an unsual promotional effort for Blu-ray, Sony Europe has launched a tongue-in-cheek website called “The Museum of Low Resolution“.

The flash-based interactive website is designed to showcase the capabilities of Blu-ray by imagining a world where low-res television is a distant memory, worthy of its own museum.

Needless to say, in Sony’s vision of the future, there is only one high-def disc format, and that format is Blu-ray.

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AV zombie: Wannabe hi-def format HD VMD will launch in France with software support from two French studios. Seven Sept and Metropolitan FilmExport have both pledged 20 titles for release in the autumn, with regular releases to follow. (…)

Developed by UK-based New Medium Enterprises, HD VMD is a high-density red-laser format that allows up to eight layers of information to be stored per disc side. Resolutions up to 1080p are supported. To date, the maverick system has found few backers amongst the Hollywood elite.

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