HD-DVD has a name-brand advantage

If you ask ten people on the street what "Blu-Ray" is, my guess is that nine of them would think it's a new "Star Wars" toy. The HD-DVD camp is hoping the same and got validation of the branding advantage last month.

There's no big surprise here. From a marketing and advertising standpoint, "HD-DVD" precisely describes the product; it's a high-definition DVD. People already know what a DVD is and they are starting to understand what high-def is, so the Blu-Ray camp might want to reconsider their product name soon. Unless they are developing a new "Star Wars" toy, that is.