Live from the Blu-ray press conference
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Jan 7th 2008 7:58PM
posted Jan 7th 2008 7:58PM
So far so good, we finally got in and the stage is setup just like last time, same desk, same podium, same signs, lets see if the news is the same. They should be starting in a few minutes, but we'd bet anything it won't kick off on time.
5:04PM - It's getting quite, here we go!
Andy Parsons from - Blu-ray Disc Association/Pioneer takes the podium and kicks things off.
5:07PM - The first slide shows that every week and every month Blu-ray Disc outsold HD DVD, but we already knew that,
Andy. Next up is the global market, which is 2:1 as well or 66/34. Hardware sales which includes PS3 give them a 85% share internationally.
Studio market share is strongly in Blu-ray's favor, with 68.4% while HD DVD only has 22.8% exclusivity.
5:09PM - Danny Kaye from Fox takes the podium, and thanks Andy for "setting up the situation."
They are predicting to sell another 2 million stand-alone devices and 3 million PS3s. So by the end of 2008, they expect to have 10 million Blu-ray play back devices.
During 2007 there was about 170M in disc sales. But in 2008, they expect to see 1 billion -- man we wish we could remember what they were trying to hit last year.
Looking back at VHS and DVD sales through, they put up a nice chart which shows an inflection point, which they say happens about he same time, in the third or fourth year. This helps sustain growth in home entertainment.
5:13pm - David Bishop from Sony pictures takes the podium and points out that the PS3 will continue to use bundled titles to help tell everyone that the PS3 is a Blu-ray player. Up until now the focus as been on early adopters, but now they are moving on to everyone, and that is what interactive features are all about.
5:16pm - David reminds us of all the interactive features we saw earlier today and goes on repeating what we already saw.
5:19pm - Bob Chapek, from Walt Disney, takes the podium and brings up all the issues we know too well about confusion about HDTV.
The BDA has been setting in store demos, educational discs. The most successful was the Disney magical Blu-ray tour. Now for a video of the reaction of the magical Blu-ray tour. A story from khcw.com is being shown on the big screens. Bob says there are plenty of clips like this from all over the country, but we don't remember seeing one before.
The tour kicks off again in Toronto, then goes to Nashville, Denver, Palm Beach Fl, as well as a few other markets. We leaves by wishing us a happy "blu" year and introduces Ron Sanders from Warner.
5:25PM - Ron says 2008 started out pretty exciting for Blu-ray. He gives a summary of the advertising during 2007, including our favorite channel, HDNet. More recently "The Future is Blu" and "I do blu" campaigns were also touted. "The Future is blu" commercial is shown, which we've all seen a few times.
Awareness has climbed to 80% of those surveyed, say they know the brand.
Questions time!
Q. The problem is the price of the machine, who can afford the price of the machines, what are you going to do to reduce the price?
A. Andy reminds us that pricing is up to individual companies, not up to the BDA. He says we don't do coupons, in fact we try to sneak up on everyone else.
Q. Bill from the Digital Bits asks Does Warners decision decision carry over to new line and HBO, and does the switch have anything to do with BD+.
A. No, not really, it was the consumer choice.
Q. Any chance there will be a HD DVD trade in program for Blu-ray.
A. David Bishop, said not at this time.
Q. How will you try to educate consumers that early adopters can't take advantage of new features?
A. Andy says bonus view is new, but prefers not to call it profile 1.1. He goes on to explain that in the DVD world the same thing happened, and people are accustomed to technology developing and the functionality of their players doesn't change. The name "bonus view" is to help them know its a new feature so people can check the disc before they bring it home.
Q. How will you educate smaller markets?
A. We will as soon as we can, but we are starting with the larger market.
Q. Can we start talking about the Blu-ray recorders.
A. Again, Andy says it's up to the manufacturers, and the DVR is very popular.
A. He says to see Universal now and if we all asked they might change their mind.
Q. What if Toshiba, Universal and Paramount don't go blu. How do you convince consumers the war is over?
A. The market will decide.
Q. Was there a Warner pay off?
A. Ron says "I wish". He says any pay off would've been a drop in the bucket so the decision was not related to any payoffs.
Q. How about a DVD/Blu-ray combo disc?
A. Danny says not to sacrifice space or technology so if you really have to, they could bundle a DVD.
Q. With Blu-ray the aparent winner, are we going to see more catalogue titles?
A. Bob says Song of the South won't be covered here today, but one of the pinnacle moments was when we decided to bring out Snow White, which signaled it was mass market, since this was a most cherished title. This time they are releasing Snow White this October. "And what's the price point Bob?" "Wow" -- and as a result we know where this is going. David Bishop says most of the panel lived through DVD and just like that, they look at the core and try to release products that are valuable to them.
Q. Will region coding be made any clearer on the packages, given that it isn't clear, there is the risk that if someone is traveling they could buy the wrong title. Andy says he's waiting for the question. What do the lawyers say abou this? Using this to prevent trading freely internationally?
A. Andy "Ron you what to handle this?" Ron says, "no" "Does anyone want to take it or take it offline, "that's what happened last year, "David says, "ok we'll solve it next year."
Q. Any chance of Direct stream digital?
A. Andy says the spec is already created and they don't want to break it. But we wonder how this is different then adding BD Live now?
Q. DBStalk.com Tom Robertson, is it a global exclusivity?
A. Ron says "yes"
That's it no more question, Andy thanks us for coming.
i personally think blu ray jus took the industry with Warner Bros.
What happen Engadget? We need video or live feed! It will save you a heck of a time from typing.
wouldn't it be funny (and yet arrogant, of course) for them to have a mock funeral for HD-DVD at the beginning of the conference? ;)
It would be funny but unprofessional, so they won't do it.
It would be almost as funny as when Steve Jobs did it.
"It would be almost as funny as when Steve Jobs did it."
Except he was doing a mock funeral for one of the company's *own* products ;)
(Mac OS 9, replaced by Mac OS X)
@ Ed
Steve Jobs did it for his company's own program (OS 9), not someone else's.
To be fair, would you actually put it past Apple to do a mock funeral for Vista at the start of a keynote? For unprofessional advertising campaigns, Apple take the biscuit.
Yeah, for HD-DVD to come back would be incredible. Blu is the winner in this war.
This is the real reason blu ray is winning :
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2287/2134935923_34a2238f21_b.jpg
You put a girl like this this dancing in your booth :-) and over at HD DVD there are just 4 guys in suites.
(just kidding, just the girl at the blu ray booth is for real)
blu-ray FTW!!!! =D ya im a BR fanboy...
We noticed -_-
Strange, I thought the correct acronym for Blu-Ray was BD....I guess i must not be a Blu-Ray fanboy
ok fine im not a Blu-ray fanboy...but i like BD better than HD DVD =D
DRM fan are you? I thought that we are supposed to oppose the formats that are the most DRM constrained? But in this case, it seems some people are willing to bend over and take it for no good reason. HD-DVD is the consumer choice, Blu-Ray is the content providers choice.
actually i was hoping blu-ray wont DRM the hell out of BD...but if they do..i guess they already are, but they should get rid of it like Sony BMG is for their music, but its Sony...seeing how everything they have is proprietary...BD is bound to be DRM-ed, and its not like the Content Providers arent going to force HD-DVD to not DRM the crapp out of HD-DVD...content providers WANT DRM...no matter what format it is...but thats what i think...just my opinion ....what you guys think?
I love the Toronto Blu-rays.
its the blu jays genius
Hey Rupesh, you really are a complete f*cking idiot, aren't you?
the blu-rays suck! go tampa bay devil-jays!
They're just the "jays" now, haven't you heard? :P
http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=tb
only 10 million Blu-Ray playback players at the end of 08? Is that US only? because PS3 has already sold 9 million units worldwide at this point.
Yes just in the US. As of now 8.83 million PS3 sold, will break 9 million by friday when this weeks Americas and Japans sales go up.
SOrry for double posting but wanted to provide the VG sales website:
http://www.vgchartz.com/
@stewie: Nice site. Off topic, any clue what caused the PS3 sale spike in March '07?
LOL HD-DVD just got Shafted By Blu-Ray lolz, no1 likes HD--dvd and there isn't much demand for it either!
Well I like HD DVD and up until the Warner announcement there was demand for it. Sony just admitted that they have to pack in a movie in the PS3s to remind people that the PS3 is a movie player, LOL.
@AJ
And that should be a troubling thought to anyone who had hope for HDDVD, if the PS3 helped put Blu-ray over the top with only a small fraction of ppl aware it even played BD movies, what happens when people are enlightened with 10 million units out there?
Anybody that is pro-consumer rather than pro-MPAA favors HD-DVD over Blu-ray. Looking at the specs of the two, Blu was obviously designed by a company that is trying to protect its intellectual property, not serve the consumer. HD-DVD has some similar protections in place, but it is considerably more consumer friendly. If it weren't for the (alleged) $500 million payoff to Warner by the Blu folks, the consumer might have actually had a chance to win this war.
Oh, for the love of...
Doug, read this post, or go back and read the initial post on Warner going Blu. There was no payoff. Warner has denied it repeatedly. The only documented payoff I've seen so far was to Paramount, for $150M, in order for them to go HD exclusively for 18 months. (That's $833,000/mo., incidentally).
If you want to find out who will win the blu-ray vs. hdDVD war, just look at vhs vs. beta. If you rely on the specs, beta was the better choice, just like blu-ray. So why didn't that emerge on top? Because of the porn industry. Yes, you heard me correctly, the porn industry. Beta was too expensive to use, thus the use of vhs. Now tell me, what looks nicer on paper, blu-ray or hdDVD? The answer: Blu-Ray. Finally, which format is the porno industry backing today? If you guessed hdDVD you're right. History tends to repeat itself, so look for Hi-Def DVD to emerge on top.
The difference this time is that porn is readily available for home use now, which it wasn't during the vhs/beta war. Porn is a non-issue this time around.
Uhhh... there is porn on Blu-Ray. Thanks for playing.
Also, this isnt 1984. People get there porn on the internet.
Well considering that Porn is also on BD, plus today people get their fix from the net your statement seems misguided.
Hmm... Actually the porn industry is using Blu-Ray. I guess you didn't get that memo.
Except everyone downloads porn now. And porn doesn't look good in HD.
Yeah, because we all want to see scars from breast implants in HD.
When the choice was porn on VHS vs. porn in dirty semen filled theater, winner: VHS
Now, expensive HD porn vs. free internet porn, winner: duh!
There's a ton of porn on Blu-ray in Japan, and the guys behind Pirates (p0rn) on Blu-ray are kinda surprised it's selling well beyond their expectations, here in the States.
I'm surprised people are paying for pr0n, actually. But, I digress :)
Wow man, you say this like it's new news! You're only about 6 months late with this. People thought the same thing you just said, but then when the porn on HD DVD wasn't that big of a deal and when Blu-ray started getting porn too, it stopped mattering.
Plus, cheaper doesn't matter. It matters which one makes the studios more money. Warner decided that it made more money from the more expensive Blu-ray because it sold more. The high price to get started with Blu-ray no longer mattered. Plus, the "higher price" for Blu-ray was only because there were higher start up costs. Once everything is set up, then each movie created costs less and less to make.
HD DVD is dead, and I'm an HD DVD fan boy. It's just the way it is. Warner's switch to Blu-ray killed HD DVD and there is no way to resurrect it. Paramount and Universal can't hold the format up on their own. They will soon give in to the way of the Blu.
I just want in on replying to Dave Zohn as it seems I am guaranteed "Highest Ranked".
maybe you should look a little deeper and you'd find out that vivid entertainment actually changed their mind and decided to release Pirates on Blu-ray as well as HDDVD because of the extensive outcry of all the BD fanboys that love their porn! when you get reactions like that, lets see how long it'll take til the porn industry takes notice, huh?
Those slides are awful. I work in the legal field so I don't have mad skills, but I think I could keep my content off of the logo area. Why isn't the month by month on a graph!
Aren't these people into media and graphics.
Poor show.
BTW, all I want is a standard, I don't care who wins, I just want a winner, now.
This looks infinitely more boring than sony's main conference.
Guess what? They BOTH lose! HD downloads on Netflix FTW!
Yeah, that's great if you don't mind watching it on your computer monitor or have a spare PC to hook up to your tv.
Slightly less than advantageous for the non super geeky out there.
Hell, I'm super geeky and even I can't be bothered to figure out how to connect my computer to my home theater.
@Kyoseki
Actually, I believe they are referring to the new Netflix box you attach directly to your TV and stream from the internet. No computer needed to view (only to pick what you want to view).
Aha, ok, my bad, I wasn't aware that thing was actually available yet.
I'm still less than convinced about HD content delivery over the internet though, I like having a physical disc. I like paying for the movie once and then watching it as often as I like, the Xbox Live model of paying $6 every time I want to watch an HD movie (and having to wait 10-20 minutes for the damned thing to buffer) is not my idea of a good time.
How are Netflix planning on addressing the bandwidth costs of high frequency movie rental? Are they planning on only allowing you to watch certain numbers of movies per month based on your membership level?
It's based on your subscription price. I believe if you are on the 2 out at a time plan, you have 14 hours of viewing time available (Right now, the set top box isn't out yet, I imagine they'll be changing Watch Instantly quite a bit before it's release, as far as video quality - near DVD at the moment - and how many hours you get per month) for the month, and it resets monthly.
I love Netflix. Can't wait to see what they come up with next.
im actually disappointed that blu ray is winning. I have been HD DVD the whole time, because they always had that better movies
are you serious blu-ray always in my opinion had the best and latest movies sure HD DVD did too but not as many
i donno man ... Transformers and Last Samurai and a few others ... oh well. Its also prolly cuz i got the HD DVD player for my xbox this christmas :P
porn ftw!!!
oh wait....blu-ray ftw.
yeah.
"During 2007 there was about 170M in disc sales. But in 2008, they expect to see 1 billion -- man we wish we could remember what they were trying to hit last year. "
That's got to be in $. Only 9 titles on both formats sold more than 100k.
Yes it in $$$. Look at the corresponding slide.
>Any chance there will be a HD DVD trade in program for Blu-ray.
Wow, what a kick-in-the-balls kind of question. Poor Toshiba.
It makes since though. We HD DVD owners bought our HD DVD Warner discs (I have 9) and when HD DVD is dead, we will have to rebuy them on Blu-ray. Warner just got us to double dip. The least they could do is offer us a rebate.
Since I like to play with words, let me make some sense of what you meant. I believe you wanted to say that the trade program would make sense since it would save cents for the early adopters. I could be wrong, but I can usually sense when I'm right on this kind of thing.
that was fun
"He goes on to explain that in the DVD world the same thing happened,"
What is he talking about? There isn't a single feature on DVDs today that an old DVD player bought in 1999 can't play. Nice spin job.
Oh and way to dodge the New Line - HBO question.
I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure there were developments in DVD as it went along. Could old old DVD players do upscaling or progressive scan? I think there were many audio features they did not support either
Spider is right. There were things old DVD players couldn't do.
For example:
* Play DVD-R's or DVD+R's.
* Play MP3 CDs.
* Progressive Scan.
These of course of features of the player though, not the DVD that the player couldn't read.
You're talking about features of the hardware. Upscaling and progressive scan have nothing to do with what's on the DVD. The overall experience will be the same. Profile 1.1 enabled titles play differently on Profile 1.0 players.
Spider, since when was a technology like up-scaling a feature on the DVD disc. Last time I turned over a title I didn't see up-scaling listed. Wouldn't it be stinking "filter"/feature on a DVD PLAYER that helps display content in a specific format (480i/480p at either 24 or 30 fps) display better on a screen with a different native format (720p, 1080i, 1080p). We complain about the government, but never do a thing, we complain about DRM and screwing consumers, but we drink the cool-aid from Sony all day! What kind of vegetables have we consumers become? And don’t even bother talking about audio, because every disc is made to play in even the oldest DVD players, it is called multiple audio streams per video track.
Some very early players could not play dual layer discs. Some also could not play animated menus.
These players were out of spec - the spec didn't change. But the manufacturers could get away with it for a while because early discs didn't take advantage of these features, and some manufacturers assumed that if enough people bought these cheap players, the movie studios could never use those features. They were wrong, and some people got stuck with players that wouldn't work on later titles.
(Ironically, an early firmware version of Sony's first player was one of the models that would not play dual layer discs. Sony had to issue a fix for these players.)
That said, given that the majority of BD players out there right now are PS3's, this isn't going to be as big of an issue as it probably seems. But I would never advise anyone to buy a 1.0 player at this point. (On the other hand, it's not like I'd miss "bonus view" if I didn't have it, and my understanding is these discs will play fine in players that don't support it.)
It staggers me that any studio would lock themselves into a format controlled by one of their principal rivals.
HD DVD isn't only better for the consumer but it's also better for the studios since Toshiba don't have a conflict of interests when it comes to publishing their customer's content.
How long will it be until new Blu Ray features are only available on Sony Pictures movies?
why do you people keep thinking Sony is behind this? There is a BDA an association of companies not just Sony. So your comments fail. As usual from the Red.
I just don't get this whole blu-ray IS Sony thing. One of the reasons that I chose to go with blu-ray several months ago was the wide backing of the format by all of the major CE manufacturers with Toshiba being the obvious exception. There have already been a lot of blu-ray announcements at CES and guess what, most of them aren't coming from Sony!
You're thinking Sony = Blu-Ray. Sure, they're one of the larger supporters but Blu-Ray is more than just Sony. Go look at the Wikipedia entry for Blu-Ray Disc Association, if you're not elitists.
I don't know where all of you are getting this "anti-consumer" crap from. It is actually funny how most HD DVD backers criticize for instance, the region encoding on Blu-Ray. They basically declare that they'd rather fall back on DVD than move onto Blu, when Blu has half the segregation as DVD.
Blu was the better format and the format of my choice for one reason: They can crank up the storage to 200GB. That means a much longer life for the format.
Sorry, but I'd rather wait 10-15 years for a new fanboy war than 5 or 6..
The Blu-Ray Disc Association board members:
# Apple Inc.
# Dell
# Hewlett Packard
# Hitachi
# LG Electronics
# Mitsubishi Electric
# Panasonic (Matsushita Electric)
# Pioneer Corporation
# Royal Philips Electronics
# Samsung Electronics
# Sharp Corporation
# Sony Corporation
# Sun Microsystems
# TDK Corporation
# Thomson
# Twentieth Century Fox
# Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group / Buena Vista Home Entertainment
# Warner Home Video Inc.
Yeah, Blu-Ray is obviously controlled by Sony.
Live from the HD-DVD press conference.
'sound of crickets chirping'
It's funny how the HD DVD interactivity features were ridiculed by Blu-Ray fans and now BD is all about interactivity. I personally want a good HD movie, a making-of, and a commentary. The rest is insignificant to me.
While I own players and disks for both formats I must say HDDVD really seems like the better product thus far. The implementation of the in-movie menus and features really made it feel more next generation although it sounds like Blu Ray might finally catch up in this area.
I would also say my two favorite HD transfers thus far are King Kong and Transformers, neither which are on Blu Ray.
In the beginning I was going to stick with HDDVD but being a Disney fanboy I had no choice but to own both. Anyhow, just wanted to chime in and say that as a consumer who owns both and wants the most out of his movies I am routing for HDDVD because to me they are a little bit ahead of the game on the software/features side
Great typo! :-) Looks like it has turned into a bit of a rout for HD DVD. :-)
@mh466: haha, unfortunately for us it has indeed. It is kind of funny how the studios want the player with the least features to win.. Lazy people haha
Yes, the market will decide, how many people can really afford to drop money a BR player. For mass acceptance the player has to be around $200 or less, regardless who wins.
I don't want the manufactures and studios dictating what's right for the consumer. All they care about is maximizing thier profits. If we are left only with BR and prices are high then who wins? It won't be the consumer that's for sure.
Me I'll stick with my upconverting DVD player, it's good enough.
DVD players started up in the $1000 area, and prices only went down. What makes any of us think they're going to stay the way they are or go up? The lowest priced Blu-Ray player is $279 on Amazon last I checked. You can keep the blurry MPEG2 artifacting in your video, but I'd like to use my TV for what it can do.
I'm dreading the day that we've moved away from discs entirely.
I like being able to buy a DVD (or Blue-ray or HD-DVD) in the store and going to any place with a player and watching it.
With my iPod or a download service, I have to carry cables (unless there's an off-chance that a system is already in place wherever I'm going) and some sort of dock, and hope there are available ports.
Since practically everyone has a DVD player (and will someday have Blu-Ray or HD-DVD), it's much more convenient.
A hard drive crash doesn't wipe out my content, either.
Even though I am dual format, any Warner title I want I am going to buy on HD DVD until they aren't there anymore. HD DVD is just a better format and things just seem to go a whole lot smoother, whith a better overall experience. Not to mention PIP and Web content are already there and I don't have to wait. Even if HD DVD looses, I will still have an HD DVD player and most likely it will last till the successor of the next gen. format is here. And who wants to buy a Warner title with less content like 300, or now that Blu-ray finaly has PIP will they re-release 300 for everyone who wants it to buy again. Rediculous.
"And who wants to buy a Warner title with less content like 300, or now that Blu-ray finaly has PIP will they re-release 300 for everyone who wants it to buy again. Rediculous."
Seeing as how 300 Blu-ray spanked 300 HDDVD sales, it seems plenty of people wanted it and didn't care for the extra features. Hell, 300 is still in the top 10 Nielsen Videoscan charts on Blu-ray. "Ridiculous"
Ben,
While we're on the subject of Blu-Ray can you please make sure to ask Sony or someone in the know if the recently released Sony BDP-S500 is going to be able to be upgraded to "Bonus View" or profile 1.1?
Thank you!
I can't wait to put files and software and stuff on my HD-DVD!!!
Oh wait.... you can't...
Hah... ok, don't really have any HD-DVDs.
Only 3 million PS3s sold in 2008? Wow! Are they trying to admit the PS3 is in the tank? The big console selling titles are supposed to hit next year. I would have thought they would have said at least 5-6 million.
Yeah I agree I think 3 million is a bit low. I mean if they sold 1.2 million during the Holiday shopping how many did they sell the whole year. I mean they have some incredible looking games coming out this year. Must be a conservative number.
Please... ps3 fanboys step out. Go download DRM enabled MP3's and keep the same opinion... otherwise just shut the hell up. Blu-ray is worse for the consumer. I for one will only ever download media if blu-ray becomes the standard. Screw my DVD rack.
"He goes on to explain that in the DVD world the same thing happened, and people are accustomed to technology developing and the functionality of their players doesn't change. "
What changes in DVD is he referring to, aside from how older players would not playback burned DVD media (which didn't exist for a few years)?
Many early DVD players couldn't pass along DTS audio, for one. I know cause I waited until the first sub $300 units that supported DTS were released before I bought in. And it took much longer for DVD players to drop to that level than it has for HD and BD. Newer interactive features were often very glitchy on older players, too.
Doug,
"If it weren't for the (alleged) $500 million payoff to Warner by the Blu folks, the consumer might have actually had a chance to win this war."
I think the consumer has been voicing their opinion pretty convincingly for the past year. Consumers consistently picked BD since the first week it came out. And it has only continued to get better for BD during the critical holiday season.
HD fans like to draw all sorts of conclusions for HD loosing the battle, the favorite excuse is that BD isn't playing fair (they pay studios to go Blu, BOGO's, they count the PS3, etc. etc. etc.).
Face the facts. HD lost and BD won by the numbers. If HD had won by the numbers then that'd be it. The fact that everyone kept saying that HD would win because of cheaper prices never materialized. From day one HD has had the cheaper players (although BD seems to have cheaper disks). People feel that BD is the next gen. End of story.
Unless you want to do like Gore and keep counting the ballots until you get the answer you want!
1) when are you players going to decode HD audio?
2) when arey ou going to finalise a spec and stick to it, instead of changing it every 2 months making older equipment obselete?
3) What the fuck is wrnog with you putting region locks on the content?
A nerdy press conference for a nerdy format war. I'll give a damn when new films are at the prices of DVDs and there's a single format. Meh.
make that a single *finished* format. Even if we call BR the winner, I won't be touching it until the spec is fully finished and its guaranteed I can use every feature of every BR disk to be sold going forward.
Whats the points of there being a HD "winner" if you still end up losing by buying it too early?
I have them both, I prefer HD-DVD, it was the better choice. As for BD, all I'm saying is the PS3 wouldn't sell without BluRay and BluRay wouldn't be selling without the PS3.
"the consumers have made the choice", all 3% that own a hi-def capable player?
Blu may be the future, but it wasn't the consumer who made the choice, it was the corporate decision. More supporters, so it's time to make money, abandon HD DVD, end the format war and let's just concentrate on making money for our companies.
Everytime I see: consumers have spoken or have made their choice, I just laugh. How can you make such a statement when you base it on numbers (Nielsen VideoScan) that encompasses 3% of total households?
Stop BSing with "for the benefit of the consumer" crap and just say what it really is, we're wasting time, there's money to be had, and this format war is putting a wrinkle in things. Don't want to waste time and money in another Beta vs VHS battle, gotta maximize the profits. Blu-ray has more support, better marketing, newer technology, so yeah it's going to be a little more expensive, but the mass market is used to this as new technology gets adopted (CD, DVD).
A prerequisite for Blu-ray or HD DVD is an HDTV, so unlike CD and DVD which just had to replace records and VCRs, they also need to get HDTVs into the household (most optimistic number I've seen is 40% currently).
The future is muddle at best, in my mind. Look how HDTVs have changed. Who knows in a few years, a brand new technology may replace optical and Blu-ray will never take off.
It amuses me that everyone thinks the war is over. "Yay, Blu-ray!!!" Give me a break. This war is FAR from over. And personally, I don't care which one wins, so what I'm saying isn't an exercise in me siding with one or the other.
Just because Blu-ray is pulling ahead of HD-DVD, doesn't mean that EITHER of them are going to "win". Until every studio goes Blu, there will be no winner. Even if one studio were to hold out, you'd still need both HD players to see all the movies you'd want to see.
Not to mention, after all these years, between both formats, there's still only around 700 movie titles available, which is just pathetic, especially considering that Netflix has close to 100,000 movie and TV titles.
By the time all the studios decide what they're going to do and all the smoke clears leaving a CLEAR winner in the last physical media for movies we'll ever see, we're going to be streaming and downloading HD titles more and more (which is where it's all headed, anyway), leaving Blu-ray less and less appealing, or necessary.
And one other thing... that was the worst Q and A I've ever read. And I'm not blaming Engadget. I'm talking mainly about the answers... talk about evasive and vague. Those men hardly cleared up or said anything.