I am convinced that this whole HD DVD vs. Blu-ray format
war debacle was a Microsoft scheme to mess with Sony.
This war is not over by any means. Yes, the HD DVD format is dead, but the
problem is that so many people, myself included, were so jacked around by this
exercise that Toshiba and Microsoft, in particular, are not going to hear the
end it for years and years. After this complete and total fiasco, the original
high-def format, Blu-ray, which was in development for an eternity, wins the
war. Hooray for Sony and the rest of the team—though they should be soundly
booed for letting this debacle happen in the first place.
Smoke and Mirrors
As you
will discover by the time you finish reading this, I am convinced that this
whole thing was a Microsoft scheme to mess with Sony. There was probably never
any real intent to make the HD DVD standard stick, ever.
It seemed real at first, however. In fact, most of us who followed the battle
went from one camp to the other and back again for what seems like 5 years of
bickering. Both camps had targeted and convincing arguments when you sat down
and talked with them.
No matter what anyone says, it was Microsoft who seemed to be the money and
the mouth pushing HD DVD. When you sat down with Toshiba's HD DVD folks,
Microsoft was always there.
The Debate Ensues: FUD
Appears
I thought that the strongest points in HD DVD's favor
were some of the features the format had built into the players, including the
ability to "skin" content in real time
. This would
include putting your head on an actor. I was also sold by the idea that old
equipment could be used to crank out HD DVDs. Of course, nobody used any of the
numerous fancy features of HD DVD, and the compatibility argument was best
appreciated by the true counterfeiters who were stamping out movies on ships
positioned outside the 12-mile limit in the South China Sea. Still, the
arguments sounded good.
The Blu-ray folks—who tended to be from Sony or Panasonic—were always
defensive about this war. When you sat down with them, they seemed miffed,
actually. It was as if this Johnny-come-lately HD DVD format came into the game
late just to screw with them. Sony had been working on Blu-ray for years, and
this situation and this interloper was ridiculous to them. It was kind of funny
to witness this seething.
The Blu-ray folks never had the best arguments for their format because they
never thought they needed them. They did emphasize that Blu-ray would always
have more capacity than HD DVD. Also, Blu-ray was more amenable to being used
with a computer as the backup device of the
future.
This bickering would go back and forth, along with the notion of a combo
player, which would require twice the licensing fees and discrete mechanisms. It
became apparent early on that the combo player would not fly.—Next: Playing Dirty
>
