Part 1 : All eyes on new DVD format war
Part 2: Clearer pictures, cloudy future
Part 3: Next-gen DVDs take center stage
Clearer pictures, cloudy futurePart 2: Clearer pictures, cloudy future
Part 3: Next-gen DVDs take center stage
Both new formats, which have taken years to develop, offer vastly more storage capacity on single DVDs, a prospect that excites movie studios, game developers and other software makers. The formats use blue lasers, which have a shorter wavelength than the red lasers used in today's DVDs, allowing manufacturers to pack more data into the same space.
Both camps say their discs will be playable on today's players, with the creation of a hybrid disc that includes standard DVD content. Both also say their next-generation hardware will also play today's DVDs.
After that, the similarities diminish.
The Blu-ray disc is backed by a large group of consumer electronics and computer companies. Offering 50 gigabytes of storage, it is the more substantial redesign of today's DVD structure. One of its biggest selling points is the fact that Sony has already committed to supporting it in the upcoming Playstation 3.
Blu-ray backers say they can include a standard DVD on one layer of a multilayered disc, so high-definition and standard DVD content will be available without having to flip the disc.
The HD DVD format, backed by Toshiba and favoured by a majority of studios, is more similar to today's DVD. It comes in 15-gigabyte, 30-gigabyte or 45-gigabyte forms. Its backers recently added a version that would allow studios to put a conventional DVD on one side and a high-definition version of the movie on the other.
 HD DVD |
"The capacity difference between the two is not enough that anyone will notice," said Warner Bros. Chief Technology Officer Chris Cookson. "Interactivity and quality are the same. If we have a choice, what would be the logical reason to pick anything other than HD DVD? There doesn't seem to be any reason for Blu-ray to exist."
Both sides have said for months that they want to come to some agreement that would merge the two specifications, and that talks are ongoing. While early press reports of an imminent agreement have fallen through, neither side is admitting defeat yet.
"We fully agree and concur that a single format is the best bet," said Mark Knox, adviser to the HD DVD promotion division at Toshiba. "We want to talk -- let's talk. We leave everything on the table. We want to find the best single format."
Victor Matsuda, a vice president at Sony's Blu-ray Group, concurred. "Everybody realises that it is in the best interest of us all not to come to market with two formats, to have just the one," he said. "That said, we're not there yet."
 Blu-ray disc |
The cost of the standoff could be substantial. According to a recent estimate by analyst firm Sanford C. Bernstein, media companies could lose as much as US$16 billion over seven years if the next-generation DVDs launch with a format war, rather than waiting an extra two years to work out the differences.
Certainly, businesspeople, from the Best Buy executive suites to Chack's small shop on Haight Street, are hoping for a compromise. Retail outlets don't want to stock two versions of the same title, and see little advantage to themselves in supplying both sides.
A Netflix spokesman said his company could not comment on specific plans, but would carry whatever consumers demand.
"Ultimately there will be a standard," Netflix spokesman Steven Swasey said. "It would be good to get there earlier rather than later, rather than having it fractionalised."
Chack said he simply can't afford to buy unless there's a standard. If compromise takes longer, it could push his business even further behind the larger companies that are able to take the uncertainty in stride. But he's optimistic.
"I really think there's going to be compatibility," he said. "Otherwise it's going to be Betamax and VHS again."
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