Blu-ray, HD DVD Look Ahead After Warner Switch

Andy Parsons, chair of the U.S. promotion committee for the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), didn't find out about Warner Bros.' decision to release titles exclusively in his camp's format until the announcement was made days before CES.

"They didn't really talk to BDA per se," he says, adding that the switch is "gratifying for us."

"Warner's move to Blu-ray is going to make the consumer's choice easier," he told me at CES.

The switch was a bit more shocking to the HD DVD camp, where Louis Masses, director of business development for Toshiba's Digital A/V group, said they were caught off guard.

"We're totally surprised by it," he says, calling the announcement a "setback."

BDA: No Unified Spec Hasn't Hurt

When I talked to Masses, he stuck to the HD DVD talking points about a unified spec and backing by the DVD Forum, and adding that retailers are telling Toshiba they'll continue to support both formats.

"We're still behind it," he says.

Parsons says that Blu-ray not having a unified spec, as Toshiba argues, hasn't mattered much. "It hasn't had a big impact," he says. "It's a question of prioritization."

He says that people buy disc players because they want to watch movies in high-definition, not necessarily for bonus features.

"That's pretty far down on the list for people I've talked to, at least."

Capacity and Consistency Caused the Split

At some point, there was discussion between both sides to come to a unified format. Obviously, it didn't happen.

Parsons blames this on Toshiba's decision to use the Advanced Optical Disc format, which has less storage capacity than Blu-ray.

"Capacity was important. And that's where we disagreed," he says. "Almost everybody else decided to go with Blu-ray."

Masses says that capacity was "a big thing in the beginning" but doesn't really matter to the consumer as long as everything fits on it.

Consistency, he says, is much more important to the mass market.

2008 Expectations

Not surprisingly, the two sides have different expectations for 2008.

Toshiba's Masses didn't want to speculate on 2008, but says that "it really is 'let the consumer buy what they want.'"

"As long as there are movies out there [on HD DVD] ... consumers will buy what they want to buy," he says.

Toshiba expects that HD DVD drives in PCs will be "a strong market," but says a dual-format player isn't on the table. "Right now, there's no plans to do a combo format player," he says.

BDA's Parsons, meanwhile, is focusing on education and the transition from DVD to Blu-ray.

"If Blu-ray can play a role in shifting people to high-def, that's great," he says. Demonstrating Blu-ray is the best way to educate consumers on the technology, Parsons says, and that Disney and Panasonic's "Magical Blu-ray Tour" of malls helped to do that.

"Nobody knew what DVD was when it first came out," he says. "Blu-ray is another one of those kinds of names. It'll happen. People will understand what it is."

Potpourri: Michael Bay and the 51 GB Disc

Masses says that's he's not sure where the 51 GB HD DVD disc is, one year after its "feasibility" was announced at CES.

And what's up with Michael Bay, the Transformers director who has expressed his support for Blu-ray despite his movies coming out on HD DVD?

"He's an artist," says Parsons. "We don't put him up to it or anything."