Feisty CEA Panel Debates HD DVD, Blu-ray Battle

[Jeff®]

http://www.twice.com/article/CA6381702.html

Feisty CEA Panel Debates HD DVD, Blu-ray Battle

By Steve Smith -- TWICE, 10/16/2006 4:08:00 PM
San Francisco – The ongoing battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray disc got a full airing Monday morning during a frank exchange of opinions during a panel discussion with members of the respective formats answering questions from each other, industry watchers and the audience at the CEA Industry Forum.
The Forum, being held here, was moderated by Brian Cooley, editor at large with CNET, the panel featured Mark Knox, advisor of Toshiba’s HD DVD Promotion Division, and Andy Parsons, Pioneer’s senior VP of product development and chairman of the Blu-ray Association’s U.S. Promotion Committee. discussion had Chris Crotty, senior analyst of CE for iSuppli and Patrick Beaulieu, NVIDIA’s Pure Video technology manager and the audience chiming in at various times.To jump start the discussion Cooley released the results of a recent CEA/CNET Tech First Panel which showed that while awareness is high for the formats from early adopters, real familiarity of each is low, there is much confusion and the so-called “format war” is turning off many from buying either type. For instance, such misinformation included:

• That 24 percent of those polled were not sure if either HD disc format was compatible with the existing DVD format.
• Less than one-third of “tech enthusiasts” or early adopters are interested in buying an HD disc format at this point.
• 81 percent of those consumers interviewed are most concerned about the price of the hardware and the cost of updating their extensive DVD libraries with new software.

Knox said that with HD DVD the market now has a format that is “here, new, cool and well-priced.” Parsons volleyed back saying one of the strengths of Blu-ray, that it currently has backing from seven of the eight major studios and that a consumer “fear would be not having content.”
Crotty’s first comment of the panel was a double-edged sword towards both formats and their backers. “Both sides should be commended for coming up with these formats, but this is most pointless format war ever.”
Beaulieu said that NVIDIA’s decoder works with both and he feels that “the PC is where the format war will be decided.” And he added that it will “not necessarily be the quality of either format or the technology that will win” harking back to the days of other format wars where the best product did not necessarily win out.
Crotty complained that consumers have not been made aware of the benefits of either format, saying that while cable companies are flooding the airwaves with ads about digital cable, HDTV on their systems, et al, “Where are the ads for HD DVD and Blu-ray?”
Knox said that the HD DVD demonstration area at shows such as last week’s DigitalLife in New York is one way to get the word out. “Consumers need to experience the technology.” Later Knox lamented that unlike DVD’s introduction “Many retailers don’t do retail demonstrations like they used to in the late 1990s where they demonstrated technologies and qualified consumers interested in the products.”
Parsons partially answered the issue of education by saying that Blu-ray has been available for four months and that HD DVD has been out for six months and that during the first 18 months of the DVD launch “we were just getting the studios” to fully get behind the format. He added that even with the comparatively faster start of these two formats, it takes a while for even early adopters to embrace a new format.
Crotty agreed, but stressed, “This isn’t 1997. Going from DVD to an HD disc is not as big a stretch as explaining to consumers about going from VHS to DVD.”
Beaulieu brought up the point that acceptance of either format may not entirely revolve around CE products, “Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 will sell millions and consumers will put these devices in their living rooms. They will have HD DVD or Blu- ray drives, so this could be a PC-based battle.”
Parsons volunteered that CE companies have seemingly made a determination that the “game buyer is different than the home theater customer,” and that the early adopter would turn to more of a stand-alone deck then a game system peripheral as the main HD disc player of the home.
Crotty noted that for the mainstream consumer there may not be a lot of time to educate the consumer since, “both sides are wasting time and money fighting each other. They should be fighting the common enemy, online HD downloads that will compete against them.”
Parsons and Crotty then when back and forth as to when such downloads might become a problem. Parsons said bandwidth is still too narrow for it to be an immediate concern.
“Today people still go to Best Buy to buy DVDs even though they could download movies.” said Parsons.
Questions then came from the audience about hybrid disc or combo hardware. Parsons and Knox said that nothing in the licensing rules for either format would preclude such a product. But it was acknowledged that unless a combo disk for the formats could be developed, like the one announced recently from two Warner Brothers engineers, retailers will still be stuck with carrying twice the inventory to support both formats.
Cooley asked the audience during the question and answer portion panel whether or not they would want an HD disc deck that acted like a regular DVD player and played movies or one that acted more like a PC and overwhelming show of hands said the former. Cooley then quipped, “I think we may have saved millions in product development” for both formats.
Crotty commented about the whole issue of combo decks that “by the 2007 holiday season some manufacturer will be offering that product,” no matter what the software concerns are by retailers.
Bernie Appel, veteran RadioShack merchant, CE Hall of Famer and president of Appel Associates, tried to place the entire conversation into perspective.

“You can go back beyond the 1990s to the 1960s with records. Many people don’t remember records, but companies developed turntables for albums and singles. The consumer wanted that. The same held true with 8-track and audio cassettes, later on VHS and Beta and then DVD. The consumer always decides. What that means to you [talking directly to Knox and Parsons] is that eventually, one of you will be out of a job.”

[AV_Integrated]

When did the PS3, X360, or Wii become a 'PC' product?

Last I checked, those things ALWAYS were CE pieces that go in the family room and get connected to the TV.

Wait, let me check... Yep! No 15-pin SVGA connector or DVI connector on my PS2. I would never classify a dedicated gaming system as a 'PC' based product, just as I wouldn't classify a stand alone DVD recorder with built in hard drive as a 'PC' based product. Everything has chips in it these days. Anything advanced runs on some sort of operating system. It's a long way from having to deal with Windows though.