HD DVD Dead By Fall 2007

[Tekman]

had an interesting and very informative conversation with Ken Lowe of Sigma Designs and what he had to say about the next-gen DVD format war blew me away. But first, a little bit about Sigma Designs and why this man’s opinion should matter to those of you on the fence. Sigma Designs’ media processors work with both standards and currently power six of the nine Blu-ray players available on the market today including Sharp, Sony, Panasonic, and Pioneer. He’s not playing favorites, just telling it like it is.


Maybe I’m being naïve about the whole format battle, but I didn’t think that an end would be in sight for quite some time. I will concede and say that I’m wrong. Ken looks at it like a game of chess. Blu-ray is picking off HD DVD’s rooks one by one and their King is about to be ‘mated. If HD DVD is able to make a significant move within the next 60 to 90 days then they might save themselves, but the holiday season will determine the winner, says Ken. Cutting the price on HD DVD players just isn’t going to cut it. He also tells us that the PC market is playing a bigger role than first expected. What’s the one thing we always desire in our PC/Mac? More space, right? Blu-ray offers 25GB on a single-layer, 50GB on a dual-layer and HD DVD can only muster up 15GB and 30GB, respectively.

HD DVD is dead, people. Blu-ray is the clear champion and you better straighten up or you’ll be wasting your money. But if you’re like me then you won’t be making your next-gen DVD purchase for quite a while. Shall we sit on the porch with a cold beverage and see how and when this battle will turn out?

http://crunchgear.com/2007/06/27/int...d-dvd-is-dead/