Hi-def unification should benefit consumers and retailers alike

Stephen Withers
Friday, 05 January 2007 06:36

IT Industry - Strategy

The competing solutions to the Blu-ray vs HD DVD war slated for unveiling at next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas should benefit consumers.

If you're uncertain about which format will eventually gain the most support from the studios, LG will announce its dual-format player. As recently as last September, a company spokesperson told the US media that there were no official plans for such a device.

During 2006, Ricoh announced a laser suitable for use in a dual-format drive, while NEC announced a hybrid controller chip. Sony and NEC set up a joint venture to produce combo Blu-ray/HD DVD drives last November. It seems the Korean-based company has stolen a march on its big-name Japanese rivals when it comes to getting the technology into the hands of consumers.

For those who have already plumped for one type of player, Warner Bros will show the first of its "Total HD" discs designed for use on any type of player. In September 2006, the studio patented a scheme using three separate layers on one disc:  the base layer is regular DVD, the second layer (0.6mm below the surface) is HD DVD, and the top layer (0.1mm below the surface) is Blu-ray.

Broad adoption of this approach would benefit retailers (who would only need to stock one version of each movie) as well as consumers (who would not be tied to a single format).

The potential problems are that other studios might be unwilling to licence Warner Bros' technology, and that only a minority of consumers may be prepared to pay a premium for the multi-format discs. Since manufacturing costs are a small percentage of the price of a new-release movie, the distribution chain should be prepared to swallow the extra cost of Total HD to gain the savings that will accrue from reducing the number of stock-keeping units.