Will CES showcase a solution to the Blu-ray/HD DVD war?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 02 January 2008 06:16

Opinion and Analysis

Thankfully, most of the latest Blu-ray and HD DVD players are able to upscale DVD movies too, at least giving consumers the ability to watch their existing movies in nicer quality without needing to buy the same movies again, and giving some people a reason to spend the extra money for a Blu-ray or HD DVD player.

But why all of the focus on simple playback? Consumers love to record content, and a player can’t record. CES will hopefully showcase some recording Blu-ray and HD DVD players for the western global market – they’re already available in Japan but at astronomical prices.

Sadly, if any Blu-ray or HD DVD recorders are launched next week, they’ll be super expensive, meaning most consumers won’t get access to affordably priced models for at least a year, if not two.

By then, recording of high-def content to hard disks, whether through live recording or video downloads, will be even more prevalent than recording and downloading of standard definition content onto hard disks (by legal or illegal means) is today - and we can't forget that downloads of high-def content are already available today, and will only accelerate, especially as the world's broadband gets ever faster.

So – expect plenty of sound and fury at CES over Blu-ray and HD DVD – but understand that ultimately, it signifies nothing but expensive and slow technology that will soon be a boat anchor, alongside a raft of consumers that will wish they never got caught up in yet another format war as they instead download movies, TV shows and more - straight to hard disk!