HD DVD, we hardly knew you

Adam Turner
Tuesday, 20 February 2007 10:52

Opinion and Analysis

It seems premature to declare Blu-ray the victor in the format war with HD DVD, but so far HD DVD isn't putting up much of a fight.

The Blu-ray camp's continual claims it's already won the battle to be the high definition successor to DVD are arrogant propaganda but, at least in Australia, the HD DVD camp doesn't seem to be proving them wrong.

Blu-ray is dominating the headlines at the moment after last week's Australian launch, with big retail names like JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman backing the format. Where's the response from the HD DVD camp? Where's the ambush marketing? Where's the fake grass roots campaign? Come on people, its the time to take off the gloves if you want to beat Sony at its own game. Prematurely claiming victory might seem like a dirty tactic, but if Blu-ray says it enough times people will believe it and it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Toshiba is the lone supporter of HD DVD in Australia and its has already given Blu-ray a massive head start. Toshiba's HD-E1 1080i unit was late to market in Australia - not hitting the shelves til January - and the HD-XE1 1080p player isn't due out later this month.

A salesman in one discount electrical store told me the other day that HD DVD wouldn't be available to March - but they would stock it "when it was available". Meanwhile I was surrounded by Blu-ray players. What hope does HD DVD have if people don't even know it's out yet? If you walk into a store and all that's on display is Blu-ray, you don't have much of a choice do you? Stores like JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys and Harvey Norman are the stores where your mainstream shoppers shop, and they're where the format war will be won or lost.

I've also had several reports of Blu-ray shelves popping up in video rental stores, but I'm yet to hear of a HD DVD shelf. I'm sure there's a few out there but the fact I'm only hearing about Blu-ray - both in the media and through friends - tells me Blu-ray has the mind share it needs to win the format war, at least in Australia.

The PlayStation 3 is due for release in Australia in March, it has a built-in Blu-ray player and I suspect it could be the knock out punch in this format war. The Xbox 360 has an optional HD DVD player but, if PlayStation 2 v Xbox sales are anything to go by, the PlayStation 3 will blast the Xbox 360 off the shelves.

Globally the fight between HD DVD and Blu-ray is obviously close, but in Australia it seems all but over. Some might say it's too early to write HD DVD's obituary, but it already has one foot in the grave and doesn't seem to be putting up much of a struggle. At least Betamax went down fighting.