Blu-Ray Disc Association: Disc format war to end in 18 months

Much had been said about the ongoing format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray. For one thing, it has caught the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in the crossfire. Depending on what format you prefer though, all of this is going to be over soon, according Blu-ray Disc Association Chairman Frank Simonis.

“Due to the fact that we have some hard competition which sometimes makes strange moves, it’s very unpredictable,” said Simonis. “But I think in the next 18 months it will be very exciting to see what’s going on”

Simonis, who is also Philips‘ Senior Director for Communications, further mentioned that consumers will be deciding soon because of all the new products coming into the market. Apart from the format war, there will also a battle between different brands for both the Blu-ray and HD DVD that will further cost “price erosion”.

Definitely a good observation from Simonis part but in the end, he couldn’t help but somewhat sell his company’s preferred one. He commented:

We don’t like to oversell ourselves, but we right now see that there is a major transition taking place from publishers who said they would initially go only for HD DVD and now make the move across the Blu-ray. [This is] based on the sales numbers of software happening in the Far East, US and also now in Europe.

Much had been said about the ongoing format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray. For one thing, it has caught the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in the crossfire. Depending on what format you prefer though, all of this is going to be over soon, according Blu-ray Disc Association Chairman Frank Simonis.

“Due to the fact that we have some hard competition which sometimes makes strange moves, it’s very unpredictable,” said Simonis. “But I think in the next 18 months it will be very exciting to see what’s going on”

Simonis, who is also Philips‘ Senior Director for Communications, further mentioned that consumers will be deciding soon because of all the new products coming into the market. Apart from the format war, there will also a battle between different brands for both the Blu-ray and HD DVD that will further cost “price erosion”.

Definitely a good observation from Simonis part but in the end, he couldn’t help but somewhat sell his company’s preferred one. He commented:

We don’t like to oversell ourselves, but we right now see that there is a major transition taking place from publishers who said they would initially go only for HD DVD and now make the move across the Blu-ray. [This is] based on the sales numbers of software happening in the Far East, US and also now in Europe.