Independent studios lift HD-DVD over Blu-ray in Europe
The battle for next-gen format supremacy rages on as HD-DVD takes the lead in the European front by virtue of positive reception shown by independent studios.
Studio Canal, Filmax, Pathe and 32 others have decided to use Toshiba‘s medium for carrying High-Definition material. The Blu-ray disc brings a much more hefty storage capacity to the table with 50GB of space so that everything fits in. However, Blu-ray players can run the cost of about US$ 900, making it hard to purchase for the average user.
Analysts say that the battle is still in its early stages and anything can still happen. The price point lure of the HD-DVD is met by the PS3 strategy from Sony. By selling next-generation consoles, Sony also racks up the ownership of Blu-ray players as the game machine uses that specific drive. This is reminiscent of the Netscape-Internet Explorer war a decade ago, with Microsoft ending up as the winner by bundling IE to Windows. Blu-ray still has the advantage in North American markets, though.
“I have met much more commitment from partners involved with HD-DVD than Blu-Ray. I met Sony in mid-2006 but the support was far below what was offered by the HD-DVD partners,” said Rudolphe Buet of Studio Canal.
On a side note, Sony and Toshiba once worked together with IBM to develop the PS3’s proprietary Cell Processor for the high-end game machine.
Via FT
The battle for next-gen format supremacy rages on as HD-DVD takes the lead in the European front by virtue of positive reception shown by independent studios.
Studio Canal, Filmax, Pathe and 32 others have decided to use Toshiba‘s medium for carrying High-Definition material. The Blu-ray disc brings a much more hefty storage capacity to the table with 50GB of space so that everything fits in. However, Blu-ray players can run the cost of about US$ 900, making it hard to purchase for the average user.
Analysts say that the battle is still in its early stages and anything can still happen. The price point lure of the HD-DVD is met by the PS3 strategy from Sony. By selling next-generation consoles, Sony also racks up the ownership of Blu-ray players as the game machine uses that specific drive. This is reminiscent of the Netscape-Internet Explorer war a decade ago, with Microsoft ending up as the winner by bundling IE to Windows. Blu-ray still has the advantage in North American markets, though.
“I have met much more commitment from partners involved with HD-DVD than Blu-Ray. I met Sony in mid-2006 but the support was far below what was offered by the HD-DVD partners,” said Rudolphe Buet of Studio Canal.
On a side note, Sony and Toshiba once worked together with IBM to develop the PS3’s proprietary Cell Processor for the high-end game machine.
Via FT
About The Author
