New Technology TV

If you've been paying any attention to television technology in the past few weeks, then you know that the format war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD is heating up. Both formats are capable of delivering full length movies in high definition TV format on an optical disc the same size as a standard DVD or CD, but are incapable of being played on each other's players. Because of this, combined with the general consensus that only one format will survive the war and the memory of the VHS/Betamax format war of the nineteen eighties, many consumers are hesitant to buy into either technology because of the fear of choosing the losing technology and being left with an obsolete piece of junk in the end. If you've been paying any attention to television technology in the past few weeks, then you know that the format war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD is heating up. Both formats are capable of delivering full length movies in high definition TV format on an optical disc the same size as a standard DVD or CD, but are incapable of being played on each other's players. Because of this, combined with the general consensus that only one format will survive the war and the memory of the VHS/Betamax format war of the nineteen eighties, many consumers are hesitant to buy into either technology because of the fear of choosing the losing technology and being left with an obsolete piece of junk in the end.

Over the past few months though, the Blu-ray format which is backed by Sony, has made huge strides over HD-DVD which is backed by Toshiba. This is largely contributed to the roll out of Sony's new Play Station 3 video game console which is able to play movies from Blu-ray discs. The combination of the facts that many video gaming enthusiasts have bought the units for the gaming and bought movies on Blu-ray disc to play on them, and the fact that the Play Station 3 costs substantially less than other Blu-ray players have added to the success of the format. In fact, there are now far more Blu-ray players than HD-DVD players on the market (despite the fact that HD-DVD players are substantially cheaper) and Blu-ray disc sales have risen to beat out HD-DVD discs by two to one since the beginning of the year! Blu-ray players are also expected to drop in price to the point where they'll be even more competitive with HD-DVD players by the end of the year.

Now Toshiba is retaliating with a new offer to provide five movie titles on HD-DVD disc for anyone who buys an HD-DVD player before the end of July. This could be a good incentive to buy an HD-DVD player for some people, but there are a number of reasons why it probably won't make any difference in the long run. First, Toshiba has already tried this exact same promotion back in 2006. If it didn't cause people to buy HD-DVD players in droves then, when the playing field was more level and wide open to either format, then why would it generate any interest now when it looks like Blu-ray might be poised to win the war? After all, an obsolete piece of junk that you just wasted five hundred dollars on is still and obsolete piece of junk and a waste of money even it it has five HD-DVD's with it! The other reason why this won't work is simply because, Blu-ray is just to popular right now.

While this may be generous of Toshiba and its partners to offer five free movies on HD-DVD along with HD-DVD players, it really looks like a futile effort of a format in its death throes.