2007 in Review No. 9: HD DVD versus Blu-rayzzzzz…

Stuart Dredge 2007 In Review
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blu-ray-hd-dvd.jpgPart of our series of festive posts looking back at the key happenings in 2007…

One of the most dispiriting tech stories of 2007 has been the ongoing war of statistics between HD DVD and Blu-ray, in which each side has regularly proclaimed its dominance, using a bewildering variety of metrics. It’s been a willy-waving contest from start to finish.

Of course, it’s important to know which format is winning, if any. Consumers don’t want to get stuck with another Betamax, so they’re waiting to see which format looks likely to come out on top before parting with their cash.

But the real story isn’t about which format has x% of the market. It’s about how big the overall market is for BOTH of them. And it’s not as big as it should be: mainly as a result of confusion around the whole format war. In 2008, something needs to happen to solve this.

Check our other 2007 In Review posts by clicking here

Stuart Dredge
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7 comments

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  • It is hard to say such a thing is clear.
    Significant change, it is.

  • […] The court said that copy protection violates private copying rights. (Hm. That last sentence just made me realize the oxymoronic nature of “copyright”, which is really “copynoright”. :P) This contradicts the European Copyright Directive, and the movie studio is likely to appeal. […]

  • PS My favourite blog comment of all time, posted at Engadget this summer in reply to someone who reminded us who invented/first introduced the portable mp3 player and the touchscreen phone (so good I saved the text):

    “I guess you people forgot who also invented the first PC, the mouse, the gui, the floppy drive, usb, and CDs.”

    Can YOU guess which company he/she was referring to?

  • Sony bashing is the favourite past-time in the tech world these days. If they found a cure for cancer and handed it over to the UN gratis you’d still read the whining complaints and criticisms of Microsoft/Nintendo/Apple users.

    My favourite is the regular complaint about the “proprietary Sony Blu-ray format” that appears in blogs and fora. These idiots refuse to acknowledge the well-known fact that more manufacturers developed and back BD than did/do HD-DVD! More than did CD and DVD too!! (Other great products brought to us by horrible Sony, with regular partner Philips in these cases. Don’t often hear complaints about “proprietary” CDs and DVDs, do you….)

  • Sorry guys, but I have to side with Sony et al on this one (for once). Many reasons, but mainly the fact that HD-DVD refuse to include PS3 owners in their stats. This would be fine if they then didn’t include every PS3 owner in disc sales stats. If, as they claim, no PS3 owners buy their console for BD, why include them in disc stats? Because that reduces the number of discs sold per BD player in relation to HD-DVD, that’s why. It’s called fixing the figures.

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