Format Wars Rage in High Definition

Blu-ray and HD DVD slug it out to become next-gen movie media

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 9, 2007 12:59 PM CDT

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Format Wars Rage in High Definition — An HD-DVD video disc of "The Bourne Supremacy" is seen at left, with a Blu-Ray disc of "Superman Returns" at right, at a Ken Crane's Big Screen Headquarters store in Buena Park, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon) (Associated Press)

Meet the new VHS and Betamax. It’s unclear who’s winning consumer tech’s latest format wars, the Economist explains, but both Blu-ray and HD DVD claim to be the high-def successor to the DVD. The cheaper HD DVD sells more stand-alone players, but Blu-ray sells more disks and is supported by Sony’s PlayStation 3.

Early on, Blu-ray looked poised for a knockout, with Hollywood’s biggest studios behind it, until Paramount and Dreamworks jumped ship last month, the former for a rumored $150 million. The move will make HD DVD's lower-priced players a much bigger factor. Both formats could still lose to download services, igniting a new format war over software standards. (Read more Sony stories.)

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