This week the bad news for the HD DVD consortium just keep spinning horribly out of control. Not only did one of the few remaining studios to use their format (WB) announce they were going exclusively with Blu-Ray, but there are serious rumors that Apple is about to announce Blu-Ray players in their desktop computers, and there are even whispers now that Paramount may opt-out of their deal with HD DVD as well.
So it looks like Blu-Ray wins the day. Ok. But the bigger question is… does it really matter? The industry drastically overestimated how quickly the market would jump to adopt the HD standard. The vast majority of people still don’t have an HD system, or plan on getting one in the NEAR future (soon they won’t really have a choice).
Bill Gates (Microsoft has been behind the HD DVD format) made some statements the other day regarding the new developments of Blu-Rays impending victory, that on the surface just look like damage control and spin doctoring… but he may actually be correct. Cinematical gives us this:
“HD DVD did well over the holidays. The other trend we’re seeing is that direct download over broadband – I think the greatest example of that is XBox Live – (is) becoming an important choice. Over time, that will be the dominant way that people get their movies.”
So essentially what Bill is saying is: “Yeah, Blu-Ray wins… but it doesn’t matter, because all Disc technology is going to be irrelevant very soon and people will be downloading their movies”
Now, I’ve said for a while that we’re still a little ways off from that happening if for no other reason than broadband speeds still aren’t high enough for most people to want to get their movies that way. But the time IS coming, and since I don’t think that Blu-Ray beating out HD DVD will cause many more people to quickly adopt HD systems, Bill may very well be correct.
Many people I know don’t ever plan on getting an HD system and are planning on just waiting for downloads. Personally… now that the fight seems to be over, I think I am going to get a Blu-Ray player… but I can see where the non-adopters are coming from too.
So what do you think? Does Blu-Ray winning the HD disc battle actually mean anything? Will you now get a system? Or is it all irrelevant?
