DME ResourcesJanuary was quite a month for technology enthusiasts, with MacWorld and CES showcasing tons of cool new gear and promising much more in the coming months. Video is taking center stage in 2007, as manufacturers and service providers dump research and development money into video like never before. While some of the major players are still sticking to their proprietary guns, it's refreshing to see that at least a few are doing the exact opposite.
- Warner Brothers Total HD (THD) Disc is certainly a novel idea, with HD DVD on one side and Blu-ray on the other. Warner stated via their press conference at CES that the first movie releases in the THD format will be in the second half of 2007. The two things I found most interesting about this announcement were that Warner claims the discs will not cost materially more than a regular disc, and that Warner claims they will not be charging licensing fees for others who choose to use the format in the future.
- LG Super Multi Blue Player is to be the first HD DVD and Blu-ray combo player. While LG should be commended for being the first on the block to get a combo device to market, I'm thinking sales will be lackluster as many will find the $1,200 price tag a bit hard to swallow. Of course, as other mutli-format devices hit the market and competition increases, the price of HD combo players will come down.
While some are already claiming that one format or the other has already won the war, the fact of the matter is that both formats will co-exist for quite some time. With dual-format discs and dual format players/recorders being developed at this stage of the battle, this "war" is looking more and more like the +R vs. -R "conflict" than it is like the VHS vs. BETA war where there was eventually a clear winner.
