Blu-ray is almost guaranteed to win the optical media format war, and a landslide victory is just around the corner. That's what Frank Simonis, the chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association ( BDA ), said in an interview with Tech.co.uk yesterday.
Simonis was keen to dispel fears about the high prices of Blu-ray players by citing DVD as a format which started out being very expensive and came down in price as demand increased. The comments followed the announcement at the BDA press conference yesterday that the Association expects Blu-ray to be the standard optical media format within three years.
He said the two main reasons why Blu-ray will win over HD DVD are its greater capacity and the larger number of movie studios supporting the format.
"The fact that BD hardware is now outselling HD DVD for the first time, and that BD software titles are outselling HD DVD by three to one, is a very good indication of where it's going," he said.
Content is king
"If you look to Blu-ray, it's designed to cope with demand not only of today but it will last for 10 years just like DVD lasted. We did a clear round of interviews and the studios came back to us saying that what they need, above all else, is capacity. For them, capacity is what they need to showcase all the goodies they have within their movies, including the bonuses and the unique stuff which they usually don't show in a cinema.
"And having say only 30GB capacity, like HD DVD, they [the studios] clearly indicated that it's too limited; they need the extra capacity and that's why most studios chose Blu-ray, and that's why there are many more Blu-ray titles available than HD DVD."
Simonis went on to say that taking care of the PC market is also key in the battle to win the format war.
"The second point we looked for, where capacity is in demand, is in the PC space. Today, having a 500GB hard disc is not odd, and having a recordable and rewritable 50GB double layer disc is clearly in demand.
Blu-ray beta?
"And if you put all those things together, what do you need the most? Its industry support. And that's where the BDA has invested hugely. And so in our negotiations we got seven out of eight Hollywood studios; we got all the consumer electronics brands. And we got all the PC drive manufacturers behind us, so the high volume makers like Hitachi and LG, Samsung etc. Those are the companies today who supply 75 per cent of optical drives in PCs."
Simonis was eager to quell fears that the Blu-ray format was still in beta and yet to be finalised. He said that the format had been finished in 2005, and that it was only the HD DVD camp that is flirting with the idea of tweaking its format in order to increase capacity.
He was also keen to tell Tech.co.uk readers not to worry about the current high prices of Bu-ray players.
"Price roadmaps evolve over time according to the volume and the market amount. When DVD was launched the players were a similar price - around a thousand euros. And it took two years for the volume to pick up to the extent that the price significantly dropped. There is no reason to expect that Blu-ray will not go through a similar evolution.
The value proposition
"In terms of cheaper HD DVD prices, I can give you one thing to consider. Price is not the only thing that counts; it's the total offer. And for people who have bought an expensive HD-ready screen, which in most cases is around £1,500 plus, it does not really matter if is a £400 or an £800 optical media product - as long as it delivers what they expect it to deliver, including the right number of movies and including the right level of entertainment, with the right brands also.
