Movies are one of my passions. I will not confess how many times I've seen
As of late February, Blu-ray and HD DVD were just one disc apart in total titles available in the United States (167 for Blu-ray and 168 for HD DVD). However, as with most any numbers game, the quantity of titles does not tell the whole story: Blu-ray's title count includes releases from a greater range of studios than does HD DVD's.
If content is the key to winning the format competition, Blu-ray is in the lead.
Buena Vista (Disney), Lionsgate Entertainment, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, and Warner Brothers are all releasing titles on Blu-ray Disc. Of those, all but Paramount and Warner are currently exclusive to Blu-ray.
HD DVD, by contrast, counts only four studios: Paramount, Universal Pictures, Warner, and Weinstein Company. Universal is the sole major Hollywood studio to back HD DVD; Weinstein is the fledging studio of former Miramax Pictures head Harvey Weinstein (in addition to new releases, Weinstein is offering some catalog titles, including Kevin J. Smith's
Few moviegoers may know the studios behind the films they enjoy at the multiplex. But if the high-def player you buy accepts only one format, you'll be limited to that format's available titles (the exception to this rule is LG's BH100, the first player to handle both Blu-ray and HD DVD movies, but not all of HD DVD's extras). Pick HD DVD, and you'll get
If Warner Brothers gets its way, though, you won't have to choose which disc to buy. Earlier this year the company introduced its Total HD Disc, a disc that can hold a Blu-ray movie on one side and an HD DVD movie on the other. But Warner remains the only studio backing the technology so far, and the company won't be bringing the discs to market until later this year.
Eventually--depending upon how the struggle plays out as consumers adopt one format or the other--one camp's proponents will have to reconsider their position should the other side gain enough momentum. If such a change does occur, it could tip the balance completely. For example, if Universal were to join Paramount and Warner in offering titles in both formats, the HD DVD format would be in peril. If multiple studios currently and staunchly in Blu-ray's corner were to swing to the other side, Blu-ray's prospects would dim, and the format battle would drag out considerably. And either scenario is possible: None of the studios are in exclusive arrangements with one format over the other.
Ultimately, the studios will go where their sales are. And in this respect, too, Blu-ray is showing signs of inching ahead.
The first inkling of how the formats measure up at the cash register came in the form of
Much more recently, trade publication
The sales numbers even extend to one of the top-selling titles for both formats, Warner's
I'm wary of drawing conclusions based on these figures--numbers can be parsed in so many ways to tell different stories. But it's a telling trend that I'll be keeping a close eye on. The buying pattern appears to jibe with Sony's recent study, which shows that 90 percent of current PlayStation 3 owners have watched a Blu-ray movie, and that 80 percent of them plan to purchase a Blu-ray movie.
At the Movies: What Do You Get Today?In the meantime, studios are sticking to their corners, choosing which films to release and deciding how to encode and package them on a case-by-case basis. For many new films, studios are releasing the high-def version at the same time as the DVD.
Not all titles receive the same high-def treatment. Many, in fact, come out as high-def movies, but without high-def extra features; some have the same Dolby Digital soundtrack as found on the standard DVD.
Which technologies studios choose depends upon the movie and the rest of the video content taking up space on that disc. For example, the Blu-ray Disc version of
Some audio trends I've observed across the releases: Uncompressed Linear PCM audio is showing up exclusively, and frequently, on Blu-ray titles from multiple studios, while Dolby's lossless codec, TrueHD, has flourished on HD DVD titles, specifically those from Warner. And only Fox has been using DTS-HD Master Audio.
Just a handful of the nearly 200 titles out on each format take advantage of Blu-ray and HD DVD's interactive capabilities.
HD DVD discs are currently more interesting in their innovation--in part because, per the HD DVD format specification, all HD DVD players must meet the minimum hardware requirement to handle interactivity. Universal's
For Blu-ray currently, the extras are less far-reaching--as much a function of the limitations of Blu-ray hardware and Blu-ray's Java-based disc-authoring tools as it is a function of what studios have done so far. For example, the Blu-ray version of
Newer Blu-ray titles are doing more interesting things, though.
The next months, and even 2008, should be interesting. The format struggle isn't resolved yet, and if any of the players in this game makes an unexpected strategic move, it could affect the balance of power.
Meanwhile, I'm still watching the war from the sidelines. And I'm torn: Viacom has announced the release of the
Melissa J. Perenson, PC World
