The War is Over

Peter Suderman, guest blogging for Andrew Sullivan, reports that Toshiba has ceded the field to Sony, making Blu-ray the market’s official hi-def format. And as it also turns out, this outcome may not be all sunshine and roses:

For one thing, the discs and the equipment are more expensive. Increased demand may take care of some of the cost difference, but prices are likely to remain higher for a longer period of time than they would have had HD prevailed. For another, up until now, whenever Blu-ray and HD released concurrent versions of the same title, the HD releases tended to have more features, and many folks reported preferring the interactivity of HD.

The biggest problem, though—at least as far as I’m concerned—is that Blu-ray was released as an unfinished format. Early players aren’t able to play all the features on newer discs (this has already resulted in some legal trouble for Sony), and players with the final hardware profile aren’t expected to hit the market till late this year.

As with the iPhone, it would seem, first in line is not always the most rewarding spot to occupy. I find myself retroactively grateful that the closest I’ve been able to get to a Blu-ray disc or player so far has been the displays at the local Best Buy. (My God, the fish in Finding Nemo look like you could reach out and touch them!)

~ by Jeff on February 17, 2008.