Is the tug of war over high-def DVD format over?
NEW YORK -- Peace may be at hand in the nearly three-year battle to provide HDTV owners with an affordable DVD player that can handle any movie that shows off high-def's vivid video and rich surround sound.
"Warner's jump was the last straw to break the camel's back," says Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment President Bob Chapek. "The format war's over."
But it also isn't predicting victory.
"There are a lot of other product areas where different formats coexist," says Jodi Sally, vice president of marketing for Toshiba's digital AV group. "Look at gaming (where Nintendo and Microsoft compete with Sony). There are discs that won't play in each other's machines. Apparently that is the current scenario" for high-def DVDs.
Her view chills executives and technophiles who say that most consumers won't buy two machines — or a pricey combo player — so they can enjoy HD versions of Disney's Ratatouille as well as DreamWorks' Shrek the Third, or Sony's Spider-Man and Paramount's Mission: Impossible.
"We interview consumers, and over the last year 60% didn't want to buy either format until there was a clear winner," says Envisioneering Group director Richard Doherty.
With consumers reluctant to buy into the new technology, Hollywood studios are left selling conventional DVDs — which have grown tired after 12 years in the market. Spending on sales and rentals last year fell 3.1% to $22.9 billion in 2007, according to trade magazine Video Business.
That also opens the possibility that HDTV owners will wait until they can download the movies they want.
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