In a column for Home Media Magazine, Thomas Arnold calls upon Toshiba, Universal, and Paramount to ‘knock it off’ and cede the format war to Blu-ray to unify the market.
With Warner Home Video dumping HD DVD, the format has the support of just two of the six major studios. It cannot win. At best, it can be a spoiler, but I’m hoping Toshiba, Universal and Paramount will take the high road and, for the good of the entire industry, bow out. Universal and Paramount, in particular, need to jump on the Blu-ray Disc bandwagon so we can go into the new year with a unified front and a unified mission: To educate consumers about the advantages of high-definition media and convince them the time to transition from standard DVD to Blu-ray is the day they bring that HDTV into their home.
I agree completely. At this point HD DVD cannot win. The only choice is between a prolonged war and a unified market that can move forward as one. Toshiba has done some good work on HD DVD hardware, work they could just as readily apply to Blu-ray and produce some top notch players. Their HD DVD player platform could very readily be converted to Blu-ray.
A unified HD format market would reduce consumer confusion and hesitation and help speed adoption. It would also encourage investment in production infrastructure, which has lagged as companies are worried about investing in plants for the wrong format. It is time to put the war behind us and work on improving the product offerings. At this point continuing the fragment the market is just sour grapes and being sore losers.
If Toshiba, Universal, and Paramount won’t do the right thing, the Best Buys and Wal*Marts of the world could end the war too. Someone, step up and stick a fork in HD DVD. Put it out if its, and our, misery.
Via Blu-ray.com.
