Yes, there is truth in that statement. So this means that the format war is over, right? Well, not exactly. While Blu-ray sales have passed that of HD DVD this month, “the life-to-date title sales ratios”, according to Ken Graffeo of Universal, are at about 1:1. Graffeo who is the executive in charge of the HD DVD effort for Universal also questioned that “Blu-ray has a 5:1 ratio right now on the hardware side due to PS3, why aren’t’ Blu-ray software sales out-pacing HD DVD by a similar ratio?”

That is a good question. If the market is saturated with Blu-ray players 5:1 over HD DVD players, then the discs should be at or over that same ratio, that is if we’re to believe the 80% plus PS3 owners who according to Sony; indicated interest in Blu-ray movies from PS3 owners. Another point to bring up is the total amount of titles released by both camps so far. The quantity of Blu-ray titles that have been released up to January 2007 is 157, for HD DVD the number is 138. Also Blu-ray has released almost double that of HD DVD this month in titles, 35 to 19.

Since Blu-ray has more titles released and more hardware in the market compared to HD DVD, it seems like Sony should be dominating this format war. Well, according to Sony there is no more war because they have already won it. When the sales numbers barely reflect a win, 100 units of Blu-ray to every 98.71 units of HD DVD, the Toshiba camp isn’t going away anytime soon, apparently rumors of their demise were greatly exaggerated. Steve Nickerson who is senior vice president of market management for Warner stated, “We’re not in this for winning or losing. Both formats are selling well on software.”

R.Hollis

As reported this week, the DCA (Doug Carson & Associates) have announced they have successfully mastered the first 3X DVD ROM for HD DVD commercial use. What does that mean for the avid HD DVD fan? Well it basically means that there is a lower cost alternative to the HD DVD disc already in production, which is a win for the consumer.

The 3X DVD is simply written with the standard DVD red laser technology but combined with the same data structure and guidelines of an HD DVD, which allows for HD content using the AVC, VC1, and MPEG-2 codec’s along with AACS copy protection. The disc will only playback in an HD DVD player and the video quality may not be the same as HD DVD or have the same features available on current HD discs, but it is good alternative for manufacturers.

A couple of examples of where this low cost 3X HD DVD could really shine is with content originally shot in 720p or 1080i and or with 40-50 minutes worth of 1080p extras/supplemental materials i.e. trailers, cast interviews and behind the scenes featurettes. The supplemental 3X disc could be packaged along with the main feature disc allowing for longer play times and or lossless audio on the main disc with longer titles.

R.Hollis

On February 11, 2007 the master encryption code or “processing key” for AACS (copy protection for the rest of us) used on HD DVD and Blu-ray discs was posted on the Doom9 forums by a hacker named arnezami. According to him, it was as simple as recording the changes in memory at the start up of the disc and viola; there was the code to unlock all next-gen discs that have been released to date.

What does this mean for HD DVD and Blu-ray? Both formats use AACS (Advanced Access Content System) for protection against piracy, so both formats are at risk of illegal reproduction. But in my opinion, all this talk about the DRM code being compromised means nothing. This only makes a difference to the people that were not planning on buying these HD titles to begin with and that have already been enjoying downloaded HD content.

Case in point, DVD copy protection was cracked back in October of 1999 and DVD sales for 2005 alone were in the realm of $16.6 billion. We have been able to record, download, and play the “unprotected” DVD format for almost 8 years but yet the consumer still spends large amounts of money on the actual discs sold at retailers.

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