Comments on: Dispatches from the format war: HD DVD vs. Blu-ray

Crave updates the HD DVD/Blu-ray format war, including recent events from CES 2007 and more.

[whygeorgiawhy87]

I doubt digital media downloading will trump discs

The article is well thought out, but the very last point leaves me a skeptic. One major thing to remember about the Xbox 360, PS3, and other media stations is that the retailer makes little money by selling them.

If Microsoft started selling (instead of renting) HD movies on the Xbox Live Marketplace, I don't believe the major retailers (that also sell movies) would sell the Xbox 360. Discs are relatively easy to make. They're cheap! Sure, BR-Rs and BR-RWs are a little more expensive to make than your conventional CD-Rs, and DVD-Rs - however, retailers mark these products up exponentially. You may easily pay 1000% of what the retailer paid in some cases; that depends on what you buy (and where) of course.

Therein lies the problem - why would a retailer support a product that will make it less money than a product that would drastically increase revenue? It wouldn't. No intelligent retailer would make such an investment. The company creating the device for downloading the content would need to build its own specialty stores just to get that product to the consumer - in the end it just wouldn't be worth it.

So, whether it is HD DVD, or Blu-ray, I am confident that it will be a disc that will end up being the preferred source of High-Definition media.

[whygeorgiawhy87]

I doubt digital media downloading will trump discs

The article is well thought out, but the very last point leaves me a skeptic. One major thing to remember about the Xbox 360, PS3, and other media stations is that the retailer makes little money by selling them.

If Microsoft started selling (instead of renting) HD movies on the Xbox Live Marketplace, I don't believe the major retailers (that also sell movies) would sell the Xbox 360. Discs are relatively easy to make. They're cheap! Sure, BR-Rs and BR-RWs are a little more expensive to make than your conventional CD-Rs, and DVD-Rs - however, retailers mark these products up exponentially. You may easily pay 1000% of what the retailer paid in some cases; that depends on what you buy (and where) of course.

Therein lies the problem - why would a retailer support a product that will make it less money than a product that would drastically increase revenue? It wouldn't. No intelligent retailer would make such an investment. The company creating the device for downloading the content would need to build its own specialty stores just to get that product to the consumer - in the end it just wouldn't be worth it.

So, whether it is HD DVD, or Blu-ray, I am confident that it will be a disc that will end up being the preferred source of High-Definition media.