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Barely a week goes by without at least one member of the Blu-ray disc association claiming victory already/by next week/by the new year. Let’s be honest, it gets a little annoying hearing them blabber on about how HD DVD doesn’t have a chance. Traditionally, the HD DVD promotional group has been less vocal when it comes to the mudslinging, but it appears the PS3 price cut has slightly roused them from their slumber.
The good news is that they aren’t worried. Ken Graffeo, co-chairman of the group and vocal HD DVD promoter, said: “the European PS3 price cut will have a minimal impact on the adoption of next generation HD formats. The real battleground is in sales of standalone players and HD DVD is out in front by a massive margin”.
We’re sure fans of both formats will find plenty to debate in that quote but however you swing in the format war, it doesn’t seem like Panasonic’s prediction that it will all be over by Christmas is especially accurate.
The group was also at pains to point out that the DVD market isn’t reliant on games consoles, with only 40 per cent of US consumers using their consoles to watch DVDs. It’s a bit like comparing apples to Cuban tree frogs — DVD players are so cheap that everyone has one, where as games consoles still cost more.
The promotional group also claimed that HD DVD has 70 per cent of the standalone player market, which is an impressive statistic but still translates to relatively few players sold. It seems the general public just don’t care that much about high definition discs at the moment. Clearly, most people are enjoying upscaled DVDs, which can look very good indeed when played back on decent equipment. -Ian Morris
