Is HD DVD Trying to Lose?
As many of you know I have been somewhat of a critic of the high definition DVD format war. I have never understood how apparent shortsightedness and desire for short-term corporate licensing profits could have prevented so many companies from embracing a unified format. Instead, most companies are bent (I could end the sentence here) on duking it out and forcing customers to flip the bill and go through the decision-making process.

But HD DVD of late seems to WANT to fail. Or at least the software companies backing that format (Warner Home Video in particular) want it to fail.

I mean, what other reason would there be for the hybrid HD DVD/DVD format?

Here is an advertisement in a local Circuit City flyer I received this week:

So, we see from this flyer that “HD DVD discs cost more than Blu-ray”. THIS is what the consumer sees when they go to the store. This is what the consumer sees when they look at the flyer. The consumer doesn’t realize that this is a hybrid DVD and HD DVD format disc.

And the consumer doesn’t care.

Because NO consumers are going to WANT hybrid HD DVD/DVD discs.

Why won’t consumers want these hybrid discs? Because no one likes to spend 3x the cost of a regular DVD just to have a disc available in the eventuality they decide to buy a high definition DVD player whose format may or may not exceed niche status let alone “win” the current format war.

People with HD DVD players already are simply being forced to pay for the additional cost of manufacturing and mastering that goes into including the DVD side. They get no real benefit and in fact would do better if they could just buy a straight HD DVD disc.

In case this isn’t apparent enough to our readers, please read my lips: Warner Home Video, whether on purpose or by sheer bad taste, is sticking it to HD DVD. There is no option for consumers to purchase HD DVD only versions of this (or other current) movies from Warner Home Video. So what’s going to happen? People are going to think twice - that’s what. And people are going to start wondering why HD DVD movies (in some cases) cost more than their Blu-ray counterparts.

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