High Definition Television (HDTV). Something To Fight For

High Definition Television (HDTV) is the mainstream on technological arena and is sweepingly moving forward. Lucky us! The prices for HDTV are gradually going down due to high competition. So, today almost anyone can benefit from high-tech TV.

HDTV wouldn't be so popular without supporting technology such as digital video recorders handling HDTV programs.

HDTV format can provide a great number of channels than ever before. Different industries, such as video game systems, are taking advantage of this high definition technology.

Format War for HDTV

The success of this technology generates competition! This time in the world of high definition television giants, the battle is given for 'format'. The story reminds of the Beta-max vs. VHS format war.

We witness the opposition of two formats designed for HD digital video disc. Both use the blue laser technology for data encoding.

The HD digital video disc is the same size (physically) as a normal DVD and is able to hold on a full length high definition movie. Consumers can benefit from some bonus features and materials that are added onto a disc. The great challenge is that the formats are incompatible. Most of the available digital video recorders/players are only supporting one format, meaning they won't play the other one.

Consumer's Dilemma – Avoiding Failure

The irony of the situations is that consumers are those who decide which part will win and at the same time they are the ones to fail in their choice. The widespread adoption of one of the formats is a matter of time. There will certainly be those of the consumers who will benefit and those who will fail.

Consumers for sure remember the last format war, when many people got stuck with a bunch of useless Beta-max cassette players and tapes. Now, consumers are more cautious and most of them are impatiently waiting to see which of the two formats will come on top before investing in new technology.

Formats' Technical Specifications

Due to the fact that both technologies use blue laser the technical specifications of both formats have similarities. Blu-ray disc format promoted by Sony gains credits when it is about the amount of data it can store. A Sony disc stores up to 25 GB on each side (50 GB both sides). Toshiba's HD-DVD disc stores 15GB on each side of the disc (30 GB both sides).

Many say that the amount of stored data is not an index of quality. At its turn Toshiba wins ground in terms of digital video players, which are sold about half the price of Blu-ray players.

Public opinion opts for Blu-ray format considering purely technical capacity of storage. Though, many think Sony's Blu-ray format is already the winner, however many opt for Toshiba's HD-DVD format considering it of a greater quality.

In order to win the war both parts have chosen two main tactics:

Sony as well as Toshiba are adding bonus features making their technology more attractive to consumers. This in the end will be a pure benefit of the consumers!
Both competitive companies have the backing of some really big names in the electronics, software, and movies industry. On one hand, Microsoft backs HD-DVD format offering HD-DVD drive to its popular Xbox 360 gaming system. On the other hand, movie companies such as 20th Century Fox have already engaged in releasing movies on Blu-ray discs. Still some other movie studios are releasing movies on HD-DVD discs. The third ones are not actually backing any of the formats, but are going the safe route releasing movies in both formats.

To make the picture complete it should be mentioned that new technologies such as high definition television already generate wars. One must know that time has shown us that the market for up-to-date technologies isn't quite that simple as it seems. Wars can sometimes look ugly and unfair! At this point many predict that the war will continue for a longer period as it doesn't seem like there will be found any solution.