On the Friday before the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show was about to start, Warner Bros. dropped a bombshell on HD DVD by announcing their exclusive support for Blu-ray.
Two days later at a Toshiba press conference, VP of Marketing Jodi Sally admitted that it was a "bad day", but she continued to defend HD DVD as the better choice. No one, including Microsoft (another strong backer of HD DVD) gave any hints at giving up the fight. However, a planned press conference that was to be held on HD DVD was quietly cancelled.
Pundits are now predicting the immediate demise of HD-DVD. Will this be the case?
It turns out that things are not as simple as it may first appear. For example, Microsoft is said to have written 4.7 million lines of software code for their XBox HD DVD player. This effort represents quite an investment. Microsoft also had a major hand in HDi, the interactive language used by HD DVD. Unlike Blu-ray, HDi does not use Java - and Microsoft has shown in the past that Java is not their favorite language.
In a just released report, DIGDIA explains many of the factors that will influence the battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray. Several scenarios are looked at and a prediction is made. This report is available for free at www.digdia.com.
About DIGDIA
DIGDIA helps companies find growth opportunities, create winning strategies & business plans in the digital entertainment value chain. Services include strategic consulting and market analysis with an understanding of the industry value chain and technologies.