OTHER TECH

Then it all became warm and fuzzy as futurist and famous business author John Naisbitt gave a rather vague endorsement of Blu-ray as the disc of the future. He somehow managed to compare the competition between Blu-ray and HD DVD to the competition between Boeing and Airbus for the jumbo-jet market. He concluded by saying that instead of merely "entertainment for the masses, Blu-ray would be massive entertainment for the individual."

Although Blu-ray players and recorders are currently in production, representatives of the BD camp at CES made no firm commitment as to when commercially recorded movies and games would become available. However, TDK is cranking out blank BDs for those who want to make their own high-definition recordings and producing specially armored discs for commercial releases that are far more robust than existing DVDs.

HD DVD's Heavy Artillery: ContentThe venue moved to a nightclub at the super-luxe Bellagio Hotel on the Las Vegas strip for the presentation from the HD DVD group, which restated the advantages of its format - mainly ease of disc manufacture - without making much reference to the competition.

The big story was that a significant number of content suppliers have committed to delivering movies and other high-def video material on HD DVD by this autumn. Paramount announced 20 titles, Universal 3 titles, Warner Home Video 50 titles, and New Line Cinema 10 titles. HBO, which recently joined the HD DVD camp, announced that The Sopranos and Angels in America - among its most acclaimed productions - would be available. HD DVD's structural similarities to DVD mean that the new discs can be authored with minimal changes from the DVD releases beyond the higher-resolution images, so they should arrive in stores when promised.

HD DVD players, however, were not much in evidence at the show, and few introductions have been announced. Toshiba, which developed the system and is its most vociferous advocate, did promise it will have a player this fall for $1,000. Toshiba's hardware partners are Sanyo and NEC, but NEC no longer has a presence in consumer electronics.

During the press conferences on Wednesday, the day before CES officially opened, Blu-ray definitely seemed to be in the lead. Of the six major manufacturers represented, five - LG Electronics, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, and Sony - showed BD players and announced ardent support for the technology. (It always comes as a shock when Sony and Panasonic are on the same side of the fence.) Only Toshiba expressed strong support for HD DVD. Thomson, which owns the RCA brand, has signed on to both systems but is not actively marketing either. Yet given the stronger content support for HD DVD and its disc-manufacturing advantage, it's still anyone's guess which format will score a hit with the public. Things should become clearer when S&V and other magazines actually get their hands on products to review. Stay tuned. < < Back to the International CES 2005 index