Sony Open to Blu-ray and HD DVD Discussions

The Sony exec in charge of the company's foray into next-gen Blu-ray DVDs said this week that his company is open to discussions with the backers of the competing HD DVD about the development of a single standard. However, no efforts have yet been made by either side towards such a goal. Sony's Yukinori Kawauchi told Reuters in an interview that from a consumer perspective, "one format is better than two."

This is perhaps the first real sign that there may be a thawing in the cold war between Blu-ray and HD DVD. Up to this point, it has essentially been a battle of press releases as backers of the rival technologies scramble to bring on board Hollywood studios and other technology companies like Apple to show support for their format. What's clear, however, is that a future with both technologies won't be a victory for anyone, consumers especially. (Just ask the SACD and DVD-Audio crowd how well two standards work.) The industry needs to settle on a single format that can be brought to market as quickly and affordably as possible. I've said it before and I'll reiterate my position: HD DVD may be the better short term solution, as it appears to be more compatible with existing DVD technology and will probably be less expensive for consumers to purchase. Long term, Blu-ray will probably win out because of the additional storage capacity it offers.

Here's hoping that the two sides can get together and work out some kind of settlement that aids the cause of both HD DVD and Blu-ray while ultimately focusing primarily on the consumers who will be the ones adopting next-gen DVD technology.