Sony announced this week that the first Blu-ray players and discs will be released to stores on May 23, while its HD DVD competitor Toshiba told CNET Japan that it will be ready with a player and titles on about 8 weeks earlier, on March 28. The latter is also planning an HD DVD PC drive for April and an HD DVD recorder for May.
I hate to be a pessimist, but the upcoming launch of both Blu-ray and HD DVD will probably be among the most hyped but least purchased technological developments of the last decade. To be sure, there will be some early adopters with money to blow who might even buy both players to hedge their bets. But for the vast majority of consumers, this will be a non-event until the format battle is settled. The first generation of these players won't even support 1080p, lest you think that new 1080p DLP or LCD you're planning to buy might have some native content to showcase its full HD resolution glory.
So we in the media (both traditional and non) will continue to report on this story, because that's what we do. I might even buy one or both (it's a tax write-off for me, after all). But Joe and Jane Consumer won't, and maybe that's what it will ultimately take for the competing camps to finally realize that dueling technologies are only hurting both of their causes.
http://news.com.com/Toshiba+to+release+HD-DVD+player/2100-1041_3-6044262.html?tag=fd_nbs_ent&tag=nl.e703
http://news.com.com/Sony+sets+Blu-ray+rollout+date/2100-1026_3-6043954.html?tag=fd_nbs_ent&tag=nl.e703
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