Conference Attendees Debate Blu-ray vs. HD DVD

CNET writes today about the ongoing debate over the battle between Blu-ray and HDTV at the DisplaySearch HDTV conference in Beverly Hills. Some panelists believe that the war will end in a stalemate, although that seems unlikely to me. The only way both formats survive in the long run is if one of two events occur:

1. Manufacturers begin producing dual-format players and recorders
2. Consumers don't naturally gravitate towards one format over the other

I'll take some heat from the HD DVD folks over this next comment, but I don't think there's much question that Blu-ray is the technologically superior format. With almost twice as much disc space as HD DVD, in addition to more support from the various industry players in Hollywood and in CE, the game is Blu-ray's to lose.

As far as I can tell, however, the primary reason HD DVD exists is because it costs about half of what Blu-ray does. For consumers who are used to spending $100 or $200 on a DVD player, spending $1,000 on a Blu-ray is a tough pill to swallow. Spending half that on HD DVD is much more palatable.

The bottom line seems to be that if the Blu-ray manufacturers would price their players and recorders at a premium to HD DVD, but well short of a 100% premium, they would blow HD DVD out of the water. But as long as HD DVD remains more more attractive from a price perspective, it will continue to sell well with consumers.