Random: So there is this HD Format War... Do you Care? Should you Care?

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Well, it seems as though the format wars are possibly reaching a conclusion, with Sony's Blu Ray format beating out HD DVD. Depending on how you look at it, either this conclusion is vindication for Betamax or something that you wish mirrored Betamax. So, after years of fighting, bickering, and backhanded deals, the future is looking rather bleak for HD DVD. I guess the question then is- was the future ever looking bright for HD DVD? I don't know if I can say yes. It seems as though one of its principal proponents (Microsoft) seems to be rather preoccupied with its own download service. Do they really care about HD DVD? Perhaps we'll find out soon at CES with their rumored Ultimate Xbox announcement. But, I bet that even if the Ultimate 360 has a built-in HD DVD drive Microsoft will still have its agenda entirely on its download service. I wonder if it even matters any more. Let me tell you why.

So, I am not a big, huge, movie buff. I don't find myself in huge need for the "high-def" experience. I watch DVDs, they look great. Am I going to be blown away by a "high-def" disk? I don't know that I would be. Sure it would be greater clarity, but aside from that the experience is the same. But, is it necessary to see every wrinkle on an elderly person, or those little lines in one's iris? I don't think so, and I bet that Joe Shmoe doesn't care either. Do you?

So, the next question that comes to mind is the DVD format ready to leave? I certainly don't think that it is. People still buy DVDs like hotcakes, and I imagine that this trend will continue well past the conclusion of the HD format wars. After all, if South Park was originally aired in 480i, does it really matter to have South Park on an HD DVD? DVDs can do high def audio, you know. My setup sounds great. There are a lot more of these examples I can state, but we'll stick to just that one. I am just not convinced that there is really the demand for this high def format that is currently being fought for. But, as I have mentioned before, I am a regular Joe Shmoe on the outside looking in. Perhaps you know better.

Lastly, and this is simply a postulation â€" do we know whether or not this high def format is not just a transitional format? How do we know that whatever format that wins won't be gone in two years? I bet big production houses would much rather have digital distributions for their properties, which is something that isn't too far out. There are a lot of perks for these houses to do digital distributions only. Big Brother can be a lot more involved with digital distribution. You also can't bring your digital distributions to your friend's house. So, if you want to watch something you own at a friend's house, your friend will have to buy it. (Proof of concept: Virtual Console) Digital distributions can also easily change encryption, even for old releases. Such a thing would appear to be more difficult for physical releases. Lastly, digital distributions also have very little production costs. Get rid of the retailer space, packing, physical media, sales person, etc- I guess what I am trying to say is that the profit margin for digital distributions has the potential to be huge. So, yeah, there is real reason to just use this format war as a faÃ§ade for a transition to total digital distributions. Is this a conspiracy theory? Perhaps, but we'll find out in the future.

So the question for you is what do you think about the format wars? Will the high-def winner ultimately becomes main stream, will regular old DVDs remain king, or will we see a transition to total digital distributions? Time shall tell, it certainly will, regardless of what any of us think.

Disclaimer: David Murnan is the site director for RF Generation, the Classic and Modern Gaming Databases. Given that this said site is a gaming site, the author has no expertise about this high def format war, only regular old observations that may be horribly wrong or perhaps on track. Such is for you to decide. Also, the sky is blue. That is all.

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