[Blu Ray vs HD-DVD]

They both use the same laser technology. They both support the same audio and video codecs. They both support 1080p. I can only discern two major technical differences:

* Blu Ray discs have a higher capacity than HD-DVD discs.
* Blu Ray offers an extra copy protection layer beyond AACS.

It seems to be a marketing game at this point. What's really funny to me is how the sales staff at the major retailers spin Blu Ray over HD-DVD. I usually politely avoid sales staff. Nowadays I make an effort to hang out around the DVD player section and wait. I have a 100% track record of having the staff recommend Blu Ray. This is non-scientific, but comprises at least 15 different occasions among 4 retailers in 3 states.

At an FYE in Missouri over Christmas, I wanted to purchase an HD-DVD for a friend who just got the Xbox HD-DVD add-on as a gift. When I asked where they were, one salesperson went so far as to say, "HD-DVD is over there, but if you want to step up to the better technology, I'd go with Blu Ray." When I said, "It's not really better, they both use the same codecs and support the same resolution, Blu Ray just has a higher capacity," he didn't respond. I guess if you are running a tit for tat counter based purely on tech specs and avoiding cost, Blu Ray would seem to have the photo-finish edge thanks to the capacity. But that isn't compelling enough to me to state that it is unequivocally a better technology.

I can't prove it, but based on looking through ads from the major retailers each week, and based on the consistent recommendation of Blu Ray over HD-DVD in person, Sony must really be paying big dollars to mold perception. I don't think it is wrong for Sony to directly pay retailers to train their staff to recommend Blu Ray over HD-DVD, it's just a very interesting play. Some may call it marketing. And I believe they are winning the game for mindshare at this point.

Tis a shame really. I loathe Sony after the rootkit debacle. I've been on a personal Sony boycott since that time. It's easy not to buy Sony consumer electronics. I even replaced a perfectly good DVD burner in my computer just to say that I have divested myself of Sony products. It's not as easy to avoid Sony's media presence. I've forgone a few good movies I wanted to see because it was either put out by Sony or one of their subsidiaries. Same with music. But principle is principle. I am not going to support a company that approved and implemented the surreptitious installation of software on consumers' PC's, then played the spin game and drug their heels on rectifying the situation when they were caught.

If Blu Ray "wins" the format war, I guess I will just be waiting for the VOD / direct download future to arrive before I get to enjoy HD content on a regular basis. I'm not very hopeful about that future either based on some of the early incarnations of video download I've seen. More and more I see the consumer being perceived as criminal by the content producers. With that view comes the mechanisms of control.

I hope Steve Jobs' "heart is pure" in his attitudes towards DRM that he recently expressed. It is strange to see Jobs and Gates fundamentally agreeing that DRM is a broken/flawed solution for the problem of piracy. If the industry visionaries and leaders such as these two say it is so, maybe the content cartels will listen.