It seems Sony’s Blu-Ray format is finally winning the public relations battle of the high definition formats. Blu-Ray and HD DVD have been frantically fighting a bitter war over the last couple of years – similar to the VHS Betamax one back in the 80s – to win consumers hearts and minds and to create the next dominant movie format.
In October, I researched both formats myself to see which would be best to have in my home and I nearly decided to go for a Toshiba HD DVD player.
However, just as I was about to pop into my local Comet after extensive online research, I thought I would pay a visit to my local video store – Blockbuster. When I asked the guy behind the counter where the HD DVD movies were I was told that they weren’t going to be stocking them as they were backing Blu-Ray and that made my decision for me. Read an article here on why Blockbuster choose Sony.
To be honest I think that is a major reason why Sony is selling two to every HD DVD player. If people can’t hire a high def movie from their local Blockbuster many will be likely to give the technology a miss.
Personally, I think the HD DVD format is good but if you want high definition movies and you wouldn’t mind playing a few decent computer games too then Sony’s PS3 is going to push you to fork out the £300+ for a console.
I bought mine in November and it was worth it – the PS3 is a fabulous console, with loads of functionality, it is a little pricey but I still believe it was well worth it. My next mission is to convince my wife that we need a digital TV recorder.
Read yesterday’s BBC article on the format war.
Chris Norton is the founder of Prohibition and an award winning communications consultant with more than twenty years’ experience. He was a lecturer at Leeds Beckett University and has had a varied PR career having worked both in-house and in a number of large consultancies. He is an Integrated PR and social media blogger and writes on a wide variety of blogs across a huge amount of topics from digital marketing, social media marketing right through to technology and crisis management.
