Another digital divide

Shopping for next-generation DVDs at a North Spokane electronics store last week, Michael Bushaw said he tells everyone who will listen about the benefits of watching flicks in high definition.

The “crystal clear” picture quality seems almost sharper than what his eyes see naturally, he said.

“Once you see the clarity, it’s like, now I can’t go back,” said Bushaw, 27, of Spokane.

While Bushaw watches HD DVD films on his high-definition television, other movies buffs prefer Blu-ray discs, a competing medium locked in a “format war” for home TV screens. Similar to the 1980s contest between VHS and Betamax video recording systems, the battle over high-definition also may leave some consumers confused or hesitant to drop several hundred dollars on technology for fear it will become obsolete.

But with plans by a California company to build a $12 million Blu-ray manufacturing plant in downtown Spokane this summer, some movie watcher may wonder when they should upgrade and which format they should choose.

“The consumer is very confused because they want their favorite movie, and they can’t get it,” said Lon Gibby, CEO and president of Gibby Media Group, a Spokane Valley-based company that will operate the Blu-ray plant. “It’s just a nightmare for consumers.”

The battle centers on movie selection, price, audio and visual quality and video-game system preference, and proponents of both formats think their technology will crowd out the other. While there are no guarantees that one format won’t go the way of Betamax, consumers who want to invest now can take steps to pick the product that best meets their needs.

The market for high-definition content stems from increasing popularity of HDTVs – often several-thousand dollar investments. Next-generation formats each can hold more content and offer crisper pictures than DVDs, but they use different technology.

Getting an HDTV spurred Bushaw, who watches HD DVDs through a $200 attachment to his Microsoft Xbox 360. “If you pay for the TV, you might as well get your full use out of it,” Bushaw said.

Toshiba-backed HD DVDs, which hold about three times more than standard, 4.7 gigabyte DVDs, debuted a year ago. Sony’s format, Blu-ray, which holds even more data, appeared late last year.

More than 170 companies, including Apple, Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard and Panasonic, support Blu-ray, according to the Blu-ray Disc Association.

For many HD users, movie title selection determines their format choice, said Dan Gannon, a manager at Best Buy in North Spokane. Gannon said Blu-ray is “very attractive right now because of the amount of movies they’re putting out.”

While five major Hollywood studios, including Disney and 20th Century Fox, only release films on Blu-ray, only Universal Studios uses solely HD DVD.

“They’re basing it more on movies instead of the technology,” Gannon said.

From that view, Blu-ray may be ahead, for now. Blu-ray represents about 70 percent of HD discs sold, with more than 1.2 million units sold by April, according to statistics released Tuesday by Home Media Magazine. About 998,000 HD DVDs sold since last April, according to Dane Estes, of public-relations firm Weber Shandwick Worldwide.Top Blu-ray sellers include distributor Sony Pictures’ new James Bond blockbuster “Casino Royale,” which has sold nearly 60,000 copies since it was released March 13, and Warner Bros. Pictures’ “The Departed.”

For HD DVD, Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Batman Begins” sold the most, with nearly 45,000 copies since October.

“It has stirred excitement, that’s for sure,” Gannon said, likening the new technology to the release of DVD. But he noted that “prices are keeping some people away from it.”

Toshiba HD DVD players start at $400. At $600, the Sony PlayStation 3, which offers a built-in Blu-ray player, is the cheapest one.

Discs sell for about $24 to $35.

As of mid-April, people have purchased more than 100,000 HD DVD players, excluding Xbox 360 add-ons, outselling Blu-ray players, according to the North American HD DVD Promotional Group.

Some consumers, Gannon included, want players for both formats. He already owns an HD DVD player, but his next purchase will be a Blu-ray player, he said.

A pricey option for audio-video junkies who want both is a combination player by LG Electronics, Inc. The only player of its kind, it sells for $1,200 at major electronics stores.

Gannon said he’s told his sales staff to stop referencing the VHS-Betamax war. “It doesn’t look like either of them are going away,” he said. “It’s either you want it or you don’t. Either you like the picture quality and you want it or you don’t.”Bushaw said he owns about 30 HD DVD titles, and he was considering buying the 2006 Warner Bros. movie “Poseidon” last week at Best Buy. He’s even purchased HD DVD versions of DVDs he owns because it’s “like a whole new movie.”

“I’ve got most of these already, is the problem,” he said of the store’s selection.

Andy Parsons, senior vice president of new product development for Pioneer Electronics Inc. and U.S. spokesman for the Blu-ray Disc Association, sees selection as a boost for Blu-ray.

Unlike Gannon, Parsons envisions Blu-ray emerging victorious. Retailers are reluctant to stock two of the same titles in different formats, and movie studios dislike creating two versions of movies.

“When you’re talking about audio-visual content being published and distributed to consumers, having more than one format that ostensibly does the same thing is not a good thing,” Parsons said. “It doesn’t last very long when you have two formats.

Kevin Collins, director of HD DVD evangelism for Microsoft, however, views lower prices as a highlight of HD DVD. He said both HD DVDs discs and players are “significantly cheaper” to make, and manufacturing plants can produce both DVDs and HD DVDs on the same lines.

Collins said there are some parallels to VHS and Betamax, but the contest could also mirror the videogame console market, which includes three competing platforms.

Format proponents also debate the merits of disc capacity. Gibby compared buying Blu-ray to purchasing a sweater for a child that’s too big at first so the kid can grow – an analogy used by DVD pioneer Erick Hansen, founder Blue Ray Technologies, Inc, the company planning the Spokane Blu-ray plant.

The additional storage capacity of Blu-ray could be useful for seasons of TV shows, but for single movies, it’s not really needed, Gannon said.

Even with less space than Blu-ray discs, HD DVDs provide adequate space for lengthy movies and audio tracks in several languages, Collins said.

Player feature requirements for the two formats differ. HD DVD players are required to support picture-in-picture special features, such as interviews with moviemakers, and they must offer networking and Internet capabilities for additional content, whereas current Blu-ray players are not.

Although some recent articles suggested that the adult entertainment industry might sway the battle for HD DVD, rumors that Blu-ray discs won’t be allowed to carry porn are false, Parsons said.Bret Suter, a salesman at Huppin’s Hi-Fi, Video and Photo in Spokane, said neither player is more popular.

“We sell quite a bit of both,” he said. “If it’s anything like the VHS-Beta battles, … it could take 10 years for this all to shake down.”

Consumers should consider whether they plan to rent movies locally, start a collection or rent online, he said.

“It seems like most people have heard that there are new things out there and want to know about them,” Suter said.

For people who rent movies in the Spokane area, HD titles are limited to online subscription services, such as Netflix and Blockbuster Online, said Tom Hamilton, whose family owns Premier Video in downtown Spokane.

Justin Stewart, senior game associate for EB Games in River Park Square downtown, said people typically think whichever HD format they have looks great.

“I have really relatively few customers who own both systems and are able to compare them side by side,” he said.

Some new computers also carry HD drives, depending on the manufacturer.

Collins touted HD DVD for people who shoot and edit their own digital videos, saying they could put short HD videos on standard recordable DVDs and play them on HD DVD players.

Dean Lowe, owner and president of Homescapes, a custom-home theater installation company in Spokane, said his company doesn’t install HD players because he is waiting to see which format triumphs.

“There’s a lot of people that are asking about it,” he said. “Some of the people are even going out and buying players now that they integrate. But we’re not recommending it to our customers until we find out a little more about how things play out.”

Collins said he expects DVDs to phase out around 2009, when the federal government requires broadcast TV to switch to digital and people are prodded to upgrade to HDTVs.

Consumers probably don’t need to worry about DVDs disappearing soon, experts say. But more popular HD titles are set for release, including Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies and its animated hit “Cars.” Meanwhile, “The Matrix” trilogy is scheduled for release on HD DVD.

“It’s a publicity war more than anything,” Gibby said. “The fact is, the consumer will make the final decision. It doesn’t matter what anybody else says.”