Microsoft News Tracker

As mentioned previously, the warring factions in the high definition DVD format fight were touting their respective wares at the Consumer Electronics Show. Aaron Dobbins from BetaNews sat down with both sides to get their stories which appear in Blu-ray: What Format War? and HD DVD: Blu-ray Has Problems which are both worth a read. However, for the bottom line see Dan Nystedt and Martyn Williams’ article in PC World, DVD Format Wars: Bad for Everyone?:

The drive to replace DVD technology with newer discs boasting greater storage capacity has come down to two major competing formats, and the coming marketplace battle will be bad for companies and users, the head of a major U.S. technology products retailer said Friday.

“The damage the industry does to itself by not choosing a format is enormous,” said Brad Anderson, vice chairman and chief executive officer of Best Buy, one of the largest U.S. consumer electronics and appliances retail chains. “Two incompatible formats is as much a nightmare as you can make for consumers,” he added.

And don’t forget there’s a third format for China.

Update: Gary Gentile has more at the AP in an article subtitled Pioneer, Toshiba Promise Nasty, Drawn-Out Technology Format War for High-Def DVD Players which also points out that the longer the partisans of round and shiny battle among themselves, the more time the purveyors of various video download options have to eat their lunch.