Greetings Craveaholics!A not so long time ago, in a board room far far away…If you haven’t heard there is a format war going on. Not a VHS or Beta type war. Not even an SACD or DVD-Audio type of war. This is new warfare. In this format war the end product hasn’t even been fully put to market yet. Confused? We’re talking a High Defination optical format and things just got a whole lot more interesting. Would you believe James Bond and Rocky Balboa both have a say in the matter?Don’t believe me? … keep reading! As many of you have no doubt noticed, we here at EyeCraveDVD prefer one HD format and carry the format petition link accessible when reading our reviews. The reason for this is simple – there are currently 2 main rival formats. Meaning more hardware to buy and even more confusing choices for the consumer.In the Blu-Ray Disc camp we have Sony. In the HD-DVD camp we have Warner Brothers. Both are currently fighting over MGM – the studio who brings us James Bond and Rocky movies up the wazoo. Why? Because they would have a giant leg-up on the competition by being able to boast the largest home video catalog that would appear ONLY on the winners High Defininition format. Warners has just countered Sony’s offer with some real cold hard cash. About $5 Billion Dollars! This format war just went to the next level.Interestingly enough it may already be too late. Sony’s partner Panasonic and its Blu-Ray format has just announced a Japanese release that will surely lead to a North American debut. Recordable out of the box, the unit is capable of storing nearly 5 hours of HDTV programming or up to a near endless 63 hours of regular NTSC broadcast video. It’s not cheap though. How does nearly $3000 US sound? Or, $50 for a blank disc? While costs are high now they are surely to fall. With Sony also currently developing their Playstation 3 video game console, the opportunity to incorporate Blu-Ray makes its inclusion almost certain. Further developments are well worth watching.As for HD-DVD, the specs of the format have just been announced and would seem to include Microsoft’s Windows Media 9 compression technology. Possibilities for HD-DVD remain vast. However, without a working prototype the Warners coalition of partners has their work cut out for them.
