Retailers Press For Unified HD DVD Format

datemenatalie writes "While the war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray continues over who will be the direct successor to DVD, the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) has issued a strong statement to Hollywood and the consumer electronics industry regarding the looming HD format war. The statement, which supports a single high-definition disc format, also offers advice on dimensions, packaging, features and even how marketing materials should be designed. The statement argues, "two formats, each capable of storing high definition movies on DVD, are planned for release into the market. Retailers uniformly agree that the concurrent distribution of more than one format is likely unsustainable, and that the launch of a single format is preferable to a format war which could confuse the public and lead to reluctance to embrace either format." This comes just weeks after early indications that HD-DVD will only allow playback of full 1080 resolution video signals through HDMI connectors, leaving consumers with older HDTVs (pre-HDMI) out of luck."

Comments

Re:"This comes weeks after.."

[NekoXP]

I wouldn't buy a Plasma display even if you paid for it.

When I say "hi-def" I mean anything which reportedly displays ATSC resolutions.
I wouldn't put plasma screens in that category since most of them simply DON'T
(if plasma really doesn't catch up with LCD in terms of native resolutions I
don't see a future for it).

DLP, CRT displays would be my choice. There are plenty of HD sets around based
on that technology, and plenty which support HDCP. The consumer should be advised
NOW on what sets do and do not support this (and where I come from this is the
job of the RETAILER - CompUSA, Best Buy, Circuit City, whereever you go..) and
choose accordingly.

Removing the "requires HDCP" from the HD-DVD spec would simply mean it would not
be used for the next generation DVD format. Blu-Ray would die on it's arse too
if it also did not mandate this technological feature. Sony are perfectly happy
to levy all kinds of fees (Macrovision notwithstanding) and cripple their own
devices because they are also a movie studio which makes the vast majority of the
movies and culled billions in license fees on the DVDs you probably already own :)

You are an idiot if you went out 3 weeks ago and bought a non-HDCP capable set
considering you knew the media industry would be clamouring for it. Call yourself
a nerd who wants news that matters? You clearly don't read this site or any other.

Neko