Feisty CEA Panel debates HD DVD, Blu-ray

October 24, 2006

In a recent CEA panel debate, held in San
Francisco, we get a glimpse of the perspective of the "generals" in the battle to win the hearts and minds of the consumer in this costly blue laser struggle. We can read what Mark Knox, adviser of Toshiba's HD DVD Promotion Division, Andy Parsons - Pioneer's senior VP of product development and chairman of the Blu-ray Association's U.S. Promotion Committee, Chris Crotty had to offer, in respect to how the formats for high definition are being presented/marketed to the public.

Crotty complained that consumers have not been made aware of the benefits of either format, saying that while cable companies are flooding the airwaves with ads about digital cable, HDTV on their systems, et al, 'Where are the ads for HD DVD and Blu-ray?"

Knox said that the HD DVD demonstration area at shows such as this month's DigitalLife in New York is one way to get the word out. 'Consumers need to experience the technology." Later Knox lamented that unlike DVD's introduction 'Many retailers don't do retail demonstrations like they used to in the late 1990s, where they demonstrated technologies and qualified consumers interested in the products."

Parsons partially answered the issue of education by saying that Blu-ray has been available for four months and that HD DVD has been out for six months and that during the first 18 months of the DVD launch 'we were just getting the studios" to fully get behind the format. He added that even with the comparatively faster start of these two formats, it takes a while for even early adopters to embrace a new format.

Crotty agreed, but stressed, 'This isn't 1997. Going from DVD to an HD disc is not as big a stretch as explaining to consumers about going from VHS to DVD."