Got Those DVD Blues

In a future world of video-on-demand, the stakes in the blue-laser DVD battle may not be as high as they now seem. ¶ Here we go again: another battle for the hearts and minds of the TV-viewing public. This time it’s ... Blue vs. Blue in a conflict between two high-capacity “blue-laser” DVD standards: Blu-Ray Disc and HD-DVD (HD stands for high definition). At stake is the ownership of an optical storage standard for movie distribution, TV recording, computers and games. ... ¶ ... In a decade, however, widespread deployment of HDTV video-on-demand services and hard drive video recorders (e.g., TiVo) could slow uptake. "Most people just want to time-shift TV programming,” says Levitas. “If my cable provider gives me video on demand and a hard-drive recorder, why do I need a blue-laser recorder? If there’s a competitive library of on-demand high-def content, do I really need to own a disc anymore? I don’t think blue-laser will be as popular as VCRs were or as red-laser DVD is likely to be.” ... Technology Review link