An end to the hi-def battle?
TEXT OF STORY
BOB MOON: You may have heard about the battle between the two high-definition DVD formats. Sony makes Blu-Ray players. Toshiba makes ones featuring HD-DVD. For now, consumers can only hope the player they buy will win the format war. But there may be an answer to that dilemma. Ashley Milne-Tyte has more.
ASHLEY MILNE-TYTE: Next week Warner Brothers will be the first studio to release a movie on all three DVD formats. The one most of us use, plus Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.
But a few Warner Brothers employees have applied for a patent on a new disk that could be read by any player.
Technology analyst Rob Enderle says it’s a good idea in theory, but the reality is that right now, few consumers are buying high-definition players.
For one thing, they can cost up to $1,000 and even then . . .
ROB ENDERLE: “Content is mixed, and a lot of folks having seen the content think that regular DVDs played on one of the new DVD players with upscalers on them look almost as good.”
Upscalers enable the high-definition look minus the cost of a high-def player.
Enderle says the new disc has potential for success only if consumers begin embracing high-definition en masse.
I’m Ashley Milne-Tyte for Marketplace.
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