Suppliers Seek to Avoid DVD Format War

DAN ALAIMO

LAS VEGAS — There were signs of a compromise in the hard-fought high-definition DVD format war during the Consumer Electronics Show here last week.

Warner Home Video, Burbank, Calif., was expected to announce the Total HD disc, which would work in either Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD players, according to media reports. Warner was a leading proponent of DVD when it was first introduced.

Also at the show, LG Electronics USA, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., introduced the Super Multi Blue Player that would play both of the incompatible high-definition formats seeking to succeed DVD as media for movies and other content.

“Short of the industry's convergence on supporting one single format, both solutions — hardware and software — announced this week are the most encouraging developments so far,” said Mark Fisher, vice president, membership and strategic initiatives, Entertainment Merchants Association, Encino, Calif. Still unknown is whether the new technologies will be affordable and how much content they will be able to deliver, he said.

“However, if either of these solutions are embraced as an industry standard, consumers will be more apt to jump in and enjoy the excitement of high-definition media,” Fisher said.

If the result of these announcements is increased demand for the high-definition formats and fewer stockkeeping units, supermarkets will be more likely to take part in the business, he added.

For many supermarket video executives who are still seeing customers struggle with the transition from videocassettes to DVD, the new high-definition formats appear to be a long way in the future. However, forestalling a format war can only be a good thing, they agree.

“It will definitely help the HD DVD and Blu-ray formats, but I think it is still going to take some time before people are going to really accept it and embrace it,” said Bob Gettner, video buyer/coordinator at B&R Stores, Lincoln, Neb.

It's strictly wait-and-see at Bashas', Chandler, Ariz. “I just don't know how that is going to play out,” video specialist Ray Wolsieffer said. “It goes back to the economics. If it is priced right, where the price point is reasonable for the consumer, then people are going to be interested.” Meanwhile, the retailer continues to do a good business in DVD, having only recently phased out VHS.

In a New York Times article, Barry Meyer, chairman and chief executive officer of Warner Brothers, said the company concluded that neither HD DVD nor Blu-ray were going to disappear from the market like Betamax many years ago, so the company came up with the new format.