Cell phone carriers have been offering video services for a while, but the big problem is the tiny screen. I have only seen a few people watching paid videos on their phones, but I’ve seen many people watch their own videos or pictures. Apple’s iPhone promises to change some of that. It’s basically an iPod that’s become a phone, and in case you didn’t know, iPods have been video-capable for a while now. These devices have wider screens than most phones or MP3 players, but the screen dimensions are not wide-screen as in what you expect in HDTV. (Sony’s PSP does have a wide-screen that’s more in the home theater style)

A lot of people don’t see why someone would bother to watch videos on a phone. The screens are so small, so how can you possibly appreciate a good movie? The answer is that people aren’t watching movies, they’re watching episodes of TV shows, or even YouTube videos which are usually even shorter. These are all concerns that a home theater buff might have, but they’re irrelevant in the portable setting. This is actually all about taking your favorite funny videos with you to share with friends, or enjoy while you’re waiting around (or on the potty). If your lifestyle does not include significant amounts of waiting around, for example you are not a bus or train commuter, then it’s difficult to relate to this use of video.

The internet speeds that the iPhone operates at are too slow for enjoying streaming video, it’s more about downloading these things and watching them later when you get around to it. Apple also makes the Apple TV which is a set-top box for downloading videos, but their downloads are not HD yet. All of this video downloading is part of a trend that many say will make the HD DVD and Blu-ray formats insignificant in the future. The theory goes like this: (more…)

A lot about how things play out in the HD DVD and Blu-ray format war are just plain common sense. One need only refer to other competitions in the consumer electronics marketplace to see how history is repeating itself with the next-gen DVD formats. This week’s edition of Business Week has a great analysis that echoes themes and ideas presented here in past articles:

• Sales figures are too inconclusive to say that one side is doing better than the other, and retailers will need to keep supporting both formats for quite a while.
• Not counting PS3 sales, Blu-ray player sales are behind those of HD DVD players, and sales of HD DVD players have dramatically increased in the last couple of months.

An interesting tid-bit in that article is about Toshiba’s efforts to invite Chinese manufacturers to the HD DVD party. In recent months, there had been news about WalMart possibly bringing out a $199 or $299 HD DVD player later in the year from one of these manufacturers. That deal was since denied, but I’m predicting that we’re likely to see a bunch of inexpensive HD DVD players as 2008 starts in another five or six months. That’s the kind of pricing strategy that will ensure HD DVD a solid footing on retail shelves for quite a long time. And it’s another good reason for you to get off that fence and get in on the HD DVD action now.

By the way, you don’t have to wait until 2008 for a $199-$299 HD DVD player, because players are already selling in that price neighborhood right now at retailers like Amazon.

Some of you might say that day will come when “hell freezes over,” but history demonstrates that this particular hell has frozen over numerous times in response to evolving business conditions. Let’s go back a few decades (perhaps before you were born) when the major videogame consoles were made not by Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo, but by Atari, Mattel, and Coleco. Atari was the biggest of them, and they could boast about the numerous exclusive titles in their library. Mattel had some pretty good games too, but nobody could really compete against Atari’s big lead.

The business reality for both Atari and Mattel was that there were plenty of people in the other camp who would never cross over. There were enough of these potential customers that it made business sense to make games for the competitor’s system. It seemed like heresy to suggest that Atari would make its classic games like Battlezone, Centipede, and Pole Position available for play on Apple ][ computers, PCs, or the game systems from Mattel and Coleco—but they did. Atari’s venture into making games for PCs and other game systems was called AtariSoft. Mattel and Coleco even joined the cross-platform lovin’ and followed Atari’s example. (By the way, The First Quarter : A 25-year History of Video Games is a great book to read if you’re interested in more videogame history)

What’s the HD DVD and Blu-ray point here? (more…)

If you’ve ever followed or studied the stock market, you’re probably aware that certain companies and products end up being good indicators about what’s coming a few months later in the economy for a particular industry. For example, an increase in orders for construction materials means that more homes or buildings are being built, which means that business conditions for people buying homes or buildings must be improving as well. Or let’s say a company makes a kind of machine that’s used in manufacturing electronics equipment. Higher sales of their machines means that their customers (consumer electronics manufacturers) are ramping up production of whatever products they make with these new machines. In either case (construction or electronics), it means that consumers will be getting those products a few months later, and a few months after that, we’ll hear that the industry had a good sales period.

In a similar way, you might have heard about the following products on the gadget websites in the last few days or weeks (or months):

• Toshiba Qosmio Laptop gets 0.5-inch HDDVD-RW Drive
• Acer announces HD DVD-equipped laptop with 20-inch screen
• HP Pavilion dv9000t HD DVD-equipped laptop gets good reviews (Editor’s choice at PC Magazine)
• Alpine and Toshiba demonstrate automotive HDDVD player

What’s important about these products? Especially that last one, which isn’t even coming out for over a year? (more…)

If most of your friends have chosen a particular format, guess what? They’ve chosen the format for you too, and you hadn’t even realized it yet!

Get the same HD format that your friends have. It’s as simple as that! Your friends probably like the same kinds of things that you like — that’s how you probably became friends in the first place, isn’t it? It follows that your friends share your taste in entertainment, and being the good friends they are, I bet you’ve already borrowed movies from each other now and then. Do the logical and practical thing, and extend this into your HD choice!

You’ll live happily ever after, loaning movies to each other, recommending titles, exchanging tips about products and technologies, and on and on. It’ll even bring you closer together. (Or further apart if you insist on bragging that their movies are better on your home theater system).

Next up, are your family members, your acquaintances, and associates at work, school or whatever organization(s) you’re involved with. These people come into your life—not entirely by your own choosing—however they’re there and their selection of movies is something you can probably freely borrow from (that one was for the Grammar Natzees in ‘da house!).

In short, don’t sit on the Hi-Def fence when you don’t have to. The format war has barely even started, and it’s not likely to be decisively won or lost any time in the next 12 or 24 months. By continuing to “sit on the fence,” you’re missing out on a lot of good content for your home theater investment. If you’ve already got friends, family, or associates to trade with, then you’re definitely not coming out ahead by waiting and waiting.