Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: The Blu-ray Perspective, Part 1
DMN Interview By Charlie White 
Pioneer's Andy Parsons speaks for the Blu-ray camp The format war for dominance in the high-definition packaged media business has gotten off to a rocky start for both HD DVD and Blu-ray. In this extensive interview, Consumer Electronics Net talks with Andy Parsons, Senior Vice President of Product Development for Pioneer USA and the Chair of the Blu-ray Disc Association's US Promotion Committee. In part 1, Parsons gets us up to speed with the existing players available now, and asserts that the competition between the two formats is not as close as some commentators say. CEN: It looks like we're just beginning a format war. Give us your take on the competition between HD DVD and Blu-ray. Parsons: A lot of the press coverage that's been coming out that's talking about Blu-ray versus HD DVD has been characterized as neck-and-neck battle. I understand a lot of people are looking at the initial products that have been shipping as representative of the formats. One of the things we want to communicate is that we're just at the very beginning of this whole thing. We're just beginning to get products on the market from a variety of companies. Titles are now beginning to appear. Warner Bros. just shipped their first Blu-ray titles yesterday (Aug. 1, 2006), which is great. It means now that we have three studios actually shipping titles now. But one of the things that we really want to communicate is that we also have a number of other companies planning to ship products throughout the rest of this calendar year, which means less than five months. Companies like my own (Pioneer), Panasonic, Sony, and Philips will also be releasing consumer-electronics players, as well as Sony's plans to introduce PlayStation 3 in November. read more...
Pioneer's Andy Parsons speaks for the Blu-ray camp The format war for dominance in the high-definition packaged media business has gotten off to a rocky start for both HD DVD and Blu-ray. In this extensive interview, Consumer Electronics Net talks with Andy Parsons, Senior Vice President of Product Development for Pioneer USA and the Chair of the Blu-ray Disc Association's US Promotion Committee. In part 1, Parsons gets us up to speed with the existing players available now, and asserts that the competition between the two formats is not as close as some commentators say. CEN: It looks like we're just beginning a format war. Give us your take on the competition between HD DVD and Blu-ray. Parsons: A lot of the press coverage that's been coming out that's talking about Blu-ray versus HD DVD has been characterized as neck-and-neck battle. I understand a lot of people are looking at the initial products that have been shipping as representative of the formats. One of the things we want to communicate is that we're just at the very beginning of this whole thing. We're just beginning to get products on the market from a variety of companies. Titles are now beginning to appear. Warner Bros. just shipped their first Blu-ray titles yesterday (Aug. 1, 2006), which is great. It means now that we have three studios actually shipping titles now. But one of the things that we really want to communicate is that we also have a number of other companies planning to ship products throughout the rest of this calendar year, which means less than five months. Companies like my own (Pioneer), Panasonic, Sony, and Philips will also be releasing consumer-electronics players, as well as Sony's plans to introduce PlayStation 3 in November. read more...
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