Remember Beta vs. VHS?

I'm not sure if anyone else out there remembers this, but there was a time when Beta tapes and VHS both held about 50% market share among the consumers. Of course today VHS has been declared the winner for over a decade, though DVDs are quickly making VHS tapes as obsolete as Beta tapes. The main reason VHS won out over Beta was because Sony, the inventor of Beta, pulled an Apple Computer on everyone and wouldn't allow anyone else to manufacture Beta tapes. At the same time, VHS tapes could be made by anyone, and were. So what you had was TDK, Maxell, and a dozen other companies pumping out VHS tapes and having to compete against each other. Well, competition leads to lower prices; lower prices lead to more people buying VHS than Beta, which leads to Beta being used only in Hollywood because of it's higher quality image.

Well, get ready for another no-holds-barred media content conflict. High Definition is the land of the new frontier. DVDs today, on a big screen HD TV, look fantastic but actually don't utilize the entire HD capabilities of the TV. Welcome to the world of High Def DVDs.

There are currently two competing standards for this new type of DVD; DVD-HD and Blu-ray HD DVD. DVD-HD was developed by Toshiba and Blu-ray was developed by none other than Sony. Both types of players are expected late 2005/early 2006, so you'd think the studios would want to get together and make a decision as to which type of High Def DVD they'll be using.

Well, the studios have done just that....kind of.

You see, Warner Home Video, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment have all thrown their hats behind DVD-HD. Meanwhile, Disney has just thrown their backing to Blu-ray and joined Sony Pictures (under the Colombia banner) and the soon to be Sony owned MGM library.

In a slight twist on the Beta vs. VHS tale, Sony has actually gotten support from about 90 manufacturers eager to do business the Blu-ray way. DVD-HD has some support as well, but not to that degree.

This story still has many chapters to be written, but as of right now I'd say don't doubt the Mouse House; Blu-ray will win.