A Long and Bitterly Fought War Comes to an End

Peace at last! Our prayers have been answered and the war is finally over. And although this is a time for rejoicing, we should also spare a thought for the many causalties, those who have fallen in battle. May their memories live on in documentaries on whatever gimmicky format we'll be watching in the future.

Yes, that's right, the two-year long format war between HD-DVD and BluRay has finally come to a premature end.  Frankly, I was hoping Toshiba would "do a Bush" and invade Sony factories on the pretense of disabling their weapons of mass incompatibility, while at the same time fearing Sony would turn fundamentalist and fly an airliner into Toshiba headqurters. As it was though, Sony benefited from their shock and awe tactics, invading the market with their shiny BluRay-playing PS3.

There's a lot being made of the similarity between this format war and the VHS/Betamax format war of the 80's, Sony's Vietnam of format wars, if you will. But there's a vital distinction. VHS and Betamax only ever really had to compete against each other. Neither format was designed to replace an existing widespread technology. BluRay, now it's established some form of dominance, will have to deal with the insurgency of the DVD faithful.

Can you imagine everyone now suddenly deciding they need to spend around 400 squids on a brand new DVD machine just because Mr. Sony wants them to? Oh, and by the way, you're not getting the full effect unless you shell out a couple of grand on a new telly while you're at it. And don't forget the surround sound.

I for one will not be running out to buy a BluRay player because a) the discs cost a bomb, b) I hate Sony and c) if I did, they'd only just come out with a new shorter-wavelength laser system called GoldShower or something and we'd all have to upgrade again.

And to hear them talk about it, you'd think that any system not based on the new tech will be like watching an oldstyle flicker-show in comparison. Because as we know, anything that's not really expensive and new is akin to watching prehistoric cave drawings animated by a blind lemur with cramps. And in the really old days when people went to the cinema, they'd just inject LSD directly into your eyeballs so's you'd enjoy the shadow puppetry.

I don't care what they say, I'll never give up my Betamax machine, so long as my copy of Smokey and the Bandit still works on it...