There is the competition of dominance for the DVD's next generation format between Blu-Ray and HD DVD, and it reminds me of that of VHS and Betamax. Sony tried to continue producing Betamax because they developed it but Sony stopped producing Betamax many years ago. Betamax lost the race although it had a higher quality.
Now Blu-Ray is beginning to dominate the competition. Netflix, online DVD-rental company, announced on February 11th that they were giving up on HD DVD format. And four(*) of six American major film companies have decided to adopt only Blu-Ray format for their DVD. Under the circumstances, Blu-Ray seems to win the race.
(*)The four film companies are Warner Bros., Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Buena Vista Home Entertainment. On the other hand, Paramount Home Entertainment and Universal Studios Home Entertainment support HD DVD. What will they do about this matter? I'm curious.
次世代フォーマットの覇権争いがブルーレイとHD DV Dの間にありますが、これは私にVHSとベータマックスのそれを思い出させます。ソニーはベータマックスの開発者としてそれを製造し続けようとしましたが、何年も前に製造を中止しました。ベータマックスは品質がより優れていていたにもかかわらず、競争に負けたのです。