Consumers Suffer When Technology Gets Complicated

Technology, particularly home entertainment technology, should be simple to use.  This simplicity of use is especially important for home entertainment technology because it ensures that the device that embodies that technology can be enjoyed rather than futzed with in order to make it work.  Far too often technology is complicated by economic factors rather than just technical factors, and is therefore far too difficult to use in many respects.  For example, it's completely conceivable that some new home entertainment gizmo could be so expensive that consumers never get around to buying it, or worse never get around to using it because they're too busy working extra jobs to pay for it.

HDTV DVD technology is a good example of a type of home entertainment technology that has problems.  It has been expensive, but it's not so expensive that normal people can't afford it.  (It has also been coming down in price in recent months.)  High Def DVD technology is also very easy to use, so that's not a barrier to purchasing it and enjoying it. What does present a problem for consumers when it comes to high def DVD technology is the fact that it comes in two incompatible formats that are in a format war right now.

This situation is unfortunate for consumers on a number of different levels.  First of all, the two formats- HD DVD from Toshiba and Blu-ray from Sony- are both good technologies, and either one would provide plenty of enjoyment for anyone who buys the format.  The trouble comes from the fact that no one is sure which format will still be available after the war is over.  Therefore no one is sure which type of format to invest in right now, because while High Def DVD technology is affordable, it's not so cheap that most people can buy one of each type of player. Even if most families could afford more than one high def DVD player, there is also the desire to choose the winning format.  By extension, this creates an aversion to choosing the losing format, so since people don't know which one will win, they're choosing not to choose either of the two.  Again, this is a shame because high def DVD technology in general is good, user friendly technology.

There are some noticeable differences between the two formats though that could influence the outcome of the war.  While both formats are capable of storing an entire full length movie plus its bonus features on a single disc, there is a big difference in capacity between the two.  HD DVD discs can store fifteen gigabytes on each side of the disc, so that if both sides are used, the total storage capacity is an impressive thirty gigabytes.  The Blu-ray format does even better.  Each side of a Blu-ray disc can store twenty five gigabytes for a total capacity of fifty gigabytes.  With a difference in capacity of twenty gigabytes, Blu-ray obviously has superior data storage features.  That having been said, HD DVD generally has superior interactive features, but it remains to be seen how important the ability to rearrange the scenes in a movie or order parts of the wardrobe online really are to most people who just want to watch a movie.

In all, the sooner the format war is over, the better for consumers.