It seemed real at first, however. In fact, most of us who followed the battle went from one camp to the other and back again for what seems like 5 years of bickering. Both camps had targeted and convincing arguments when you sat down and talked with them.

No matter what anyone says, it was Microsoft who seemed to be the money and the mouth pushing HD DVD. When you sat down with Toshiba's HD DVD folks, Microsoft was always there.

The Debate Ensues: FUD Appears
I thought that the strongest points in HD DVD's favor were some of the features the format had built into the players, including the ability to "skin" content in real time. This would include putting your head on an actor. I was also sold by the idea that old equipment could be used to crank out HD DVDs. Of course, nobody used any of the numerous fancy features of HD DVD, and the compatibility argument was best appreciated by the true counterfeiters who were stamping out movies on ships positioned outside the 12-mile limit in the South China Sea. Still, the arguments sounded good.

The Blu-ray folks—who tended to be from Sony or Panasonic—were always defensive about this war. When you sat down with them, they seemed miffed, actually. It was as if this Johnny-come-lately HD DVD format came into the game late just to screw with them. Sony had been working on Blu-ray for years, and this situation and this interloper was ridiculous to them. It was kind of funny to witness this seething.

The Blu-ray folks never had the best arguments for their format because they never thought they needed them. They did emphasize that Blu-ray would always have more capacity than HD DVD. Also, Blu-ray was more amenable to being used with a computer as the backup device of the future.

This bickering would go back and forth, along with the notion of a combo player, which would require twice the licensing fees and discrete mechanisms. It became apparent early on that the combo player would not fly.—Next: Playing Dirty >