Fight over DVD format may trap customers

Call it VHS vs. Betamax 2.0.

Hollywood and the electronics industry are in the biggest fight over technology since the invention of the VCR, and the battle over the evolution of digital video discs into the high-definition format of the future has divided the heaviest hitters in movies, computing, video games, and home video players into two competing camps.

Both formats promise a visual upgrade over current-generation DVDs, combining the clarity of high-definition television with advanced interactive features (having a director pop up to talk about a scene while the movie is still running, for example), on discs of the same size as those used today.

But unlike the 1990s, when movie studios and electronics manufacturers agreed on a standard for the DVD, there is no compromise on high-definition discs, meaning movies recorded in HD DVD won't work on machines that play Blu-Ray Disc when the products begin hitting the market this spring.

With retailers loathe to referee a fight between their best suppliers, consumers will probably be caught in the middle, presented with the competing products but no assurance of which will be the enduring technology.

''We don't want a format war to occur. The last thing we want to have is customers coming into the store confused about which format is which and what's compatible," said Amanda Tate, a spokeswoman for the Circuit City electronics chain, which nonetheless plans to carry both Blu-Ray and HD DVD players and movies.

As the company did when VHS and Betamax were competing to become the industry standard in the early days of videocassette recorders, Tate said Circuit City will allow customers to figure out which is best for them.

That won't be nearly as easy as it was in 1975, the year Sony launched the Betamax VCR and sparked a bitter electronics format war. The differences between Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs won't be evident to a consumer walking into a store. They are the same size and shape as each other and current DVDs, and work in players or computer drives that look almost identical to today's equipment.

Though their picture quality is stellar, only those with high-definition televisions will be able to fully enjoy either format. The electronics and movie industries are betting that sales of HDTV sets will fuel the purchase of high-definition disc players.

''I don't care how golden your eyes are, you can't just look and be able to tell which one is which," said Mark Knox, a consultant to Toshiba America Consumer Electronics, which plans to start selling the first HD DVD players at $499 in March. ''The difference is not in video quality."

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. will introduce the first Blu-Ray players this spring at a retail price of about $1,000. Neither electronics makers nor movie studios have announced prices for the new discs; current generation DVDs, which will work in the new players but won't carry the same sharp picture, generally cost $20 or less.

The biggest contrast between the new formats is in how movies are encoded and read back by players. Both hold several times more information than DVDs, but Blu-Ray discs can store considerably more than HD DVDs.

How media are recorded and viewed by the public and the number of companies providing the technology have multiplied dramatically since the video cassette era. While consumers did rent and buy movies on tape, in its early days the VCR was used primarily to tape live recordings to be watched later.

Today's DVDs are used for everything from data storage to the creation of independent movies on home computers. They are also the medium of choice for distributing video games played on consoles such as Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and on computers.

But in the transition into high definition, movie and game makers are split on which format they support, making corporate alliances perhaps the most important factor in the battle. Sony, a key supporter of Blu-Ray, won't release movies on HD DVD. Movies from Universal Pictures won't show up on Blu-Ray, which means you won't be able to watch Van Helsing and Hitch in high-definition on the same machine unless you're willing to spring for two.

The fight extends beyond movies. Microsoft will start selling an external HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360 later this year, but Sony's new PlayStation 3 will be released with a built-in Blu-Ray drive. While Microsoft supports HD DVD and has software running on most computers, some computer makers such as Dell Computer Corp. plan to start selling laptops and desktops this year with Blu-Ray players built-in.

Ross Rubin, a consumer electronics analyst with the NPD Group, a research firm in Port Washington, N.Y., predicts that many consumers will wind up confused by the different standards and opt to keep their DVD players. Most may not upgrade until the industry settles on one format, or until one side eventually caves.

''The strongest competition for Blu-Ray or HD DVDs is not the rival format, but regular DVDs," he said.

Keith Reed can be reached at reed@globe.com.