DVD-writeable wars overblown....................................
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It's a Format War!
The Sky is Falling--Again
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Dana J. Parker EMedia Professional, December 1997
Copyright c Online Inc.
From the accounts in the mainstream press, one could easily conclude that the Fall of Civilization As We Know It was at hand. * n the sleepy dog days of the slow news month of August 1997--as the planet slept easily under the same DVD-RAM blanket, secure in the knowledge of a single, true rewritable DVD format--the high technology world was rocked to its foundations by a series of "news" stories out of Tokyo. The stories--extreme bias and misinformation intact--were picked up by Reuters, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, and CNN carried live coverage of a hastily assembled press conference. The earth-shattering news was this: Sony, Philips, and Hewlett-Packard, applied three months earlier for approval from the European Computer Manufacturers' Association (ECMA) for a high-density rewritable format.
From the accounts in the mainstream press, one could easily conclude that the Fall of Civilization As We Know It was at hand. "Video Disc War Looms" read one headline; others shouted, "DVD Accord Shattered," "Standards Battle May Doom Rewritable DVD." The stories characterized the three companies as "rogues," "mavericks," and "rebels." Industry analysts did their part to fan the flames as well: "We're going to see a Beta/VHS war," said Mary Bourdon of Dataquest.
Other DVD Forum companies like Matsushita and Toshiba voiced surprise and disbelief, reinforcing the notion that Sony, Philips, and Hewlett-Packard were undermining the harmony of the DVD Forum by making such a reckless and selfish move. Some speculated that the evil triumvirate had deliberately "leaked" this information to the press to steal the Forum's thunder when it proposed its own DVD-RAM format to ECMA.
REAL THUNDER OR JUST HEAT LIGHTNING?
As the rewritable DVD defection story broke and the press rushed to try big business in the court of public opinion, no one asked, apparently, why the application Sony, Philips, and HP made to ECMA in May was not widely reported then, though it was certainly no secret. And why did the story break with such inordinate alarm three months later, unprompted by an announcement from any of the three companies involved? And as for those "thunder-stealing" charges, one must wonder how newsworthy--let alone thunderous--the Forum expected its ECMA application to be. The ECMA application is dull, routine, and many months in the making; as an opportunity for one-upmanship, it's a real yawner.
As for Toshiba and Matsushita claiming "surprise"--how disingenuous can you get? Surely, if readers of this magazine were informed, back in June 1997, that Sony and Hewlett-Packard were likely to pursue their own DVD rewritable format [see Dana J. Parker, "DVD-RAM 'Final' Announcement Reveals Fault Lines in Consortium," EM News, Volume 10, Number 6--ed.], the DVD Forum companies intimately involved in the DVD-RAM specification decision knew it as well. In contrast, relatively little fuss was raised over Matsushida's September 1997 announcement of a proprietary direct competitor to the DVD-Recordable spec already approved by the DVD Forum.
Finally, nothing could be easier to debunk than the dire predictions of all-out format war on the scale of Beta/VHS. DVD-RAM and DVD+RW are not conflicting formats for delivering content, as Beta and VHS were. DVD-RAM and DVD+RW drives will both be able to play pressed DVD discs, but neither format's media will be readable on first-generation DVD-ROM players. Nor are DVD-RAM and DVD+RW likely to be adversaries in a battle over replacing the VCR, but for very different reasons. The last thing the Hollywood-influenced DVD Forum wants is to provide a means to record broadcast video, and the proponents of DVD+RW have made it quite clear that their format is intended as a computer peripheral, not a consumer product.
WHAT THE THUNDER SAID
The DVD Forum is a group of powerful electronics companies and content owners who have agreed to work together to define specifications for DVD. Each company has vested interests in DVD advancing and developing along lines that serve those interests best, and all want to dictate the standards for the next generation of compact disc. The technical specifications of the format are primarily chosen based upon what patents are owned by whom, not on technical superiority, and the decisions made by the DVD Forum are as rife with mutual back-scratching and calling in of favors as those of a Senate subcommittee. As a result, the technical specifications for DVD formats are not arrived at by an objective evaluation of what will work best, what will sell, what will provide a smooth migration path, or even what the DVD Technical Working Groups recommend. They are decided on self-interest, which means financial gain for one party and resulting financial loss for another. Factions within the Forum are determined to promote the interests of one member over another--or a group of members over another group of members.
So far, the majority of the Forum members have been motivated by a single purpose in this regard--to avoid paying for patents owned by Philips and Sony, who have profited hugely from existing compact disc technology. Not coincidentally, many of those patents are also the ones that could enable compatibility with existing technology. Sony and Philips, as licensers of patents used in DVD technology, need close ties with the Forum. But if Sony and Philips wish to exploit their patents by developing an alternative format voted down by the other eight Forum companies, they are branded as pariahs.
THE DAY AFTER
The most prominent names in the CD-Recordable and CD-Rewritable hardware market are Sony, Yamaha, Philips, Ricoh, and Hewlett-Packard. Other DVD Forum members are minor CD-R/RW players, if players at all. It is no mystery, given this knowledge, that Philips, Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Ricoh, and Yamaha--along with media manufacturer Mitsubishi--would prefer a rewritable DVD format that builds on existing technology and smoothes the transition to a new one.
It is also no mystery that the architects of the DVD Forum's DVD-RAM format find this threatening. They are not contenders in the CD-R and CD-RW arena, so there is no reward for them in promoting compatibility with existing popular formats, but enormous incentive to abandon them in favor of their own technology patents. The contention over whose patents to use is one of the many things delaying delivery of DVD. And with every delay in DVD, the period in which existing technologies can thrive is extended as the installed base increases, making compatibility more important, and opening the window of opportunity for new formats not subject to DVD Forum approval to reach market.
That's not the sky falling--it's chickens coming home to roost.
Dana J. Parker is a Denver, Colorado-based independent consultant and writer and regular columnist for Standard Deviations. She is also a Contributing Editor for EMedia Professional. She is the co-author of CD-ROM Professional's CD-Recordable Handbook (Pemberton Press, 1996) and is at work on a DVD book for Prentice Hall.
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