Survey Indicates Blu-Ray Format Gaining Support Over HD-DVD

An independent survey and poll carried out by Penn, Schoen, and Berland Associates indicates that the Blu-Ray format has the advantage over HD-DVD in the coming battle between the two standards, though both formats are still to launch. The poll also covered 1,200 respondents, 58% of whom indicated a preference for Blu-Ray, compared to 16% in favor of HD-DVD. The survey examined several aspects of each format, including support from hardware manufacturers, film industry content providers, and disc capacity. Reasons cited for consumers' preference were a wider availability of devices that support the Blu-Ray format, backward compatibility with the current DVD spec, and its higher-capacity storage for recording. "While we are still in the pre-launch phase for both formats, Blu-ray Disc is the early front-runner," said Mark Penn of Penn, Schoen, and Berland Associates. "Consumers perceive Blu-ray as the favorite on technology company support, gaming, storage, and disc versatility." The poll may be good news for Sony, whose upcoming PlayStation 3 will use the Blu-Ray format for its games. The machine is the only one of the next-generation systems to use a next-generation storage format; both the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Revolution will use the current DVD standard. Talks between the Blu-Ray Disc Association and the competing HD-DVD group of a possible unified format appear to have ground to a halt, meaning that the PS3's support may be a key weapon in Blu-Ray's fight for supremacy.