HD-DVD: What’s in a Name?
You know DVD. I know DVD. Most people you know probably know DVD. DVD is a CD, but for movies.
I know HD. You know HD. Most people you know probably don’t know much about it. Yet. But as it becomes more popular, people will start to ask themselves if there’s an HD version of DVD available. They walk into Best Buy and see HD-DVD. There you go, that’s it! I want an HD-DVD player. BD you say? What’s that? A foot disease? No thanks. I’ll take that HD-DVD, thank-you.
There’s power in a name, and that power is working for Toshiba as it brings HD-DVD to market late this year. It’s really as simple as that. No use saying it fourteen different ways.
So the real question is: can Sony push the BD so hard that people are actually aware of it when it comes time to purchase an HD disc player? When they see an HD-DVD player at Best Buy, will the ask the salesman about that other format? You know, the foot disease one?
One thing that can only help is Sony’s inclusion of BD drives in the PS3. Millions of people will buy th PS3, giving BD instant recognition by those folks. Gosh, wouldn’t it be a good idea for Sony to enlist Microsoft into putting the BD into the Xbox 360 as well? Sony needs moves like this to raise BD’s profile, or it’ll never make it against HD-DVD.
Mindshare. It’s called mindshare.
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August 19th, 2005 at 3:34 am
I suspect “HD-DVD” exceeds the number of meaningless letters the average person can remember when choosing a format. If HD-DVD takes off, I’m pretty sure 99% of consumers will still just call it “DVD”, adding all kinds of confusion.
For the English-speaking market, at least, Blu-Ray is a lot easier to say and remember than HDD-whatchamacallit. That could be an advantage.
Have you noticed that when they advertise DVD releases on TV, they say “available now on video and DVD”? The average person never managed to add VHS to his lexicon and prefers to call VHS tapes videotapes or videos.
August 19th, 2005 at 8:46 am
But is Sony going to market it as Blu-ray or BD?
August 19th, 2005 at 9:47 am
Well, the little logo says “Blu-Ray” underneath it, so I imagine that’s what people will call it in North America, whatever Sony does with its marketing. On the other hand, I can see them just calling it “BD” in Japan.