Blu-Ray has won the format wars….or has it?

It was a war that promised to rage until the very end of time, but ended quickly with HD-DVD huddled in the corner, whimpering and sucking its high-definition thumb. It happened so fast, people were still unwrapping their shiny HD-DVD players when they got the news. That was too bad for them. But they won’t be alone. Blu-Ray has missed its opportunity to wedge itself into households and have let the new challenger creep in and win the war Blu-Ray didn’t even know it was fighting.

That war is IP television. With more and more homes having broadband Internet connections, families are finding it really convenient to buy movies On Demand or view content over Apple TV or the new Roku Netflix box.

Blu-Ray players are still far too expensive for most people to afford and the media is just plain ridiculously over-priced. No one wants to pay $30.00 for Edward Scissorhands. No one wants to buy a gaming machine because it’s the cheapest Blu-Ray player on the market. People like their old DVD players and happy with the way their HDTVs and newer DVD players upscale the video.

Unless Blu-Ray finds a way to saturate the market–a market that doesn’t want to be saturated–IP TV is going to become the focal point of home entertainment. Being someone who has always loved Blu-Ray and actually picked them over HD-DVD, I will be pissed. I DID, afterall, pay $30.00 for Edward Scissorhands.