Did the Laserdisc and DVD companies ever
clash this much? Did the Laserdisc guys go "Hey, listen, if a consumer was ever involved in a fight, our
Laserdiscs could inflict a lot more damage on an opponent than a small DVD disc, and that is why our product has better
security features." Probably not, because no one would ever think to use discs for fighting (except for that
scene in Shaun of the Dead, but that was with vinyl records and, frankly, it didn't help them much). The big
argument over the next-generation of data storage is protection from piracy, and Blu-Ray already has three separate
security measures. Toshiba's HD-DVD only has two security features planned so far - AACS (which is also on the
Blu-Ray) and an updatable encryption (which is very similar to Blu-Ray's BD+). Yet, despite the similarities,
Toshiba claims that Blu-Ray's extra security (which is, currently, just a watermark) "may result in playability and
reliability issues for the consumer." What?
It's sad that these two companies could never reach an agreement to combine their efforts into one format, because I highly doubt the HD-DVD will ever succeed if Sony's Blu-Ray-equipped PlayStation 3 hits the market first. This could be a reason why the Xbox 360 does not initially have an HD-DVD drive: they may wait to see if it's even worth supporting.
