Has the DVD Slipped a Disc?

By now, the folks who run the studios are used to bad news: While box office is a cat's breath ahead of last summer through the same time frame, when compared with 2004, it's still down.

For its paper cuts, today we can offer some lemon juice, via Reuters. DVD sales are headed down the drain - a maturation of the market that was first in evidence last year. So far this year, home video spending sank 3.7 percent to $10.9 billion.

Notes Reuters, "Video purchases are down 3.6 percent, to $7 billion, while rentals fell 3.9 percent to $3.9 billion."

What does this mean, exactly, for you, dear consumer?

Well, essentially, not much that's good - at least for now: Hollywood is divided on the newest format of DVD, HD-DVD and the other called Blu-Ray. I won't bore you with the details of which is technologically better, (it's HD-DVD, by a nose, for now) but suffice it to say that it's not a good thing that Tinseltown hasn't made up its mind about which format is best. Consumers hate uncertainty, and are justifiably reluctant to invest $1,500 in a machine that might not be around in a two years. (DIVX anyone? Betamax, anyone? Eight-track any- Oh, you get the point...)

Already, today, we're seeing that the hope for a compromise, wherein the hardware techno-geeks would make machines that play both formats, is fading fast. Samsung says it has the ability to do so, but won't.