Last time in Format War 101, I talked about the exceptional video and audio Blu Ray and HD DVD both offer. In addition, I covered interactive features that the new formats make possible. Lastly, I discussed features like copyright protection and digital rights management (DRM), features that are very attractive to publishers.

This time in Format War 201, we'll do a brief history of the two formats, and look at the relationships the two sides have forged with content providers.

Numbers just released by web metrics site compete.com show that more Netflix users make HD DVD their format of preference when given the choice.

During the summer months of June, July and August, Netflix averaged 14 million visitors per month. The overall percentage of those visitors viewing Blu Ray and HD DVD titles amounts to less than one percent, averaging about 50,000 visitors a month who bothered to set their format preference. Of that number, Blu Ray averaged 10 percent, or 5000 visitors a month who chose Blu Ray as their format preference. HD DVD averaged just under 19,000 visitors a month, 12,000 of whom selected HD DVD as their preferred disc format. In other words, of the people viewing the HD DVD genre on Netflix, 63% converted their format preference to HD DVD, compared to Blu Ray's 10% conversion. In all honesty this sort of thing can't be given too much weight. All the numbers measured were the total Netflix visits, how many of them viewed the Blu Ray and HD DVD genres, and how many of those converted their preferences to that format.

It's not the end of the Format War by any stretch. It does show loyalty, and certainly HD DVD owners appear to have been won over by their format, while the numbers are less inspiring for Blu Ray. Blu Ray sales have been flat, and HD DVD has had a good month following the Paramount/Dreamworks announcement.

I do think that these numbers show the Playstation 3 effect: Lots of Blu Ray players out there that people bought without Blu Ray being their primary motivation. Perhaps the fickleness of that considerable percentage of Blu Ray owners is beginning to show.

Are you old enough to remember when VHS and Beta slugged it out in the 80's to see which format would become the standard for videotapes?

Right now, two high definition optical disc formats are waging a war in the marketplace and the media to see which will emerge victorious and eventually replace DVD. Will this format war more closely resemble the DVD-Audio vs. SACD battle that was silently fought and lost by both sides?

The consumer electronics industry is divided. The movie studios are divided. The media is divided. The end result of all this division is a confused consumer who is reluctant to buy into either side, and the only parties that are really happy with the way things are playing out are those that have an interest in high definition video-on-demand becoming the way we receive our high definition content in the future.

The Home Theater Specialists of America has made it's CEDIA announcement that it is backing Blu Ray over HD DVD official yesterday.

The HTSA says it's decision was based on an internal study that showed 92 percent of category sales by HTSA members were Blu Ray. However, that balance was comprised mostly of dual format combo players. Executive director Richard Glikes of the HTSA said disc capacity, larger manufacturer adoption, content availability and better resolution are all things that make the consumer want Blu Ray over HD DVD. (Someone needs to inform Mr. Glikes that HD DVD and Blu Ray have their content encoded at the exact same resolution)

One sort of questions the relevance of this announcement, especially when the people running the HTSA can't seem to get their facts straight before issuing a press release.