Hacks and smack-talking make hi-def format war even uglier

The format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD continues, but now the participants are really getting feisty. Both camps have been particularly aggressive this holiday season, offering a variety of discounts, free movies, and other incentives to convince consumers to back a particular format. The intense competition seems to have rubbed off on Internet fanboys, leading to Internet arguments that are even more ferocious than usual (which is saying something). As part of the animosity, the official Blu-ray site was hacked this weekend, and an online forum had to shut down its format discussion section.

The Blu-ray site modifications occured last Friday, when visitors to the Blu-ray site were redirected to "The Look and Sound of Perfect," the website for the HD DVD format operated by the North American HD DVD Promotional Group (including Universal Studios, HP, and Intel).

The redirection seems to have been fixed quickly, but it was no doubt a bit disconcerting to the Blu-ray camp while it lasted. There's no word yet on who was responsible for the mischief, although speculators have proposed various scenarios, including the HD DVD Group paying off a hacker to do the job. That last one seems particularly improbable, but we've heard stranger stories before. Either way, this hack wasn't a particularly malicious or damaging one, but it is representative of just how heated the format wars have become.

The acrimony has spilled over to audio-visual forums, too, providing plenty of examples of the heated discourse about Blu-ray and HD DVD that has been clogging the tubes lately. Plenty of name-calling is sprinkled in with discussions of the merits of the two formats, and a little misinformation tends to further feed the flames. The AVS Forum is a particularly popular venue for home theater discussion, and the arguments there apparently got so hot that the site temporarily closed its Blu-ray and HD DVD discussion areas in November.

They're back now, but with a pretty extensive set of rules and liberal warnings against format arguments posted all over. Again, some format forums closing isn't a huge deal, but the fact that the discussion is getting this heated in the first place is a good indicator of just how passionate both sides are about their formats.

Sadly, there's no end in sight to the Blu-ray/HD DVD war, but hopefully things will at least calm down a bit as the holiday season winds down and people are buying fewer movies and players. If not, we're going to keep seeing the format wars splashed across the web as the hacks and the arguments continue. Happy new year!

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...en-uglier.html