As the battle progresses, the DVD “M:I-3” offers a choice

In a first for the burgeoning home movie industry, Paramount Pictures announced it will release Mission: Impossible III in three formats simultaneously this fall, including two formats competing for dominance in the high-definition DVD market.

Paramount announced that M:I-3 will be released on October 30 in standard DVD format, as well as Blu-ray and HD DVD formats.

The ongoing fight

These two formats, supported by a group of industry giants, are competing to be the basic format for watching movies with more detailed and sharp images, suitable for playback on high-definition televisions and home theaters.

By now, most studios have released films in one format or the other, and Paramount’s decision to let consumers choose suggests an impasse is brewing. So far, neither format has been able to generate enough market share to displace the other.

The two-disc Special Collector’s Edition sets will be available in all three formats, with the two new formats featuring improved audio and video quality and additional features. Pricing has not been disclosed.

Both formats have been changing in their attempts to gain popularity, with device manufacturers, studios and others choosing sides. Sony has invested heavily in Blu-ray, while other DVD player manufacturers have brought HD DVD into the spotlight.

Selection of pages

The dual release may support the theory that neither format will win the competition and that DVD player manufacturers will soon begin producing dual players that will support both formats as well as standard DVDs.

Others, however, believe the battle may be in the short term, with video on demand likely to become the most popular way for consumers to obtain and stream movies soon.

Paramount’s straddling approach has been adopted by others, too. Amazon.com said earlier this year that it would use on-demand technology to create DVDs for consumers in the next-generation format of their choice when they order discs from the e-commerce site.

It will be some time before any of these formats gain popularity, given that there are relatively few players for the new formats on the market and the number of movies they can play is still only a fraction of the movies available in DVD format.

“Consumers will decide which format wins, not distributors or studios,” said Yankee Group analyst Mike Goodman. “The marketplace will answer the question of standards just as it has answered all the partnerships and endorsements that have come before.”

Duel formats

Paramount’s dual approach seems to support that argument, and may even provide a way for the industry to learn what consumers want by offering the ability to directly compare sales.

“If one studio supports Blu-ray and another supports HD, it’s hard to compare sales of two different films,” Goodman noted. “Now you can watch sales to see which format is gaining traction, and that will probably start to build momentum for one format or the other.”

On a technical level, Blu-ray can store more information in the same amount of space, potentially giving it an advantage in some settings. For now, though, both formats will provide better fidelity for the growing number of HD-capable TVs.

HD DVD players were the first to hit the market and are likely to gain ground, according to a recent report from ABI Research. The report predicts that HD DVD players will account for about 30 percent of global sales of DVD-capable devices. That will change when Sony’s PS3 hits shelves, with a built-in Blu-ray DVD player.