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jakncoke
01-05-2008, 05:17 AM
Warner Bros to back Blu-ray DVD format exclusively
Fri Jan 4, 2008 3:45pm EST

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc's (TWX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Warner Bros studio on Friday said it would exclusively release high-definition DVDs in Sony Corp's (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) Blu-ray format, dealing a big blow to Toshiba Corp's (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research) rival HD DVD technology.

Warner Bros, Hollywood's biggest seller of DVDs, representing about 18 to 20 percent of sales in the United States, was one of the few studios that backed both formats.

All sides of the format war had agreed it was confusing to consumers and a stumbling block for a potential multibillion-dollar industry.

Total DVD unit sales fell 4.5 percent in 2007, the first major year-over-year decline since the disc format debuted in 1997, according to Adams Media Research. Sales fell 4.8 percent to $15.7 billion.

"The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers," Warner Bros Chairman and Chief Executive Barry Meyer said in a statement.

News Corp's (NWSa.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Co (DIS.N: Quote, Profile, Research), and Lionsgate (LGF.N: Quote, Profile, Research) are among studios backing the Blu-ray format. Viacom Inc's (VIAb.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Paramount studios and General Electric's (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) NBC Universal release movies in HD DVD format.

Warner said it would continue releasing in the HD DVD format until the end of May, although those releases would follow the standard DVD and Blu-ray releases.

(Reporting by Kenneth Li in New York and Bob Tourtellotte and Peter Henderson in Los Angeles; Editing by Brian Moss


http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssC...32340820080104

This is good news to the consumer as this is a major sign that one format is semi-close, this is bad news for people that chose to back HD-DVD though as it's a major telling sign the HD-DVD is dead to rights.

LiNuX
01-05-2008, 10:51 AM
hd dvd isn't gonna do too well anyway but good luck to warner bros with their idea here, blu-ray has more potential than hd dvd anyway, well thats an opinion but we'll just have to wait and see how it plays out for them

jakncoke
01-05-2008, 11:38 AM
Well Blu-Ray has outsold HD-DVD in USA for about 50 weeks in a row, has like 90% market share in Japan and out sells it in Europe as well. The only thing HD-DVD has going for it is that it's stand a lone in the wild completely pwn Blu-Ray but then when factor in PS3 it swings completely in favor of Blu-Ray, Sony's ignorance of using there console as a sacrificial lamb has actually helped them get a position to reap the rewards of the royalties of Blu-Ray if Blu-Ray kills off HD-DVD and takes off to mainstream like VHS and DVD did.