Has Warner Bros made Blu-ray the new way for HD?

Stan Beer
Sunday, 06 January 2008 03:37

Opinion and Analysis

Another factor, was that there continues to be simply far more consumers that can take advantage of the Blu-ray format. Sales of standalone HD DVD and Blu-ray players are still ridiculously small. However, there are already an estimated 7 million Playstation 3 consoles in the hands of consumers and, with sales of the Blu-ray equipped console rapidly gaining momentum, that number could swell to 20 million or more by the end of this year.

The fact that the new PS3 had a dearth of exclusive games titles in 2007 meant that the device was being used by many of its owners mainly to watch Blu-ray movies. As result, Blu-ray format rentals and purchases clearly outnumbered those of HD DVD.

Realizing on which side their bread was likely to be buttered, a number of video retailers the world over announced exclusive backing for Blu-ray. In the US, major video rental chain Blockbuster announced that it would only stock Blu-ray titles in most of its stores.

Toshiba and the HD DVD camp have fought hard to stay in the race, citing more sales of standalone players, the add-on player for the Xbox 360 console and HD DVD drives in computers. The fact is, however, there are already too many PS3 consoles and other Blu-ray players directly connected to TV screens and too many exclusive Blu-ray titles. With Warner Bros jumping on the Blu-ray bandwagon, the future looks bleak for HD DVD.

So what about the threat from the net? The shift away from movies on disks will happen like it is right now with music but there are still many battles to be fought and therefore the market for HD disks is likely to still have a few years of lifespan ahead.

Meanwhile, the burning question still remains: is it game over for HD DVD? It is tempting to say yes. However, Universal, Paramount and Dreamworks, continue to keep the format alive, so the answer for now is still no but the beast is mortally wounded.