So, Universal: when will we see a Blu-ray title?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Saturday, 16 February 2008 17:23

Opinion and Analysis

Now that NHK have reported Toshiba’s imminent announcement of HD DVD’s death, Universal’s declaration earlier this year, in Australia, of ‘at least’ 20 new titles during 2008, must look very shaky. How long now before they too jump ship and go Blu?
On February 4, 2008, iTWire reported that Universal Pictures Australasia was set to release ‘at least’ 20 HD DVD titles in 2008, even though they knew Warner had made their bombshell announcement during January’s CES show in Las Vegas.

It was good news for HD DVD owners desperate for some new movie titles to buy, but given the report that has just come in from Japanese public TV broadcaster NHK saying that is Toshiba soon to declare HD DVD dead, despite there still not being an official Toshiba announcement as yet, Universal must be wondering if they should still bother.

Of course, there are plenty of HD DVD owners out there who would probably still happily buy new movies for their now defunct player.

But why buy them as soon as they are released? Wait a couple of months, and stores that still stock them will be selling them at knock down prices just to get rid of them and get more retail space for a larger Blu-ray library.

But it’s not just Universal that is still officially holding out in the HD DVD vs Blu-ray wars, there’s also movie studio Paramount who switched sides from Blu-ray to HD DVD in 2007.

At least Paramount got a reported US $150 million for their troubles, however – Universal supported HD DVD from the start, and that now looks to have been a disastrous decision that will cost the studio millions of dollars – if not more.

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