All right, show of hands: How many of you received an HD DVD player for Christmas?
If your hand is up, we sure hope you got a gift receipt to go along with that shiny new piece of hardware, because the hi-def format war — which still appeared thoroughly muddled just a few days ago — seems to have shifted irrevocably in Blu-ray’s favor, thanks to Warner Bros.’ decision to abandon the HD DVD format. Warners’ move effectively gives Blu-ray 70% of the market, leaving Paramount/DreamWorks and Universal as the last two studios producing HD DVD titles. Portions of Warner Bros.’ statement are excerpted below:
“Warner Bros.’ move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want,” said Meyer. “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 Home Video will continue to release its titles in standard DVD format and Blu-ray. After a short window following their standard DVD and Blu-ray releases, all new titles will continue to be released in HD DVD until the end of May 2008.
“Warner Bros. has produced in both high-definition formats in an effort to provide consumer choice, foster mainstream adoption and drive down hardware prices,” said Jeff Bewkes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Time Warner Inc., the parent company of Warner Bros. Entertainment. “Today’s decision by Warner Bros. to distribute in a single format comes at the right time and is the best decision both for consumers and Time Warner.”
The HD DVD Promotion Group, faced with the unenviable task of putting a positive spin on the news, waited until the weekend to issue a response. Unsurprisingly, it was rather brief:
While Warner’s decision is a setback for HD DVD, the consumer has benefited from HD DVD’s commitment to quality and affordability — a bar that is critical for the mainstream success of any format. We believe widespread adoption of a next generation format will ultimately be determined by the consumer.”
Okay, that wasn’t all of the response, but most of the rest has to do with the HD DVD Promotion Group postponing its CES press conference indefinitely. Unless all your favorite movies are made by either Paramount or Universal, it sounds like your hi-def options have been officially narrowed down to one. So here’s what we’re dying to know, RTers: How many of you will be speeding up your investment in a next-gen player as a result of this news — and how many of you are still perfectly happy with your plain old DVDs?
