The end of the war is near: Hollywood insider Daily Variety has confirmed that Universal will not longer exclusively support HD DVD. Following Warner defection to Blu-ray and reports clause that opens the door for Paramount to publish Blu-ray titles too, the end of Universal’s exclusivity deal may be one blow to many for HD DVD. However, Universal is not going to stop publishing movies in the latter format:
According to Variety “Universal is committed to a series of HD DVD promotions in coming months.” At this time, only Universal and Paramount support the format but no longer exclusively. Sony, Disney, Fox, Lionsgate, Warner, New Line and HBO are all behind Blu-ray. Variety also argues that, with all those studios behind the format, retailers won’t dedicate “premium shelf space to a dying format.”
Looks bad, HD DVD. It may be time to head to the bunker. [Variety]
hdForum
Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 1:13 PMbe careful what you ask for, blu-boyz. you just might get it.
Holden
Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 11:48 PMYou shoould read news more carefully. Daily variety is just talking about the rumor from digital bits (Bill Hunt)
So let’s wait…
superdynamite
Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 5:54 AMI wish there were 2 planets. A Red Planet for all the XBox fanboys and a Blu planet for all the Smart people.
Simon Dawson
Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 9:52 PMI’ve seen this article about Universal and Paramount switching sides in the Hi Def war so many times in the last few days it could only mean one thing – Variety has been paid by Sony or proponents of Sony are desperate they’ll spew forth any propaganda they can think of.
One thing the experts have right and that is that this Hi Def war will be decided by the consumer and not some company still lamenting the loss of their marketshare in the personal audio market to Apple and trying ever so had to corner the DVD market by forcing consumers to opt for a higher priced format thereby ultimately making the choice for them.
PJ
Monday, January 14, 2008 at 1:14 PMNo offense, Simon Dawson, but isn’t the conusmer deciding with their wallets?
Blu-ray’s sales have been crushing HD DVD all year. Look I have both a PS3 and an HD DVD player so I am good either way but I think it’s over. The consumer has spoken.
Blu-ray’s scratch resistance is enough to seal the deal for me. That’s more next-gen than any of the extra features HD DVD has.
Mickwilly
Monday, January 14, 2008 at 1:49 PMHeh, Sorry Simon but how can you possibly say that the format war will be decided by the consumer?
Tell me what would happen if all the Studios go exclusive to Sony’s Blue Ray, how can the consumer possibly help there, they can’t buy something that isn’t produced. If Paramount and Universal decide to support blue ray exclusively then the ‘war’ is effectively over.