As one who has supported both of the new high definition formats (see “High Definition Screencaps: Overview of Blu-Ray Disc, HD-DVD, & Initial Experiences“), I’ve always thought that both Blu-Ray Disc and HD-DVD, from a user/consumer standpoint, have thus far appeared equal to me in terms of quality of the products released thus far. As far as the “format war” has gone, I’ve generally picked up the Blu-Ray version for dual release products, and not hesitated to buy HD-DVD exclusives for those films that interest me. My own guess as to how this would play out is that both formats would succeed to varying degrees and it was more likely that electronics companies would manufacture equipment that support playback of both formats.
However, developments in the past week have me questioning my own predictions.
As covered in news stories in the past week (see engadget, “Warner goes Blu-Ray exclusive“), Warner Bros. Entertainment will be releasing its high-definition titles “exclusively in the Blu-ray disc format beginning later this year”. Now, just a few days later, according to the Financial Times, it is rumored that Paramount is set to follow suit (see FT.com, “Paramount in HD blow“).’
Per the FT.com article, the WB move shifts approximately 70% of Hollywood’s product to Blu-Ray, with Paramount compounding that advantage.
If this change occurs, it would leave the HD-DVD format backed by just Universal and Dreamworks as the only two major Hollywood studios in the HD-DVD camp (also problematic for HD-DVD is that Paramount distributes some of the Dreamworks productions).
It will be interesting to see if there will actually be a “winner” and “loser” in the “war”, but this is the first series of events that leads me to believe that one format truly will prevail over another.
Jason De Bord