2008 Woodie Awards
Blu-ray wins format war - becomes next generation HD format
Elbert Esguerra
Issue date: 2/26/08 Section: Features
Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, and John Edwards all have a new friend in this year's world of concession, as the final nails in the HD-DVD coffin are officially hammered in.
For almost two years, torn consumers have had to choose between HD-DVD and Blu-ray. Finally, that competition ended last week as Toshiba announced they would drop production on their HD-DVD players. The Japan-based manufacturer was the last remaining major name to put production behind HD-DVD.
With this recent decision, it unofficially declares Sony's Blu-ray format as the winner of the next generation optical disc format wars.
Added blows came on as Universal Studios quickly announced they would drop the format as well. Only Paramount, the last major studio that exclusively produced their movies on HD-DVD, remained a supporter until they announced on Thursday they would be making the jump over to Blu-ray as well. "Transformers" and the "Mission: Impossible" series are among the top-selling titles produced by Paramount and found only on HD-DVD.
With these moves, all six of the major movie studios are now Blu-ray exclusive. Universal and Paramount, are joined by Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox, MGM, and Disney whom already back Blu-ray.
Online distributor Amazon also came out to halt allegiance and discontinue HD-DVD support on Wednesday. In a statement on their website: "Amazon.com will more prominently promote Blu-ray hardware and software products on its website."
Before last week's events, Blu-ray discs have been outselling HD-DVD discs by seventy-five percent.
Signs of imminent doom already existed prior to last week's announcements. Warner Bros. Studios threw in their support exclusively to Blu-ray in January who previously was releasing movies on both formats. Netflix and Blockbuster made decision to rent out high definition movies only on Blu-ray. Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, and Best Buy also decided to dump HD-DVD over Blu-ray as well.
For almost two years, torn consumers have had to choose between HD-DVD and Blu-ray. Finally, that competition ended last week as Toshiba announced they would drop production on their HD-DVD players. The Japan-based manufacturer was the last remaining major name to put production behind HD-DVD.
With this recent decision, it unofficially declares Sony's Blu-ray format as the winner of the next generation optical disc format wars.
Added blows came on as Universal Studios quickly announced they would drop the format as well. Only Paramount, the last major studio that exclusively produced their movies on HD-DVD, remained a supporter until they announced on Thursday they would be making the jump over to Blu-ray as well. "Transformers" and the "Mission: Impossible" series are among the top-selling titles produced by Paramount and found only on HD-DVD.
With these moves, all six of the major movie studios are now Blu-ray exclusive. Universal and Paramount, are joined by Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox, MGM, and Disney whom already back Blu-ray.
Online distributor Amazon also came out to halt allegiance and discontinue HD-DVD support on Wednesday. In a statement on their website: "Amazon.com will more prominently promote Blu-ray hardware and software products on its website."
Before last week's events, Blu-ray discs have been outselling HD-DVD discs by seventy-five percent.
Signs of imminent doom already existed prior to last week's announcements. Warner Bros. Studios threw in their support exclusively to Blu-ray in January who previously was releasing movies on both formats. Netflix and Blockbuster made decision to rent out high definition movies only on Blu-ray. Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, and Best Buy also decided to dump HD-DVD over Blu-ray as well.
Be the first to comment on this story