| NeoRatt said: I really don't see how this benefits consumers. I have invested in both formats so I wouldn't get screwed... But, what is Warner saying to their fans who purchased HD DVD players only? Also, I think this makes the war worse not better. It is going to be dig in time. If the studios that are on the HD DVD dig in, the war may never get resolved. This generation of DVD stinks. And it is only getting worse not better. |
By that measure, Warner never should have abandoned BetaMax, Digital Audio Tapes, minidiscs or DiVX.
Thanks to the PS3, BluRay has been outselling HD software by more than 2:1 for over a year, despite fire sale prices on Toshiba players. Either BluRay was going to win outright, or consumers would have to support both formats, a situation that has become increasingly untenable.
Of the major studios that are backing HD-DVD, two of them (Paramount, Dreamworks) were paid a fortune (and the Speilberg films such as CE3K, among Paramount's crown jewels, were always going to be released on BR) in order to go HDDVD exclusive. That contract runs out in a year, and then they'll happily go to the winning format. Among "major" studios, that leaves only Universal as HDDVD exclusive, and NewLine as format neutral, and truth be told, neither studio really can match Disney, Sony, Fox, Paramount or Warner Bros. I suppose that could leave a smattering of smaller distributers (like HBO and the Weinsteins) but they won't be able to keep the format alive.
I think this editorial (written by a retailer) does a great job explaining why keeping two formats is impractical: http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/jeffkleist/editorial010108.html
