perhaps the new logo should have a cape attached, a-la Superman, as Blu-ray seems to be leaping tall movie studios in a single bound!

In a move that really changes the landscape of the high definition DVD market, Warner Bros.,  today, announced that after June of this year, it will cease to produce films in the HD DVD format. Warner will put its faith in the Blu-ray alliance from now on, and that is a major change in the way things are playing out. The CEO of Warner stated that fears of ‘missing the window’ are what caused the change of direction. It does seem that there is genuine concern about the public adoption of a format, rather than movie viewing becoming a system of download and then having the customer choose the storage medium.

The reason cited is the confusion caused by the competing formats, and consumer dissatisfaction with having to choose between formats. Not spoken, but probably a major influence on the decision is the fact that Blu-ray has not been a part of a ‘pump and dump’ campaign to get customers to purchase. Although the Blu-ray camp at Christmas made an effort to compete, the extreme price cuts used by the HD DVD purveyors of both hardware and software were not used. This means that Blu-ray is not a victim of ’slash and burn’ pricing, which, once started is hard to stop. Once the price drops significantly, the buying public expects more of the same, and profit margins stay low for all concerned. Remember that certain Toshiba HD-DVD players were cut to the bone less than 14 days from being released. The idea was to achieve momentum for HD DVD  as a format, and it did, but perhaps it was too much too soon.

there was a lot of HD love shown at Christmas, but the shine is wearing off now - how things change!

Though Warner Bros. is a major player in the market, HD DVD is not without its supporters. As you might remember, Paramount went HD DVD exclusively back in August of last year.

Although nothing has been hinted about yet, the delivery of a quality Blu-ray player, at a median price, from CES would be another nail in the coffin of HD DVD. Everyone is eagerly awaiting what those wacky guys from the Orient have to show us at Winter CES in Las Vegas, just a few days away.

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Tags: blu-ray, hd dvd, warner bros., consumer electronics show