Warner leans towards Blu-ray

 

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Posted on 11 Dec 2007 at 11:23

Warner Bros will decide whether to back Blu-ray or HD DVD once the holiday season sales figures are in - and Blu-ray is favourite.

Currently Warner is along among the major studios in releasing movies on both formats. But Dan Silverberg, vice president of High-Definition Media for Warner Home Video says the issues over pricing that persuaded it to provide a choice have been resolved.

"Now that hardware pricing is affordable for both Blu-ray and HD DVD, it appears consumers no longer want to decide - so the notion of staying in two formats for the duration is something we are re-evaluating now that we are in the fourth quarter," he said at the Blu-ray Festival this week.

According to Business Week, Warner will back whichever format sells most players in the years' busiest shopping period, but Silverberg, in common with most other studios, appears to prefer Blu-ray.

"We are committed to the format," he said.

If Warner does drop HD DVD, then Sony's Blu-ray will be a strong favourite to prevail over its Toshiba- and Microsoft-backed rival. Overnight Blu-ray will account for 70% rather than 49% of the number of available titles and now that the first sub-$300 Blu-ray players are going on sale, HD DVD's price advantage is vanishing.

With Warner gone, HD DVD would be left only with Viacom's Paramount and Dreamworks studios, which recently switched from the Sony camp. There were unconfirmed reports that the HD DVD camp had provided a multi-million dollar incentive, though the studios insist they were motivated by the lower prices of HD DVD players and discs.

The possibility of a solution that would embrace both formats looks increasingly unlikely. Talks between both camps failed long ago, while Warner recently suspended development of its hybrid Total HD disc format. LG has unveiled its new dual-format player, the BH200, but at $999 it's hardly likely to make much of an impact.

Author: Simon Aughton