Blu-ray Could Win High-def Battle. Soon.

[Broken]

"The two remaining studios backing HD DVD could switch sides soon, ending the high-def format war instantly."

"Daily Variety has confirmed that Universal's commitment to backing HD DVD exclusively has ended. And Paramount has an escape clause in its HD DVD contract allowing it to release pics on Blu-ray after Warner Bros.' decision to back that format exclusively.

Neither studio is ready to throw in the towel immediately, however. On Thursday, Universal broke its silence about the matter to say that it plans to keep supporting the format for the time being, a pledge Par made earlier in the week. And in any case, U is committed to a series of HD DVD promotions in coming months.

Should Toshiba concede defeat on the format, the decision to drop HD DVD would be made for both studios. But Toshiba doesn't appear ready to do that. At the Consumer Electronics Show, the manufacturer reaffirmed its commitment to the format, noting strong sales during the fourth quarter and indicating it would continue marketing its hardware through 2008."

Source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...goryid=20&cs=1

[Steve02]

sure BR disc will win

[lynx]

I can get a Toshiba HDDVD player for under £50 including tax (that's less than $100).
http://shop.cd-writer.com/catalog/sd...l?currency=GBP

The cheapest Blu-ray machine is over 5 times that price, so I wouldn't rule HDDVD out just yet.

All it needs is another incident from Sony like the rootkit fiasco and they could well be dead in the water. And knowing Sony they've probably already got one in the pipeline.

[tyman]

amazon had one for $200 over Christmas...should've bough it then. HD-DVD is done with. I'm happy Blu-Ray won. Always wanted them the whole time.

[MRattus]

Is there any real difference between the formats? Who cares? I think that good old fashioned DVDs will be around for awhile yet, as neither will be adopted until they sort it out. Its nothing but trouble to the consumer to have the big boys battling over standards, and besides, most people can't afford HD TVs (its a big investment). Does anyone know how HD-TVs are selling in non-North American markets?

[MagusDraco]

I think the main difference that uh..well I cared about was that HD-DVD was region free and people had already cracked the copy protection on it.

[shabba007]

With the PS3 Coming down in price yet again!! It will only increase the consumer market for blu-ray out there!