Amazon, Universal Embrace Blu-ray

By Geoff Duncan February 20, 2008

In the wake of Toshiba officially cancelling its HD DVD high-definition disc format, more companies are lining up to support Sony’s victorious Blu-ray technology—including some that were HD DVD stalwarts. Universal Pictures, the only studio to have backed HD DVD exclusively since the inception of the high-def format war, has announced it will release future movie titles in Sony’s Blu-ray format.

“The emergence of a single, high-definition format is cause for consumers, as well as the entire entertainment industry, to celebrate,” said Universal Studios home president Craig Kornblau, in a statement. “While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray.”

Universal’s announcement leaves Paramount and Dreamworks as the only remaining HD DVD-exclusive studios who haven’t announced a switch to Blu-ray, but any announcements are a formality at this point, given Toshiba’s decision to kill off the platform.

Amazon.com has also announced it is embracing Blu-ray, following in the steps of movie rental service Netflix and electronics retailer Best Buy. Amazon will still carry HD DVD titles and technology, but will “more prominently” promote Blu-ray hardware and software on its site.

Toshiba’s abandonment of HD DVD doesn’t mean the company is putting the technology in a cardboard box and tossing it in the nearest dumpster. At a press event yesterday, Toshiba re-iterated it is still shipping existing HD DVD inventory to retailers, who will no doubt be fire-sale-ing it along with existing HD DVD high-definition titles. As HD DVD players drop in price—some retailers are offering them for under $100 with movie titles already—HD DVD players might make a compelling choice purely as an upscaling player for standard DVDs. Toshiba has also committed to stocking parts and components for repairs and warranty service for a minimum of five years, so the company will be dealing with HD DVD technology at least through 2013. Toshiba also hasn’t made any decision on about HD DVD drives for PCs and notebook computers: although (obviously) new movie titles won’t be available, as a data solution HD DVD might still have some legs—particularly since Microsoft, HP, and Intel haven’t yet made a decision on abandoning the format.

One of the ironies of the format war is that the adoption of high definition discs is still far below industry expectations of even a year ago. Consumers’ willingness to sit out a format way between HD DVD and Blu-ray has sparked the development of broadband movie delivery services, some of which (like Xbox Live) are already offering high-definition content. Sony has won the high-definition disc format war, and Toshiba’s abandonment of HD DVD makes the PlayStation 3 more attractive as a combined gaming platform and Blu-ray player, despite its high cost. But the spoils of victory may not be as sweet—or as long lived—as VHS’s defeat of Sony’s Betamax technology years ago if broadband entertainment services leapfrog Blu-ray’s physical discs.

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