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Warner Drops HD DVD, Will Go Blu-ray Exclusively

Friday, January 4th, 2008 at 4:45 PM - by

Warner Home Entertainment announced on Friday that it will cease its its dual format HD movie support, eliminate HD DVD, and go with Blu-ray exclusively. Publishing on both formats will cease after May 2008.

The announcement was made jointly by Barry Meyer, Chairman and CEO, Warner Bros. and Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group.

"Warner Bros.' move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want," said Mr. Meyer. "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger."

Titles on both formats will cease at the end of May 2008.

"A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology from reaching mass adoption and becoming the important revenue stream that it can be for the industry," said Mr. Tsujihara. "Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience."

iPO notes that Warner put itself in a unique position by holding out and being the last to support both formats. By doing so, it held the key decision role. Warner could have maintained its dual format support or gone with HD DVD, but that would have led to continued consumer apathy and loss of revenue by all the studios. With the Blu-ray decision, Warner becomes the sixth studio to support Blu-ray exclusively. Others are Disney, Fox, Lionsgate, MGM and Sony. Universal and Paramount are now the only remaining studios that support HD DVD exclusively.

With this decision, the format war may be coming to a close, and the stage is further set if Apple makes an announcement at Macworld to include Blu-ray drives in some of its computers as has been predicted.

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Tiger said:

member since 17 Jun 2003 with 1018 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Jan 04, 2008 7:04 pm

So, will those lawyers in California sue them for NOT supporting HD DVD format??????????????

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:54 pm

I know what's going on. Apple has inked deals with the studios for people to be able to rip BlueRay discs to their iPods and AppleTV.

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deasys said:

member since 08 Apr 2003 with 296 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:33 pm

Universal and Paramount--I wonder how those $150 million golden handcuffs feel now? Getting a bit tight?

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Terrin said:

member since 29 Jan 2006 with 414 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Sat Jan 05, 2008 11:19 am

I really do not get the enthusiasm for either HD format. This really is just means to allow the Industry control your usage of media to even a greater extent then every before. For starters, it is very hard to rip a Blue Ray movie if not impossible on a Mac. Additionally, the technology is just a prelude to more draconian things such as broadcast flags that prevent you from doing things such as skipping commercials. When weighing the advantages over disadvantages, I certainly think consumers at the end of the day will short change themselves.

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acdc1174 said:

member since 16 Apr 2004 with 723 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Sun Jan 06, 2008 2:50 am

I get the enthusiasm for the data-density. 25-50 GB/disc is impressive and a real boon for data purposes. That said, I agree with Terrin. I don't think the pros outweigh the cons that accompany these formats. Unfortunately, I think that "Guest" may be right. As I see these pieces falling into place one-by-one (Warner dropping HD-DVD support in 08 to go strictly Blu-Ray and dropping DRM for online music sales, Sony BMG going DRM-free), I too am starting to think that we will be seeing content deals with Apple for Fairplay versions of movies included on Blu-Ray DVDs, especially if the rumored Blu-ray support in the Mac comes at Macworld Expo. Doesn't sound too bad until you realize that this will necessitate Apple supporting HDCP (High Definition Copy Protection) in their systems. People will likely be getting the new cinema displays they wanted (also a Macworld Expo rumor) with HDMI support, but this will be purely for HDCP. ::sigh::

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DaiMac said:

member since 29 Jun 2001 with 952 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Sun Jan 06, 2008 11:48 am

acdc1174 wrote:
Doesn't sound too bad until you realize that this will necessitate Apple supporting HDCP (High Definition Copy Protection) in their systems. People will likely be getting the new cinema displays they wanted (also a Macworld Expo rumor) with HDMI support, but this will be purely for HDCP. ::sigh::

Yeah, I'm not sure about any kind of HDCP requirement, given that my main high-def display is not HDCP compliant. I don't want to be forced to buy a Cinema display just to watch movies on my Mac. I only have an HD-DVD drive now (for BSG, as previously stated on other posts) with my 360, but I'm avoiding burners/readers in my computers until the dust settles either way, tastes too much like the DVD +/-/R/RW/etc mess to me.

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ctopher said:

member since 25 Aug 2006 with 134 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jan 07, 2008 6:23 pm

Ya know, I don't give a rip about copying a high-def movie. I just want to be able to rent a movie and know that I can watch it in all it's high def goodness on my TV without having to worry about whether or not I purchased the correct player!

I want to be able to WATCH DVDs on my Mac too, don't make that too difficult with your DRM, but so long as I can back up 10s of Gigs onto a high-definition disc AND I can burn MY content (home movies and slide shows) onto a high-definition disc and know that my mother will be able to play/read it, I'm happy.

Pick one damn it!

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burreyeann said:

member since 25 Feb 2005 with 1144 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Jan 08, 2008 2:10 pm

ctopher wrote:
Ya know, I don't give a rip about copying a high-def movie. I just want to be able to rent a movie and know that I can watch it in all it's high def goodness on my TV without having to worry about whether or not I purchased the correct player!

I want to be able to WATCH DVDs on my Mac too, don't make that too difficult with your DRM, but so long as I can back up 10s of Gigs onto a high-definition disc AND I can burn MY content (home movies and slide shows) onto a high-definition disc and know that my mother will be able to play/read it, I'm happy.

Pick one damn it!

My sentiments exactly. I say go with Blu-Ray for the simple fact that it stores more data.

10-20 years from now there will be a new format (holographic - positronic - who knows what) that will make both of these formats obsolete...and we'll be right back here debating the merits of each new format.

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