Time Warner’s Warner Bros. studio Friday said it would exclusively release high-definition DVDs in Sony Corp’s Blu-ray format, dealing a big blow to Toshiba Corp’s rival HD DVD technology. Warner Bros, Hollywood’s biggest seller of DVDs, representing about 18 to 20% of sales in the United States, was one of the few studios that backed both formats. All sides of the format war had agreed it was confusing to consumers and a stumbling block for a potential multibillion-dollar industry. Total DVD unit sales fell 4.5% in 2007, the first major year-over-year decline since the disc format debuted in 1997, according to Adams Media Research. Sales fell 4.8% to $15.7 billion.

“The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers,” Warner Bros Chairman and Chief Executive Barry Meyer said in a statement. News Corp’s 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, and Lionsgate are among studios backing the Blu-ray format. Viacom’s Paramount studios and General Electric’s NBC Universal release movies in HD DVD format.Warner said it would continue releasing in the HD DVD format until the end of May, although those releases would follow the standard DVD and Blu-ray releases.

Great, theyre backing regionlocked-ray. I suppose its only a matter of time now before HD-DVD starts dropping off

Im glad, simply because it gives me an excuse to get a PS3

Whatever format the adult industry chooses will be a big xxx-factor.....

Whatever format the adult industry chooses will be a big xxx-factor.....

porn industry are ahead of the times & just offer films through the tinternet

format war, or damp squib?

Physical media is dying a death. I dont see the point to a format war when there will be no physical media in 3-5 yrs.

15 years ago virtually no-one had a mobile. video calls were something out of star trek.

Delivery doesnt have to be via computer or the internet, therell be advances in VOD to take care of that.

in all honesty - start streaming me 1080p/60 and Ill pay a stupidly high premium and think a lot of others would too.

These discs are lovely but HDs got to be close to being a streaming format in the nxt year or two, so which kind of cd it comes on will become redundant fast.

Its expensive for the kit just to stream it around your house.

It is now. It wont be very soon. Compact flash 4GB cost around £3-4000 (Yes, thousand) when it came out,  how much is it now!

when did it come out? I paid £120 for a 4gb CF 4 years ago  

ATM theres a huge bandwidth problem.. BBC nearly scraped their HD channel because of it... but TBH, the only things Id want in HD is my Sport & My Movies.