Warner Bros. Goes Blu-Ray Exclusive

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.co...n-that-format/

(January 4, 2008 – Burbank, CA) – In response to consumer demand, Warner Bros. Entertainment will release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the Blu-ray disc format beginning later this year, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & 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 Meyer. "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 Home Video will continue to release its titles in standard DVD format and Blu-ray. After a short window following their standard DVD and Blu-ray releases, all new titles will continue to be released in HD DVD until the end of May 2008.
"Warner Bros. has produced in both high-definition formats in an effort to provide consumer choice, foster mainstream adoption and drive down hardware prices," said Jeff Bewkes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Time Warner Inc., the parent company of Warner Bros. Entertainment. "Today's decision by Warner Bros. to distribute in a single format comes at the right time and is the best decision both for consumers and Time Warner."

"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 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. Warner Bros. has worked very closely with the Toshiba Corporation in promoting high definition media and we have enormous respect for their efforts. We look forward to working with them on other projects in the future."

HD-DVD is looking like it's in trouble now.

[tonyvdb]

Ya, Its not looking good for the Toshiba camp as it seems that there are fewer and fewer HD DVDs coming out The HD format may be cheaper to build but its looking like BluRay is coming out ahead. I was involved in a discussion with a bunch of friends over the Christmas break and all of them wanted BluRay to come out on top moreso just because of the name.
I also think that having Disney in the BluRay camp is a great boost for them.

[Sonnie]

I don't think this will change much as far as deciding the format war, other than Blu-ray will sell more movies. HD-DVD and those associated with it have too much invested.

Blu-ray has 70 scheduled releases 1/1/08 to 4/30/08
HD-DVD has 52 scheduled.

The difference is all in January. HD-DVD actually has more releases scheduled from 2/1/08 to 4/30/08 than Blu-ray. Obviously with Warner pulling the plug on HD-DVD, the future release numbers will change.

I think the war is settled. Both will exist until the next new format comes around to take their place. That's just my thinking and it's always subject to change.

[wbassett]

Luckily I can buy either format

Hey if one does die, think of all those rock bottom prices. I'd expect another HD DVD price drop and sweeter movie rebate coming... that's the way this keeps going, a month to month back and forth see-saw.

[MrPorterhouse]

Well, Blu-ray has been holding a steady 65% disc sales advantage, and this is with Warner selling a whole lot of HD DVD's. When you back out the Warner HD DVD's as we head into 2008, the Blu-ray disc sales lead should average out at 75%-80% of all high def media. That's pretty much most movies. Even though Toshiba has a lot invested in HD DVD, Sony has a lot more riding on Blu-ray, as its the core media format in their PS3. Some of the best take aways from this Warner news is that Blu-ray production will increase, and this will lead to improved yields on Blu-ray discs, which will lead to lower costs to produce discs.

[Sonnie]

We should remember that hi-def media is still a very small percentage of all media sales. SD-DVDs are still the king for now.

[MrPorterhouse]

Sonnie wrote:

We should remember that hi-def media is still a very small percentage of all media sales. SD-DVDs are still the king for now.

Great point. And, that's why its as important as ever to get to a single format to get production costs down so that studios can afford to support HDM. People are slow, in general, of adopting new formats, and when you add the confusion of dual formats, that only restricts the growth of high def. Warner going Blu-ray exclusive and promoting the benefit of a single format, will help expedite the process. We'll have DVD around co-existing with Blu-ray for years to come, that's for sure, but at least we'll also have a solid path for adoption of high def media with a single format.

[Big Worm]

Just amazing news. I think this hits harder than Paramount going only HD-DVD side. All over the net people are done with HD-DVD. I have been a big believer that we would always have two formats but I have to say it is not looking very good for HD-DVD. What sucks is I just bought Harry Potter HD-DVD set and Bladerunner HD-DVD set thinking this was my safe bet for long term. Now I am not feeling so good about it.


The one thing I do like is that we now have no studios suppoting both sides. It was a pain trying to decide what format you wanted a title in when Warner released stuff.

[tonyvdb]

Its kind of a mute point for me as I have both formats I personally like some features of BluRay (better upconversion and a larger disc space) and some of the HD DVD (Better interactive menus) but it makes me wonder who will be the winner in the end.