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New Line and HBO back Blu-ray Exclusively

January 09, 2008 in News comments 16

Well the "fat lady" is about to sing for HD-DVD. It appears that two more studios are hammering in nails into the coffin of HD-DVD. Those two studios come in the form of New Line and HBO.

To be honest I expected this so called "format war" go on for at least another two years. However, it appears this thing may come to an end within this year (2008). But as Yogi Bera says, "It aint over til its over."

Two more dominos have fallen.

A New Line Home Entertainment spokesman confirms reports that the mini-major is following distributor Warner Home Video’s lead in abandoning HD DVD and releasing all future next-generation titles only in the Blu-ray Disc format.

And HBO Video president Henry McGee says HBO, too, is “following the same policy as Warner Home Video.”

Warner last Friday stunned the industry on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show when it announced that after May it will no longer support the HD DVD platform, which for nearly two years has been engaged in a bitter format war with Blu-ray Disc to become the high-definition disc standard.

Like Warner, New Line and HBO had been supporters of both formats, although New Line’s HD DVD releases lagged behind its standard DVD and Blu-ray releases. HBO has released season six of one of the most popular TV DVD sellers of all time, “The Sopranos,” on both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD.
SS4Gogeta via homemediamagazine.com »
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Most recently commented on by on Jan 11, 2008

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  • 1
    Guticb Jan 9, 08
    This "Format War" is over...

    Shame it had to happen. A lot of non Tech-savvy people simply wanted an HD disc format and chose HD-DVD due to price, ignorant about the fact that Blu-ray would win. Now these people will be stuck with a couple hundred dollar machine they may not be able to use next year.
  • 1
    Red 9 Jan 9, 08
    So glad I bought a PS3 at this moment. Had I not, I wouldn't be able to watch all the movies I want to [in the months to come].

    Didn't think the format competition would end so quickly. No chance for HD-DVD.

    Lol, watched a news segment about this yesterday...they said the 360 uses HD-DVD for its format, when it doesn't even have an HD-DVD drive...lol.
  • 2
    Existenz Jan 9, 08
    I do feel for those Xbox 360 owners that bought a HD-DVD drive because Microsoft said it was the future of high definition movie content, i would be pretty damn pissed off if i was in their shoes... And now its rumoured that Microsoft are going to back Blu-Ray anyway as they said in the beginning that if HD-DVD fails they will back the winning format, thats another $300 their loyal fanbase will be spending making the 360 even more costly, the system itself isn't expensive but the overall peripheral price plus console puts it as the most expensive home system in history.
  • 1
    Supernouva Jan 9, 08
    It could've been worse if Microsoft decided to add an internal HD DVD drive to the Xbox 360.
    • 2
      Guticb Jan 9, 08
      Well, if they did that, game developers would at least have more than 9GB of space, so it wouldn't be a total waste, like their current HD-DVD drive ended up being.
  • 1
    Bri Jan 9, 08
    It's almost humorous how quickly the tide turned with Warner. Once that happened, death knell. I don't think HD DVD will make it to the end of '08, if not dying out sooner than that.
  • 0
    Red 9 Jan 9, 08
    Lol, as soon as Microsoft sees their format get shaky in the battle, they waste no time switching sides so that in the end, they can shout "We backed the winner!"...
  • 0
    Storm Jan 9, 08
    Warner, HBO, and New Line. Blu-Ray is shaping up to be the future.
    • 2
      Existenz Jan 9, 08
      Its 12 movie studios to 2 and with rumours that those final 2 HD-DVD backing companies have a get out clause if Time Warner abandoned ship are true then this war could be over as quickly as next week.
  • 1
    Bale Fire* Jan 9, 08
    Microsoft were only backing HD DVD to stall the format war and move onto fully downloadable media anyway. I bet they didn't expect it to end this quickly though
  • 1
    Red 9 Jan 9, 08
    One issue with download-only media; your file gets corrupted, there's no getting it back. With discs, it's retrievable.
    • -1
      shaka Jan 9, 08
      digital downloads hasnt killed musik disks,

      Blu-ray is the future.
  • 0
    Seeker X Jan 9, 08
    Downloadable Media? Just how many movie go-ers will actually replace good ol' Blockbuster with computers anyways?
  • 0
    Arcaida Jan 9, 08
    I'm not down for the whole Digital Media thing, as far as downloading goes. Well, not for my movies and games; music is a whole new story. I like to have the disc on hand, as well as the packaging and all that cute shit.

    In regards to the shift for these companies though, I don't think it's too big of a deal just yet. Most people I know are still purchasing standard DVDs, so the unavailability of HD-DVDs isn't going to have a huge shock factor set in immediately. Hell, I'm still running a low res SD-TV.
  • 0
    Slumpy monkey Jan 10, 08
    well as more people get hd-tv they probibly opt for the cheaper hd-dvd. Thats if there not Technology smart. Wich A wide majority I would say is. SO its not over yet. Although it pretty much is.....
  • -1
    Xtrordinary Jan 10, 08

    I don't see how this was a surprise? Is there any real benefits with HD DVD over Bluray?

    Hopefully this won't boost PS3 sales though ;D.

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