Format war 'will not be decided by WB decision'
08 Jan 2008 17:29
Warner Brothers' (WB) decision to publish its films in Blu-ray is significant but will not end the HD format war, according to one expert.A spokeswoman for Screen Digest said this week that major players in Hollywood currently supporting HD DVD, such as Universal and Paramount, could now decide whether or not HD DVD survives following the continued success of Blu-ray.
Helen Davis Jayalath, a senior analyst at Screen Digest, said the two companies' reaction to the news could be vital in influencing the movie buying public. However, she added that Toshiba, which has invested heavily in HD DVD, would not want to see the format fail.
"I don't think Toshiba is likely to simply walk away from this battle, so as long as they continue to fight it may well make sense for those two studios to continue to publish on [HD DVD]," she said.
Michael Bay, one of Hollywood's most influential producers and directors, said last month that Microsoft was hoping both formats would fail and that consumers would turn to digital downloads.
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