By Mike Snider, USA TODAY
Just when it seemed that the Blu-ray Disc had gained the upper hand in the high-definition video disc battle, HD DVD has recruited two studios, Paramount and DreamWorks.
The studios will exclusively support the HD DVD format starting with next week's release of Blades of Glory. Later this year, DreamWorks' summer hits Transformers and Shrek the Third will also be released only on HD DVD (and of course standard DVD). Earlier this year, Flags of our Fathers and Dreamgirls were released on both Blu-ray and HD DVD, but older Shrek films are not out on either format.
The availability of lower-cost HD DVD players led to the studios pulling their support from Blu-ray. Toshiba currently has players in stores for less than $300.
The high price of players — previously starting at about $500 — has kept consumers from buying into either format, says DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. "That's why I have been very reticent to have us move into it."
Katzenberg says that HD DVD will thrive this fall with more affordable players and a highly anticipated wave of movies, including blockbusters such as The Bourne Ultimatum, Knocked Up and Evan Almighty (from Universal, another HD DVD-only studio), and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (from Warner, which supports both formats). The coming season "is adding up to be a game-changer" for (HD DVD), Katzenberg says.
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Rival Blu-ray, which counts studios Sony, Disney and Fox as supporters, had been gaining market momentum in recent months. Blockbuster and Target announced they'll carry Blu-ray exclusively, and Blu-ray discs have been outselling HD DVDs about 2-to-1 this year. However, HD DVD releases (81) have outpaced Blu-ray's (55) in the past three months, according to DVD Release Report.
Paramount and DreamWorks' announcement suggests "the battle is not nearly done," says Joe Laszlo, senior analyst at Jupiter Research. "And it's not at all a safe bet either of these formats is going to be the dominant one."
Says Kelley Avery, worldwide president of Paramount Home Entertainment: "This business is in its infancy. At this stage, there has only been about 3 million high-definition discs sold combined," compared with about 1 billion DVDs sold each year in North America.
Committing to one format allows the studios to lower their manufacturing and marketing costs, she says. "We think this is the best way for people to watch movies."
2 comments:
This is weird. It's like watching something become obsolete before it even happens. Meanwhile plain old dvds continue to be awesome.
Every time I hear someone joke about plain old dvds imminent downfall, I think "I'll believe it when I see it." Sure, all technology gets replaced eventually, but I just don't see market forces really making this happen until hd dvd and blu-ray both drop in price in a big way.
It took almost 10 years from when DVDs were introduced to VHS becoming obselete. I'm don't find the HDDVD appealing at this time because in order to realize it's potential you must have a high def television and player, which I'm not about to drop a few grand on. I bet many people feel the same way.
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