has anyone been watching or paying attention to the format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD?

Warner Bros announced that they will be going Blu-Ray exclusive. and it looks liek their sister company, New Line, will also be going Blu-Ray. Over the past six months, the studio support for both formats was about 50/50. With Warner Bros going Blu-Ray, it's now about 70/30 in favor of Blu-Ray.

In August or September, Paramount and Dreamworks both went HD-DVD exclusive but now it's being reported that Paramount has an out clause that allows them to get out if Warner goes Blu-Ray exclusive. Rumor has it that Paramount will be moving in that direction. Unsure about Dreamworks, which leaves Universal as the only HD-DVD exclusive supporter.

So unless something drastically changes (which it doesn't look like), Blu-Ray has finally come out on top.

The bigger question for me is: how much longer will we be buying media on disks anyway...?

Let's face it, if you have a broadband connection then you already have the ability to download HD quality films and TV right now, so why buy an expensive blu-ray drive to play movies on?

Most people that I know (in Hong Kong at least) have their games consoles 'chipped' so as to relieve them from buying a proprietary format - so who needs a new disk format?

Has blu-ray really won? 

I found it irritating that we were ever forced to choose in the first place, and I've avoided both formats like the plague. Thankfully I've never cared about HD to begin with, so there's been no wasted cash on my part. I guess Sony is probably doing cartwheels over the news, considering the Blu-Ray functionality is pretty much the only thing the PS3 has going for it (certainly isn't the games) and will make it the more obvious choice for casual gamers trying to decide between a 360 and a PS3.

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

The downloading of movies hasn't quite taken off yet. The thing that downloading of movies doesn't have yet is the extra features (at least for me - I'll hold off buying a movie if the features suck), which is where the physical disc comes into play. Once the extra features can be downloaded along with the movie (and you can virtually own it), then I think you'll see a huge rise in downloading of movies. That's ultimately where Microsoft wants to go. Yes, they are a supporter of HD-DVD only because of XBOX 360. Ultimatly, they want the download to be the wya to go which is their true market and in their best interest.

I think in the end the format war just confused the market (sorta like BetaMax and VHS and later on DVD and DIVX-DVD). If indeed the format war is over, I think we'll begin to see movement with the HD discs pushing DVD to even lower prices.

I always figured Blu-Ray would win, since it has a forced install base, and better upfront stats.  But anytime Sony has control over something -- in this case, the next generation of home media -- I don't think it will go well for consumers.

Although, they'r efinally dropping their music DRM, so maybe they do have the capacity to learn something, once they've lost enough money doing it their way.  Problem is, in this case they still have competitors...

I agree with everybody. 

For us, I've been holding out waiting to see which side prevails and sticking with the "old" 2005 DVD player in the meantime.  I'm rooting for Blu-Ray.  But I also agree with Ray that either format will be obsolete in short time. I for one will be happy to have that time arrive sooner rather than later.  Ick, I just can't stand all the stuff -- DVDs, video cassettes, laser discs, CDs, cassettes, 8-track tapes, etc.  I know we can't reliably rid ourselves of everything and count on the technology transfers completely, but maybe someday.

In the meantime, the entire 2008 for me has been spent on hold with tech customer service people for our telephone lines, Internet connections, the alarm company, cable TV and the actual television itself.  FEH.  Doesn't anything just work anymore? 

Susan 

I'm all about downloading HD content after reading this: link

Love 'em or hate 'em, Sony's Blu-Ray probably has more advertising dollars.

yuck....

It's over.  The HD-DVD people cancelled their presentation Sunday at CES after Warner made the announcement on Friday.  Any format that has both the Disney and the Warner libraries becomes the standard.

 It will be interesting to see when owning a DVD becomes as passe as owning a CD has.  The studios believe this has already happened at the high end.  Almost 40 percent of new DVDs are now sold at Walmart.

I think in the end the format war just confused the market (sorta like BetaMax and VHS and later on DVD and DIVX-DVD)

totally forgot about VCC.

Marketing won the day on this one - Sony spent a bucketload more.

Besides to the average punter the HD is just too confusing with other things.  But blu-ray sounds v.cool and sticks in the mind.

I agree either format will be gone in 2-3 years.

Mates of mine have been leaning towards PVRs as their units of choice.  These little beasties are about double the size of a DVD case, can have 1/2 TB storage, have inbuilt HD TV tuners, basically are a portable way of carrying around all your gear and playing it on LCDs, TVs etc...all in HD.  Beats buying discs imho...