• Posted December 8th, 2007 at 20:31 EDT by
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The snowball effect for Blu-ray has been accumulating greatly since launch. Especially with the help of the PlayStation 3, Blu-ray has outsold HD-DVD by a ratio of 2:1. The Blu-ray camp has been fortunate to grab four major movie development studios to release titles exclusively on the format while HD-DVD only has 3 exclusive supports, two of whom (Paramount, Dreamworks) which is said to be forced by Microsoft to exclusively support HD-DVD because of their own agenda.

Now it looks like there could be a 5th exclusive supporter coming to Blu-ray, Warner Bros. whom currently supports both formats by releasing on Blu-ray and HD-DVD. That could come to an end soon, which would allow Blu-ray to hold 70% of the high-def market almost by default declaring them the winner of this battle.

“The rumor is that Warner is coming aboard soon," says Michael Burns, vice-chairman of Blu-ray supporter Lionsgate,  "That will make it awfully tough for HD DVD to stay in this game."

A representative from Business Week added, "either side could (win the Warner endorsement)...but the Sony group has suddenly emerged as the front runner."

"Persuading it (Warner) to sign an exclusive deal would give the Sony crowd about 70% of DVD market share. That could prompt the other studios to abandon HD DVD.”

Furthermore, Business Week states that if Warner were to join HD-DVD, it would create an impasse:

“That could create mass consumer confusion and potentially strangle a new technology that the studios hope will give a lift to flagging DVD sales. That's exactly why Warner has long pushed for a single format,"

Source: TV Predictions