Just when it seemed like the Blu-ray camp was starting to gain an upper hand in the high-res DVD format war, HD DVD scored a major coup. But did the industry shoot itself in the foot again? Paramount Home Entertainment announced this week that all titles from Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies
and MTV Films would be released in HD DVD only.
Good for HD DVD, but with Sony Pictures, Disney, Fox, MGM and Lions Gate married to Blu-ray, the mutually exclusive deals are making it all the more difficult for consumers to choose between Blu-ray and HD DVD.
Consumers have a lot to spend money on these days. Just in electronics
alone, there's the iPod and iTunes, Xbox, Wii and PlayStation and their
games, and then those sneaky text messages that add up every month. I
think I can speak for a lot of people when I say that I'm not going to
buy two hi-def DVD players just because the industry couldn't agree on a single format. I'll
just wait and hope the price comes down on Blu-ray/HD DVD combi players while
the industry watches sales of single-format players limp along.--Rebecca Day
