Scott Hettrick of Hollywood In Hi-Def writes:
It's unfortunate and not just a little frustrating that Universal never gave in to Blu-ray and even proclaimed a desire to keep the format war alive.
It's maddening that Microsoft funded HD DVD supposedly as part of a machievalian scheme to hasten the demise of all optical disc media in favor of digital downloads more suited to MS products.
And it's disappointing that Paramount/DreamWorks accepted a pile of money, reportedly from Toshiba/Microsoft, which wound up prolonging the format war by at least six months to a year.
But now that Warner has chosen Blu-ray (see media release below), regardless of the reason Warner did so (I choose to believe that they did so for all the right reasons – that it is the best format for all involved and the clear choice of consumers, but the veracity of that claim doesn't even matter at this point), it's time to make the now-inevitable Blu-ray victory as complete as possible as quickly as possible.
There is no upside to prolonging the format war any further. None of the original Blu-ray companies/studios are going to turn to HD DVD. Warner has just dropped HD DVD and will likely take New Line with them. That only leaves Universal and Paramount/DreamWorks, the latter of which never had their heart in it anyway, only their open wallet.
For all those consumers, retailers, filmmakers (thank you, Michael Bay), and others who want to see hi-def discs become a viable next-generation platform (including you, Toshiba), now is the time to abandon any hold you may still have on HD DVD and convert 100% to Blu-ray. Anything short of that will be unnecessarily delaying the inevitable and potentially killing the opportunity for any hi-def disc to survive.
