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More bad news for the HD DVD camp

by on12 February 2008

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Best Buy and Netflix throw support behind Blu-ray


It just seems that when it rains, it pours for HD DVD owners. Today, both online rental leader, Netflix, and retailer, Best Buy, have firmly moved their support over to the Blu-ray camp. This latest news continues the trend of companies moving to support the Blu-ray format as the preferred HD format of choice.

According to Netflix, they have seen a preference from subscribers toward Blu-ray as their choice in HD rental format and they will exclusively stock and focus only Blu-ray titles going forward. While the HD DVD titles that they have in stock will continue to rent, Netflix will not be buying any additional HD DVD titles moving forward and they expect to phase out all HD DVD titles that they currently have by the end of the year. Those looking to rent HD DVD titles will have to look for another source.

As for Best Buy, the giant consumer electronics retailer says that will recommend to customers that Blu-ray is the preferred HD format moving forward. Best Buy’s decision to focus on supporting Blu-ray will likely carry a lot of weight with consumers looking to purchase an HD player, as many of these consumers rely on recommendations from Best Buy staff on which products to purchase. Best Buy does go on to say that it will continue at least for the short term to make HD DVD players and HD DVD titles available. We suspect that shelf space for HD DVD players and titles will continue to be reduced in coming months as Best Buy continues to focus more on their Blu-ray strategy.

Neither of these announcements are good news for HD DVD consumers who have purchased players. Those that have players will wish to enjoy them with the upcoming exclusive HD DVD titles that are headed their way soon, including: American Gangster, Bee Movie, Beowulf, Braveheart, Forrest Gump, Star Trek, Sweeney Todd, and The Jack Ryan Collection. These titles could be some of the last HD DVD exclusives to make their way to the HD DVD format prior to Universal, Dreamworks and Paramount announcing a switch to format neutral stance prior to announcing exclusive Blu-ray support before next holiday season, if you believe all of the industry scuttlebutt that we have been hearing.

Last modified on 12 February 2008
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