HD-DVD Not Going To Die, Says Universal

Earlier this week, we reported that Blockbuster decided to cut off Blu-rays life supply in their retail outlets. They would however continue to offer titles through their online service. This news sparked a monumental amount of attention from consumers around the web, most of who had cried in fear for a potential HD-DVD death.

Well it turns out that HD-DVD is not going to suffer that much at all, at least according to Universal. They state that Blockbusters sales/rentals of their HD-DVD movies accounted for less than 1% of their profits. This might go to show that despite Blockbuster’s hold on the rental market, they won’t have an effect in the grand scheme of things. HD-DVD fans should have nothing to fear, unless another e-tailer wants to jump on the same bandwagon.

What Ken really said would win the format war was price, with HD DVD’s lower production costs giving it an advantage here over Blu-ray. When asked about when we would see a £100 HD DVD player, Toshiba’s Olivier Van Wynendaele, said it was unlikely to be this year, but that we could soon expect for see decks from Chinese manufactures that would undercut its own entry-level HD-E1 deck, which can currently be picked up for around £260.

Source: Trusted Reviews