Netflix Drops HD DVD

[Polaris573]

Netflix believes the winner in the HD format war has been determined and said that it has begun stocking Blu-ray discs exclusively. The company said that its move is prompted by the decision of four out of the six major movie studios to publish high-def DVD titles only in the Sony-developed Blu-ray format. The online movie rental company intends to phase out HD DVDs by the end of this year and, as of now, is purchasing HD titles in Blu-ray only. The firm's current HD DVD inventory will remain available to customers until the discs' "natural life cycle" takes them out of circulation in the coming months. "The prolonged period of competition between two formats has prevented clear communication to the consumer regarding the richness of the high-def experience versus standard definition," said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix, in a prepared statement.

"We're now at the point where the industry can pursue the migration to a single format, bring clarity to the consumer and accelerate the adoption of high-def. Going forward, we expect that all of the studios will publish in the Blu-ray format and that the price points of high-def DVD players will come down significantly. These factors could well lead to another decade of disc-based movie watching as the consumer's preferred means," Sarandos believes.

Netflix said that the majority of its customers looking or HD movies have chosen Blu-ray, and "only a portion" went with the HD DVD format. The company claims that it has more than 400 Blu-ray movies available for rent at this time.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Dangle]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[newtekie1]

Just another nail in the already shut coffin.

 

[Cold Storm]

all right, so since I have netflix and rent from there regularly then I guess my next jump is to get blu-ray...
It's not looking good for hd-dvd

 

[erocker]

Bye bye Betamax, erm.. I mean HD-DVD.

 

[crow1001]

RIP HD-DVD. yours was a short and crappy life.

 

[Ravenas]

The war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD is over (and I'm not saying this based solely on Netflix going Blu-Ray exclusive). It's now a war between Blu-Ray and digital downloads.

 

[moto666]

In two year's the war would be over!
And the blue corner is victorious!

 

[1c3d0g]

Yay! Blu-Ray FTW.

 

[Cold Storm]

Bye bye Betamax, erm.. I mean HD-DVD.

lol.. you remember that war then don't you?!

 

[bassmasta]

hd-dvd vs blu ray was like the 2d vs 3d. one was nice and flat, the other was pointy and 1337.

 

[Hawk1]

Well it certainly doesnt look good for HD-DVD (but someone has to win).

How soon till the clubhouse closes

 

[effmaster]

Well it certainly doesnt look good for HD-DVD (but someone has to win).

How soon till the clubhouse closes

As long as studios and the adult entertainment industry continues to support it and release movies for the format exclusively or by supporting both formats.

This may be bad news for HD DVD. But rest assured. HD DVD is not yet out of this. I forsee a break coming for HD DVD in the near future.


I still believe that HD DVD was and still is the superior and cheaper High def format of the two. All this talk of HD DVD being a dead dog that people are trying to revive is just nonsense. This is still a slugfest for both formats. I think Microsoft may have a change in heart with what to do with its cash now that Yahoo declined its offer to buy them out.

 

[Hawk1]

As long as studios and the adult entertainment industry continues to support it and release movies for the format exclusively or by supporting both formats.

This may be bad news for HD DVD. But rest assured. HD DVD is not yet out of this. I forsee a break coming for HD DVD in the near future.


I still believe that HD DVD was and still is the superior and cheaper High def format of the two. All this talk of HD DVD being a dead dog that people are trying to revive is just nonsense. This is still a slugfest for both formats. I think Microsoft may have a change in heart with what to do with its cash now that Yahoo declined its offer to buy them out.

True True. I also think HD DVD was better and am rooting for it (also 'cause I don't like Sony), and hope they have some type of comeback. But on the other hand, I do want the war over so they can get on with developing the readers/writers and, with economies of scale once one wins, the prices should start dropping rather sharply.

 

[moto666]

Yes the Studios will support it for now!
But time past by and when the masses would spend millions and millions on blueray-s they will
drop HD-DVD, and the porn industries will drop it to!
Money talks!

 

[Ravenas]

Yes the Studios will support it for now!
But time past by and when the masses would spend millions and millions on blueray-s they will
drop HD-DVD, and the porn industries will drop it to!
Money talks!

They can't drop HD-DVD, they are locked into a contract. After some time has passed, they will eventually leave, and have already tried...But until then they are locked into an unfortunate contract.

Toshiba and other manufactures are really trying there hardest to make a profit on the products they have on the market before they have a dead product...Selling HD-DVDs at 10.49 per hd-dvd is really showing that they are trying to move product as fast as possible before their market completely dies (Cheaper than regular dvds). What's even more is that I was reading an article yesterday stating that retailers have more HD-DVD returns than they do HD-DVD products on their shelves. Funny funny...

@effmaster: One point that needs to noted is that the porn industry isn't HD-DVD exclusive or Blu-Ray exclusive. Support is happening on both formats. As is the case with Digital Playground warming back up to Blu-Ray with its latest title:

 

[WarEagleAU]

Effmaster, face it bro, its gonna lose. As much as Id like to see both formats survive and prices come down, its gonna be like the 80s was with Sonys Betamax (pray) and VHS.

 

[spud107]

 

[jocksteeluk]

I can see Blu-ray initially winning this battle but then losing it by raising the royalties amounts and once again reopening the door for a competitor, I think one of the reasons Hd-Dvd is losing is because of the ever changing hardware specs Eg: dual layer, triple layer, quad layer each time rendering the previous addition obsolete. I very much doubt this battle is won yet after all how many members of this forum actually uses Netflix? but besides this i do expect a combined hd-dvd xbox 360 console which will soon no doubt be released to reinvigorate hd-dvd sales, at the end of the day the winner of the battle is the general consumer!

 

[Ser-J]

Blu-Ray FTW

 

[tofu]

They can't drop HD-DVD, they are locked into a contract. After some time has passed, they will eventually leave, and have already tried...But until then they are locked into an unfortunate contract.

Toshiba and other manufactures are really trying there hardest to make a profit on the products they have on the market before they have a dead product...Selling HD-DVDs at 10.49 per hd-dvd is really showing that they are trying to move product as fast as possible before their market completely dies (Cheaper than regular dvds). What's even more is that I was reading an article yesterday stating that retailers have more HD-DVD returns than they do HD-DVD products on their shelves. Funny funny...

@effmaster: One point that needs to noted is that the porn industry isn't HD-DVD exclusive or Blu-Ray exclusive. Support is happening on both formats. As is the case with Digital Playground warming back up to Blu-Ray with its latest title:

Its latest title kicks ass too

 

[imperialreign]

I can see Blu-ray initially winning this battle but then losing it by raising the royalties amounts and once again reopening the door for a competitor, I think one of the reasons Hd-Dvd is losing is because of the ever changing hardware specs Eg: dual layer, triple layer, quad layer each time rendering the previous addition obsolete. I very much doubt this battle is won yet after all how many members of this forum actually uses Netflix? but besides this i do expect a combined hd-dvd xbox 360 console which will soon no doubt be released to reinvigorate hd-dvd sales, at the end of the day the winner of the battle is the general consumer!

I can see Microsoft doing something similar, too. Many times, it seems, M$ does things intentionally to go against the grain. For the better, in this circumstance. IF BR walks away with the cake after it's all said and done, you can expect to see stoopid prices start cropping up on hardware and titles - mark my word. There isn't a single thing that Sony gets involved in that doesn't become over priced sooner or later. I've been getting the feeling recently that Pioneer might end up backing out of BR, they've rarely gotten along with Sony over the years, and as BR becomes more of a "sure-thing," and Sony's ego continues to inflate, the two founders of the BR technology are going to start seeing very differently over who recieves what percentage of royalties for the technology itself, and if the two can't agree . . .


<edit>

and on top of that, I get a kick out of the fact that most consumers are unaware of the looming changes in BR, and that early BR players won't be able to access all the features of the newer BD profiles as they come out, unless you're using a PS3. BR format has still yet to cross that hurdle - and when it comes about that the consumers aren't getting the $$$$ worth from newer titles considering how much they've payed for their players . . . people are going to start looking at a competining format

 

[EastCoasthandle]

I can see Microsoft doing something similar, too. Many times, it seems, M$ does things intentionally to go against the grain. For the better, in this circumstance. IF BR walks away with the cake after it's all said and done, you can expect to see stoopid prices start cropping up on hardware and titles - mark my word. There isn't a single thing that Sony gets involved in that doesn't become over priced sooner or later. I've been getting the feeling recently that Pioneer might end up backing out of BR, they've rarely gotten along with Sony over the years, and as BR becomes more of a "sure-thing," and Sony's ego continues to inflate, the two founders of the BR technology are going to start seeing very differently over who recieves what percentage of royalties for the technology itself, and if the two can't agree . . .


<edit>

and on top of that, I get a kick out of the fact that most consumers are unaware of the looming changes in BR, and that early BR players won't be able to access all the features of the newer BD profiles as they come out, unless you're using a PS3. BR format has still yet to cross that hurdle - and when it comes about that the consumers aren't getting the $$$$ worth from newer titles considering how much they've payed for their players . . . people are going to start looking at a competining format

good response!

 

[Ravenas]

I can see Microsoft doing something similar, too. Many times, it seems, M$ does things intentionally to go against the grain. For the better, in this circumstance. IF BR walks away with the cake after it's all said and done, you can expect to see stoopid prices start cropping up on hardware and titles - mark my word. There isn't a single thing that Sony gets involved in that doesn't become over priced sooner or later. I've been getting the feeling recently that Pioneer might end up backing out of BR, they've rarely gotten along with Sony over the years, and as BR becomes more of a "sure-thing," and Sony's ego continues to inflate, the two founders of the BR technology are going to start seeing very differently over who recieves what percentage of royalties for the technology itself, and if the two can't agree . . .


<edit>

and on top of that, I get a kick out of the fact that most consumers are unaware of the looming changes in BR, and that early BR players won't be able to access all the features of the newer BD profiles as they come out, unless you're using a PS3. BR format has still yet to cross that hurdle - and when it comes about that the consumers aren't getting the $$$$ worth from newer titles considering how much they've payed for their players . . . people are going to start looking at a competining format

The second part of you're argument is flawed...The great majority of the Blu-Ray players aren't and will never be early adopters. Excluding PS3 owners.

 

[warhammer]

If it is over and Blue Ray has won then watch the prices go Up.