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Tech.view
High-definition discs
Jun 22nd 2007
From Economist.com
IS THE war between the two high-definition contenders for the venerable DVD crown over? An announcement on Monday from Blockbuster, a movie-rental giant, led some to declare a victor. Next month, when Blockbuster expands its high-definition movie offerings from 250 stores to 1,450 across America, it will stock only the Blu-ray format, from a camp led by Sony. Titles on the rival HD DVD format, developed by the Toshiba alliance, will still be available at Blockbuster’s original 250 locations as well as online. It was the latest piece of bad news for Toshiba, which last week slashed its sales target for HD DVD players following disappointing results in America.
You can’t blame Blockbuster. Its customers were opting for Blu-ray titles 70% of the time. For that, Sony should be applauded for aligning itself so carefully with Hollywood. Four studios—Disney, Lionsgate and Fox as well as Sony’s own—use Blu-ray discs exclusively. Paramount and Warner support both formats, while Universal is the only big studio to release titles solely on HD DVD.…
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