Blu-Ray victorious? One firm believes it’s only a matter of time.
According to a story from Home Media Magazine, the technology research and advisory firm Gartner believes that the format war between Blu-Ray and HD DVD will be over by the end of the year, with Blu-Ray emerging victorious.
Gartner analyst Hiroyuki Shimizu wrote in the Gartner’s Semiconducter DQ Monday Report that Toshiba’s price cuts won’t overcome the majority of studio support that Blu-Ray has.
“While officially announced as price cuts, this move from Toshiba is an attempt to back up the HD DVD format after the loss [of Warner],” Shimizu wrote. “Warner’s shift from producing in both formats to Blu-ray alone has left HD DVD with just Paramount Home Entertainment and Universal Studios Home Entertainment as its major Hollywood supporters, both of which account for only 30% of all high-def movies.
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“The movement was sufficiently damaging as to force the HD DVD Promotional Group to postpone, and then ultimately cancel, its CES keynote session. There is still a lot of support for HD DVD as the de facto standard, from companies such as Paramount, Universal Studios and even Microsoft. However, Gartner believes that Toshiba’s price-cutting may prolong HD DVD’s life a little, but the limited lineup of film titles will inflict fatal damage on the format. Gartner expects that, by the end of 2008, Blu-ray will be the winning format in the consumer market, and the war will be over.”
