February 11th, 2008
Best Buy, Netflix declare Blu-ray the winning high def DVD format
Best Buy and Netflix on Monday declared Blu-ray the winning format of the high definition DVD war.
The writing was on the wall for HD-DVD, which was primarily backed by Toshiba and tech giants like Microsoft. Warner Bros decision on Jan. 4 to back Blu-ray crushed the hopes for HD-DVD. But when one of the largest electronics retailers (Best Buy statement) and a premier movie rental service (Netflix statement) say they’re only stocking the Sony-backed Blu-ray it’s game over for HD-DVD.
Best Buy said that it will “prominently showcase Blu-ray hardware and software products in its Best Buy retail and online channels in the United States.” Best Buy said its customers were tired of trying to select a format so the retailing giant picked one.
It was a similar story for Netflix, which added that it will stock high-def DVDs exclusively in the Blu-ray format. All six movie studies have backed Blu-ray and the industry has been headed toward one format. Netflix noted that most of its customers have selected Blu-ray over HD-DVD formats.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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, Microsoft must be feeling silly now.
