June 18th, 2007
Blockbuster to eschew HD-DVD in favor of Blu-ray. But are Blu-ray discs 'rotting'?
Interesting developments in high def DVD world. On the one hand, it looks like Blockbuster is going all Blu-ray (in other words, no more discs that conform to the HD-DVD format). According to a story from the Associated Press as seen on Fox (there’s also a blog on News.com about it):
Blockbuster Inc. will rent high-definition DVDs only in the Blu-ray format in 1,450 stores when it expands its high-def offerings next month, dealing a major blow to the rival HD DVD format.
The move, being announced Monday, could be the first step in resolving a format war that has kept confused consumers from rushing to buy new DVD players until they can determine which format will dominate the market.
Blockbuster has been renting both Blu-ray and HD DVD titles in 250 stores since late last year and found that consumers were choosing Blu-ray titles more than 70 percent of the time.
The story goes on to say that the HD DVD crowd isn’t at all too pleased with the news:
The North American HD DVD Promotional Group said Blockbuster’s decision was shortsighted and skewed by the success of films released by Blu-ray studios in the first three months of the year.
Could Blockbuster’s move mean the death knell for HD-DVD? Is Blockbuster even relevant in this market where people are getting their video on-demand and through outlets like Netflix?
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the Net, questions are being raised about Blu-ray discs engineering. Via Engadget comes a report that certain Blu-ray discs are “rotting” to the point that they’re unplayable. Writes Conrad Quilty-Harper:
A thread over at the AVS Forums has highlighted a potential problem with the coating of Blu-ray discs, described by many as “disc rot” due to the mould-like spots that have made several owner’s Blu-ray discs unplayable.
Meanwhile, I’m a laggard. I don’t have HD anything on the homestead.
