AFP reports that the format gained upper hand in the battle supremacy, after last weekend report that Warner Bros. said it would only support the technology developed by Sony.
Report also said that the announcement dealt a hard blow to the High Definition (HD)-DVD format, promoted by a group led by Japanese electronics giant Toshiba, which may now be hard-pressed to regain momentum among consumers.
“With Warner Bros siding with the Blu-ray group, the battle over the next generation DVD standard is gradually becoming a one-sided game,” said the Asahi Shimbun.
Warner Bros., which previously supported both formats, announced last Friday that it would release its films exclusively in Blu-ray beginning later this year, “in response to consumer demand”.
Blu-ray will enjoy exclusive support from four of the six major Hollywood movie studios, with only Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures supporting HD-DVD.
The battle between the two incompatible DVD formats is often dubbed as a “replay” of the VHS-Betamax battle between two types of video cassette tape in the late 1970s.
Warner Bros. said the competition has confused consumers, who grew reluctant to purchase next-generation machines, causing DVD firms to miss out on potentially lucrative opportunities.
Toshiba is now expected to further promote installation of HD-DVD drives in personal computers, targeting users who watch movies on their PCs, the Nikkei business daily was quoted as reporting.
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