Digital Home Thoughts: Four Hollywood Studios Back HD DVD Format

"Toshiba Ltd. said that four major Hollywood studios had signed on to release titles in the HD DVD format, a decision that should have a significant impact on the next-generation DVD forum battle. Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, New Line Cinema, and Warner Bros. Studios all released commitments to support the HD DVD format, Toshiba executives announced at a press conference in Tokyo on Monday. Universal said it would have "select" titles available in the format during the 2005 holiday season, while Paramount Home Entertainment said that it plans to release titles from its home entertainment catalog, as well as new releases, in the HD-DVD format beginning in 2006. The decision pits the four studios directly against Sony Corp., whose storage division helped develop the rival Blu-Ray specification. Sony Pictures has said it would release its own content in the Blu-Ray format, and plans to support the next-gen DVD specification in its next PlayStation console. Microsoft Corp. has yet to specify which DVD format it will endorse for the next revision of its Xbox console."

Sounds like great news for the HD DVD camp. I expect this won't have much impact in the short term since as with everything like this, the consumer usually decides with their wallets. With 4 huge studios set to release movies on HD DVD, I'd have to give them the upper hand at this moment, but we'll see what next week brings.

So what HD DVD player do I need to rush out and buy for Christmas? :D