The format wars march on

Written by Phil Cogar

August 1, 2007 | 15:53

Tags: #360 #format #hd #hd-dvd #hi-def #ps3

Companies: #blu-ray

With the battle for top place in the next-generation format wars going strong for just over a year now, big retailers and corporations alike are deciding which format will be used in your home for you.

As we've reported before, Blockbuster has made the decision to carry mainly Blu-ray movies in its stores. But not only has Blockbuster leaned towards Sony backed Blu-ray, so has the Japanese adult film industry.

Sony's stance is to not allow adult content to be produced in its own production facilities but they will support any company that wishes to produce the discs themselves. Earlier this year, other adult production companies complained about not being able to get their adult films out on Blu-ray discs and were talking of taking the side of HD DVD.

Last week, Target Corp, the second-largest retail chain in the US, announced that it would begin promoting Blu-ray with end-of-aisle displays and start selling Sony's stand-alone Blu-ray disc player before the start of this coming holiday season. HD DVD movies will still be sold alongside Blu-ray movies at Target, but only expect to be able to pick up the HD DVD player attachment for the Xbox 360 in store locations with Toshiba's stand-alone player still being available through the website. This moves come after rumors that Walmart, the largest US retailer, will be backing HD DVD by selling HD DVD players at a deep discount.

Definitive sales figures for both formats for the latter part of the lapsed year are hard to come by and both sides are claiming leadership in the European market.

In a sort of funny bit, apparently a group of thieves have decided that Blu-ray would be the winning format and decided to wipe a Seattle store clean of its almost entire Blu-ray stock leaving HD DVDs behind. The retail value of the stolen Blu-ray discs was more then £3700 which would equate to around 200 discs being stolen.

With no definitive sales figure released recently for the two different formats, one would have to conclude that Blu-ray is coming out on top judging by the partnerships that have been formed. Have you personally backed either format or are you still waiting for a winner to be decided? Let us know in the comments section or over in the forums.
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