![]() ![]() Microsoft released a $199 external HD DVD player for the Xbox 360 - I had one - but Sony’s strategy of direct integration won the day. ![]() Sony’s console was always factored into overall Blu-ray player sales (even if people weren’t buying it for that reason), which put HD DVD at a significant disadvantage when it came to market share. The PS3 made all the difference in putting Blu-ray ahead for good. Blu-ray had won, and the PlayStation 3 played an enormous role in that outcome. Walmart followed days later, and the war was essentially over. In early 2008, Best Buy and Netflix both signaled they would begin favoring Blu-ray over HD DVD due to lopsided studio support. was the best when it came to supporting both formats until it threw in the towel on HD DVD just before CES 2008. Paramount abruptly bailed on Blu-ray in the summer of 2007 just as Disney fully got behind it. The split was miserable for movie fans, with studios claiming their allegiance to one disc format or the other - but very rarely both. ![]() Retailers had separate sections for both, and the packaging case color indicated which format you were browsing: blue for Blu-ray, and red for HD DVD. Buying into either Blu-ray or HD DVD meant betting on which format would ultimately prevail. Both formats delivered a noticeable improvement to video quality compared to DVDs, which were limited to standard definition.Ĭonsumers were faced with a dilemma. Blu-ray was more advanced, offering greater on-disc storage (with dual-layer discs holding up to 50GB), but HD DVDs were cheaper to manufacture and could be churned out on existing production lines. Sony gave us Blu-ray, and on the other side, Toshiba was championing HD DVD. Photo by Tannis Toohey/Toronto Star via Getty Images Sony had led development of Blu-ray, so integrating it into the PS3 made total sense, even if it meant the $500 console would be priced higher than Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Looking back (with the benefit of hindsight), Sony’s decision to put a Blu-ray drive in its hotly anticipated video game console would prove crucial to the format’s eventual victory over HD DVD. Blu-ray and HD DVD, two new optical disc technologies, were battling for support from movie studios and for shelf space at retailers. But instead of a straightforward transition to a next-generation disc format, the home media business found itself in a format war that reminded many of the battle between VHS and Betamax in the 1980s.Ĭonsumers were faced with dueling physical media formats that were both vying to replace DVD. And so the entertainment industry was eager to move on from DVD and rerelease films in hopes that people would “double dip” and repurchase their favorites in high-definition quality (and at a higher price). More consumers were looking to upgrade the big screen in their living rooms. As the PlayStation 3 came to market in 2006, prices of HDTVs were falling. ![]()
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