Blu-ray is the apparent winner in the high-def disc war, but HD DVD isn’t going away easily. I wrote an article today on “What Blu-ray’s high-def victory means” to the average consumer. But there is still developing news to indicate that HD DVD, which was severely (some would say, catastrophically) weakened by Warner Home Video’s decision to defect, refuses to give up the fight. Consider:

* Video Business reports that while some national and regional retailers are giving more shelf space to Blu-ray, major sellers such as Best Buy and Amazon say they will continue to cater to the roughly 1 million HD DVD owners as long as the demand is there. Best Buy spokesman Brian Lucas told VB that “it would be irresponsible” to tell customers that the war “is over when it’s not yet.”

* High Def Digest reports that more than 6,000 HD DVD fans have signed an online petition urging the companies involved to keep that format going. (I would think the million people who have already bought an HD DVD player hold more sway than a relative few of them signing a petition.)

* In an interview with BetaNews, Universal Studios exec Ken Graffeo, who’s also a bigwig with the HD DVD Promotional Group, insists that “it’s business as usual” with HD DVD. Graffeo seems to leave the door open to working out some kind of deal with the Blu-ray folks. Am I the only one to think that means a Blu-ray payout will ensure that HD DVD goes away quietly and quickly?�

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 9:42 am and is filed under DVDs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.