Universal To Give Up Exclusive HD DVD Support?

[Ian]

Mediumrare emailed this to me. The translation is rough, but essentially Heise reports that Universal doesn't want to exclusively be HD DVD.

http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/89498

In the context of a press meeting representatives of the Blu ray advocate maintained Pioneer that universal Home Entertainment stepped out of the exclusive contract with the Hp-DVD-camp and/or its largest representatives on the hardware side Toshiba. Thus the Studio quit the agreement, the notice is not only not effective allegedly already. If this report should be confirmed, thereby the way would be free for film publications on the competition medium Blu ray Disc for universal (in the long run). Above all however the hp DVD graduation Group would lose their only remaining exclusive supporter after Paramount and Warner under Hollywood Studios.

[Grain]

One huge nail in HD-DVD's coffin.

[dolphinius_rex]

One huge nail in HD-DVD's coffin.

Some might say the final nail. If it's true that is... but Heise is usually a very reliable source.

[Grain]

This is actually the news I was looking for, Universal has the majority of titles that I would buy first in a HD format.

[Wesociety]

If this is true and Universal USA confirms it, I will be going out to buy a Blu-ray player...

[MediumRare]

I guess it was to be expected after all the dust this stirred up. Universal is denying any plans to switch sides. There's a follow-up at Heise to that effect.

Let's see how this one turns out- there have been similar patterns for rumoured dual-system drives.

G

[Ian]

Yeah, they contacted Engadget as well:

http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/05/09/un ... g-neutral/

[dolphinius_rex]

Well, with engadget you can't be sure if it wasn't some HD DVD fanboy spoofing an e-mail address. But with Heise you can be relatively confident they've made sure it's a valid response.

So I guess it's back to waiting for CES 2008. In the end Universal will be kicking themselves for not going neutral sooner though. They're going to miss a LOT of sales this holiday season if they ignore Blu-Ray.

[MediumRare]

A lot of comments in the heise forum focused on the name of the Universal vice president (translated as "borrows" by google fish ): Wayne Borg.

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

G

[dolphinius_rex]

A lot of comments in the heise forum focused on the name of the Universal vice president (translated as "borrows" by google fish ): Wayne Borg.

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

G

Hahaha, that is too funny!!

[vinnie97]

sheesh, some people are a bit TOO excited to count their eggs before they hatch.

This format war is still in its infancy (first year), with DVDs outselling all high definition content by a wide margin. I love the knee-jerk responses in this thread.

The one factor that may actually tip the scales is the hardware shortage (optical heads) that both formats use, since it will keep HD DVD from gaining a significant price advantage. However, this will also serve to prevent Sony from dropping the price of the PS3 this year (which they have repeatedly denied anyway and which Sony fanboys and PS3 hopefuls continuously ignore).

[vinnie97]

Well, with engadget you can't be sure if it wasn't some HD DVD fanboy spoofing an e-mail address. But with Heise you can be relatively confident they've made sure it's a valid response.

So I guess it's back to waiting for CES 2008. In the end Universal will be kicking themselves for not going neutral sooner though. They're going to miss a LOT of sales this holiday season if they ignore Blu-Ray.

So sayeth a Blu-Ray fanboy.