Alright... that's naturally not what any of you want to hear from The Bits this morning, so let's get a little update on the high-def situation. Home Media has confirmed that HBO is following Warner and New Line to Blu-ray exclusivity, as we expected. Things are still moving internally at Paramount and Universal. But at least for the moment, Paramount is denying that they're giving up on HD-DVD, and of course, sites like Ain't it Cool are latching on to that. So naturally, enthusiasts all over the Net are confused today. First, you'll notice neither studio is denying that they plan to go Blu - just that they're not giving up on HD-DVD at the moment. Second, look... we love the guys at AICN, including Harry. I mean that straight up, no bullshit. He's a good guy and he does a lot for movie fans online. But with all due respect, he's been a little bit behind the curve with regard to this high-def format war all along. So we'll leave it at that. I needn't remind any of you that before the holidays, Warner was still officially claiming that they were going to continue to support both high-def formats, and we all know how that turned out now.
We remain convinced that both Paramount and Universal are moving towards announcing Blu-ray Disc support soon, and we have real reason for that belief, not the least of which is that our sources in this situation are second to none - a fact which should be readily obvious by now. Announcements could happen tomorrow, they could happen next week, they could happen next month. We'd be surprised if it took longer than a month or two. We're hearing that Universal may not announce until February at the earliest, as we're given to understand that their contract period with the HD-DVD camp expires at the end of January. So everyone needs to just take a deep breath and relax. We know that's hard, given how fast things have been moving this past week. Rest assured, Paramount and Universal are going Blu, but sorting out all the legal details and organizing the logistics takes time. The Warner move was apparently well planned, but Paramount and Universal have only just started that process. They may or may not continue releasing HD-DVDs for a time - we'll have to wait and see. But retailers are now seriously pressuring the studios to go Blu, and we'd be surprised if many mainstream stores still have HD-DVD hardware and software on their shelves come next Christmas. I suspect that Paramount especially wants to be able to announce a few actual titles when they announce their Blu-ray support, and it takes time to get all that ready. Keep in mind that things have been extremely chaotic within the home video industry this week. So everyone just take a deep breath and try to calm down, while we wait for things to play out.
