This is the most interesting line of this press release to me. They sort of admitt that they are having to make alot of damage control phone calls today to their other partners/studios. Wouldn't I love to listen in on those calls.

Well... This sucks. I read most of this thread. I don't know what to say. I just purchased Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on HD-DVD and already opened it. I was looking to buy Blade Runner on HD-DVD too... now what? I'm at a loss. Warner Bros. has always been one of my favorite studios simply because I wind up loving a lot of the stuff they produce. Lately, however, reading how their Standard DVD's were not made as well as they should have been - and now the Blu-Ray Exclusive Contract has made me lose a lot of faith in the company as well as in High Definition Media in general. I don't know whether to give up on both formats together (as great as they are) and just support DVD or to hold out hope for HD-DVD (the format I currently use), or to try and get into Blu-Ray.

Jeez. I don't know what to say. This really sucks. I really probably shouldn't feel so down about this yet I can't help but feel crushed. At least my HD-DVD player is always going to be an awesome upconverter.

As for the death of HD-DVD. I'll still keep mine. After all, the player and the discs still work and a lot of the movies I have for it aren't on Blu-ray? Why sell them? Then I'll have to watch them on SD.

IF the format war for HD media is over and BR 'wins', it is likely that the retail prices will approach MSRP levels. I just don't see a lot of people buying full-priced discs. On the other hand, content delivery services like Microsoft's Live and rental services like Blockbuster or Netflix will provide a more affordable alternative.

While I think it is quite possible that DVD will stick around for a long time, I would guess that more and more DVD releases will be shovelware with as low as possible production costs and highest possible distribution. So we're looking at a world where you can rent a new release megahit on blu-ray, buy it for $40+, rent it as a heavily DRMd download expiring after X days (hello DivX pt. 2), or buy a barebones DVD for $20. If you want to watch a specialty or a classic flick, you're more likely to be limited to downloads. But, perhaps I am being pessimistic.

IMO, the media format war was good for the consumer. Regardless of the outcome, I'll enjoy my HD-DVDs and Blu-Rays while they last... though I'll probably curtail the purchase of both.

Yeah, my HD-DVD player I'm keeping as a great upconvert but... just shit. HD-DVD is done. Just done. I'm an HD-DVD fan mind you.

Oh well. I'm format neutral, but this still stucks. No more deals.

I have 40 HD-DVDS but have been buying more Blu-rays recently because of an inkling I've had as of late.

Recently bought the Bourne Trilogy from Amazon, HP 1-4 BOGO, Lethal Weapon, and some used copies. Didn't really spend over $15 bucks on most.

If I were Toshiba, my first calls would be to Universal and Paramount, telling them to kick things up a notch. Let's face it, both studios' projected releases for Q1 2008 are shit. They NEED to change that. Further hardware price drops would be good, too.

Why the desire for HD-Dvd to pull this out? Why don't you hope for cheaper Blu-Ray players now that the line has been drawn in the sand? It is silly for those to say that they will never buy anything in HD again or that HD-Dvd can still pull this out. Suck it up and enjoy the fact that at some point we will all be able to continue to discuss just movies without arguing about the f*cking players and the companies that back them.

I'm not doubting it could have happened, but where is this 450 million payoff number coming from?

No, only that they believe the end deal is worth more. I think they are wrong. But it may be worth more to them. They own the whole deal, where Toshiba had MS, etc. in on it.

It will be interesting to see what the fallout of this will be. Will Microsoft go through with including an hd-dvd drive in the new "ultimate" 360 or scrap those plans?

I do find it kind of funny that WB makes the announcement right after having 3 snafus on MAJOR Blu-Ray titles - Blade Runner, Harry Potter and T3.

Now only the T3 one could be attributed to Blu-Ray, the other 2 are quality control, but it's still funny.

I would say all three were QC problems. Mistakenly putting a 1080i encode on the disc has nothing to do with the format AFAIK.

i'd be thrilled by this if not for the extremely sad, and rather ironic fact that i bought an HD-DVD player TWO days ago, for $200 including 5 titles. maybe they knew something i didn't when they put them on sale for that price?

utterly depressing, having waited for years for the "war" to end, then succumbing to a format when the price was totally doable.. and then have Warner go Blu-ray exclusive. i can only shake my head and realize i'm shit out of luck.

I do feel bad for all the new hd-dvd adopters from Christmas on to now. Warner should have made this announcement a lot sooner since Blu-ray insiders have been stating there were talks for the last 3-4 weeks with Warner about exclusivity.

I'll echo the sentiments that it's pretty lousy WB waited until after the holidays to do this. But then again, maybe the holiday numbers were the final straw.

Are you trying to present logic and reason in this thread???? How dare you!

All joking aside, I'm sure that something needed to be done to counter the Q4 '07 HD surge, and that no matter the reasoning behind the move, it can be viewed as desperation. Just as the $98 A2 was. Viva la court of public opinion!

Also...I think it's clear that Sony is struggling overall as a brand right now. If you look at where they were 10 years ago and where they are now in CE, they've got major problems across the board. The video game and high-def wars are taking their toll on Sony, considering they lost the digital music war without firing a shot. Hell, if there was one company that could have taken Apple head-on, it was Sony. In hindsight, I bet they would have approached it differently if they had to do it over again, and I think that they don't want to look back on the HD war and say the same thing. Pride is a bitch, eh?

That's what I'm thinking ... but maybe they know something we don't know.

We'll see how much effect this will have on HDM sales. I'm thinking not much ... looking at the bigger picture, keep in mind that if they triple in sales, that's still not much. Will HDM catch up to DVD in the next 3 years? I don't think so. 5 years? 10 years?

Well, WB has guaranteed the war will be over sooner than later. I have been buying WB titles in BD lately and now I'm glad I did. Even though I own both, I bought into HD DVD first, so it is still tough to hear they dropped the red format.

However, it does make sense. We can have WB choose BD only, giving BD 70% of the market, and HD DVD goes away in 2009. Or, WB chooses HD DVD, splits the market back to an even 50%, and we have 2 formats for the next 10 years. Deep down, I don't think anyone wants that. Not in the movie format business.

This move makes Paramount look foolish and will now put tons of pressure on Universal, which I expect will announce their neutral stance sometime this year, Summer maybe?

I would say there will be a flood of HD DVDs on ebay now. I'm going to add my WB titles soon.

What is strange is WB has touted all along about interactivity and spending money on developming costs for those features, which have only displayed on HD DVD. And then, poof, they tell HD DVD to drop dead.

I'm sure speculation is Sony gave them a few nudges to become exclusive and maybe they did, but I really think WB knows how dangerous this format war is to slowing mass adoption into HD. They made the right choice.

I feel bad for them too. I do NOT feel bad though for all those who spread FUD all over the boards (especially the last few weeks) that may have influenced their purchasing decisions... with an especially great big to the paid shills like rdjam!

Again I'll ask - what is the source on the $450 million payoff?

GenP - Your post sums up my own personal feelings to a "T". I feel like my team just lost the World Series.

I own 60 HD DVDs and an XA2 player. I'm really stunned and confused about what to do....embrace Blu-ray, or just enjoy the SD versions I don't have in HD upconverted.

I thought Black Friday™ was supposed to be in November...

Now we need a $200 BD player. Or is there one? I haven't followed Blu-Ray at all, now I guess I'll have to. I'm glad I didn't go hog wild on either format and that I only have a handful of HD-DVDs and the 360 add-on.