Blockbuster sides with Blu Ray

Blu-Ray 1
HD-DVD 0

Blockbuster, the video rental titan, has taken sides in the HD format war - and is going with Blu-Ray.

The move deals a major blow to HD-DVD, which is still available online for rental at blockbuster.com, but only Blu-Ray will be readily available at 1,450 stores next month. The company has Blu-Ray and HD-DVD movies in 250 stores, and rental histories reveal 70 percent of the customers chose Blu-Ray over HD-DVD.

Reference

Mad Skillz's take: Blu-Ray is really getting a major push from the Sony Playstation 3. The $600 machine was built as a Blu-Ray player that plays games and while sales are slow in the U.S. for the console, Sony lowered standalone Blu-Ray player prices much closer to HD-DVD player prices. Blockbuster announcement could present a major obstacle to HD-DVD. However, I do remember in the BetaMax/VHS battle some video rental chains did offer both formats for a while. Time will tell ...