Netflix drops HD-DVD in favour of Blu-ray

Netflix has announced that it will be phasing out HD-DVD movies in favour of Sony's Blu-ray format, stating that the movie industry has already chosen a winner in the battle of hi-definition formats.

Movies on HD-DVD, developed by Toshiba, will be dropped from the online rental service by the end of the year, with the company stating the format war has been damaging to consumers.

"The prolonged period of competition between two formats has prevented clear communication to the consumer regarding the richness of the high-def experience versus standard definition," commented chief content officer Ted Sarandos.

"We're now at the point where the industry can pursue the migration to a single format, bring clarity to the consumer and accelerate the adoption of high-def.

"Going forward, we expect that all of the studios will publish in the Blu-ray format and that the price points of high-def DVD players will come down significantly. These factors could well lead to another decade of disc-based movie watching as the consumer's preferred means," he said.

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