Wednesday, February 20,2008 @ 9:05am
Amazon pushes Blu-ray as preferred format
Amazon today said it would make Blu-ray its preferred digital format, promoting the standard over all other physical formats. The move follows Toshiba's decision to put an end to HD DVD but will see Blu-ray promoted above both regular DVD and the now discontinued HD DVD format. This will include both the movies themselves as well as hardware, including both dedicated movie players and the Sony PlayStation 3. The company has not said whether it will promote Blu-ray computers, which are relatively rare.
The online retailer says it will continue to stock HD DVD players and discs for the near future, but is expected to quickly discontinue the catalog once Toshiba halts production of players and most discs in March. Warner Bros. is also poised to phase out HD DVD movie releases by June, with Universal also switching to a Blu-ray only HD movie release schedule in the near future.