The long drawn format war seems to be over now. If any of you have been following the battle between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD over the past two years, this would have to be one of the most important pieces of news at this stage in the game.

Warner released a press statement today announcing their decision to drop HD-DVD as a format. They will be releasing movies on DVD and Blu-Ray starting May 2008. ( Warner's Announcement ).

With this move, the only studios that remain in the HD-DVD exclusive camp are Universal, Paramount and Dreamworks. Major studios that are now supporting Blu-Ray exclusively are Disney (Buena Vista), 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Brothers, MGM and Lionsgate representing almost 70% of the Home Entertainment business.

 The move comes just days before CES 2008 in Las Vegas. The timing is important because now all the Blu-Ray stakeholders can back their displays with some real figures and momentum at CES.  Also, by clarifying their position on the Formats, Warner has definitely helped consumers that have been straddling the fence to make a choice.

This is going to be a good year for Hi-Def. Too bad for HD-DVD, but well one of them had to die off eventually.

(4)