No longer the Switzerland of the format war, Warner Bros. has decided to throw its weight behind Sony’s hi-def disc and only Sony’s hi-def disc.

The reason for the switch is consumer confusion, which has been a concern from the start of the HD wars. Warner Bros. Chairman Barry Meyer tells it like it is:

The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers.

And that’s some bad news for HD-DVD, whose lone stalwarts remain Toshiba, Microsoft (almost solely to take a bite out of Sony’s cross-platform marketing with the PS3), Paramount, and NBC Universal.

Powerful as those studios may be, WB controls most of the home video market with a commanding 18 to 20 percent of sales. And let’s not forget their megastar franchises: The Matrix, Harry Potter, Batman to name a few.

For those that had anticipated upcoming films, the company will continue to churn out HD-DVD releases until late May, but they’ll lag behind their DVD and Blu-ray counterparts.

Tags: bluray, dvd, format-wars, hddvd, hi-definition, Microsoft, Playstation 3, Sony, wb, Xbox 360

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