Next up: Amazon sides with Blu-ray

For those who came in late, Blu-ray has won the format war.

On Wednesday, online retailer Amazon.com became the latest to declare its support for the victorious high-definition technology, announcing that it "will more prominently promote Blu-ray hardware and software products on its Web site." The company will not, however, discontinue its sales of HD DVD products.

"The high-definition landscape is rapidly changing, and consumers are looking for guidance on how to make the best high-definition buying decisions," Peter Faricy, Amazon's vice president of movies and music, said in a statement from the company. "Our customers have clearly voiced their support for the Blu-ray format."

But in a sense, Amazon is also an indicator that Blu-ray's struggles aren't quite over. With its Unbox movie download service, Amazon is among a number of major Web retailers that offer digital downloads of movies and TV shows. Some have said that with all the bickering over HD DVD and Blu-ray for so many months, digital downloads from companies like Amazon, Netflix, and Apple's iTunes were able to find a steadier footing.

Luckily for Blu-ray overlord Sony, your average digital movie download isn't nearly up to par in the quality department.

[PunkStealth]

Quality for Blu-Ray dl's

Blu-Ray Downloads will not go well, no matter the quality of the upload/download, the quality will not be the same as from the actual disc. Same thing with mp3's if you remember you may have downloaded some mp3's that sounded amazing over your headphones (whether $10 or $400) but once you hit actual speakers, you may have started to notice certain imperfections that you never heard before, even though you heard the song on your mp3 play 100 times before. So how do they expect to perfect it with blu-ray and charge for it?

[SMB-IL]

It's all just data

With broadband connections, HD DLs are very close to being a reality -- iTunes already offers them through Apple TV -- the quality may not be up to the disc's quality, but that will be solved with the next latest, greatest compression scheme. It's all just data, after all.

[gbalpha33]

Blu-Ray

I see no reason to replace HD with Blu-Ray except to sell more players. Companies like Amazon expect that to happen, making money for them. The economy is in bad enough shape and costing consumers more money than we have. For one, I will not buy Blu-ray anything.

[SkiingUSA]

Sony wins, what happens to XBOX?

So it looks like Sony has reigned victorious in the HD-DVD/BLU-RAY battle, but what does that mean for XBOX360? The ability to play the HD-DVD format was one of their selling points, but now that HD-DVD seems to be heading the way of the Dodo bird and beta max player, does that mean Microsoft loses yet again?

Better watch out Nintendo, now that Microsoft is losing this battle, they might try and make a hostile bid on Nintendo like they did to Yahoo. Guess it just proves you cant throw money at things and expect to win anymore.

[goodswipeHD]

Sony wins, what happens to XBOX?

LMAO are you kidding me skiingUSA? Sony won this buy throwing money at these big picture companies. Guess it just proves you can throw money at things and expect to win! ;)

[AppleSuxLeo]

Another mis-informed clown...

360`s play regular DVD`s just fine(what most people care about) with the built-in drive and the HD drive was just an add-on drive , which means they could offer a cheap add-on BD drive or any other format drive they want to.
Also 360 has the best HI-DEF downloads with the "live" service and the ability to make a great media center extender.Sony-balony`s gaming/download service doesn`t compare. No...MSFT is not in trouble with 360.

[Renegade Knight]

Xbox 362

MS will add a Blue Ray add on drive. Simple as that. The 360's native format is DVD.

They may upgrade to a next gen console sooner than they would have. Sony still has some work to do on the PS3 (I'm still waiting for rumble!).

[Kimsh]

Hi there ski-clueless

XBox 360 does not play HD-DVD, it has an optional accessory to play these, and may soon have an optional Blu-Ray player. Or you can download one of many movies using XBox-live. No format tie in there.
What the hell does the Nintendo comment mean? You know the good thing about commercial products is you can always buy one, unlike clues. Most people rely on home growing clues, and SkiingUSA, your garden seems bare.

[jjjjjason]

Xbox owners win....

when Microsoft buys Netflix and streams movies to my xbox over live.....blu ray will be like 8 track tapes in one year.....

[nn8l]

This is important why?

Tuesday Toshiba says they're pulling out of the HD DVD business. The next day Amazon states they'll push Blue-ray harder, but won't discontinue to sell HD DVD. If they're being applauded for taking a stand I think its a bit late. They aren't even jumping on the band wagon, they're just walking behind it trying to catch up.

[scalemaster34]

This is NEWS?

You are going to report a day after Toshiba throws in the towel that Amazon is siding with Blue-Ray...

At this point they don't really have a choice.