Universal, Amazon hop on Blu-ray bandwagon as HD DVD prices fall

In a move that's about as surprising as the sun rising each day, Universal Studios said it would start to release titles on Blu-ray. Meanwhile, Amazon said it will give preferred placement to Blu-ray over HD DVD.

With Toshiba halting production of HD DVD players, the format is all but finished moving forward. Universal president Craig Kornblau said it's now clear what direction the industry must head to push adoption of next-generation optical discs.

"The emergence of a single, high-definition format is cause for consumers, as well as the entire entertainment industry, to celebrate. While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray," Kornblau said in a statement.

Paramount and Dreamworks, the two other studios that exclusively supported HD DVD, are expected to follow suit, but have made no official announcements.

With rivals Best Buy and Wal-Mart hogging the spotlight last week, Amazon.com issued a press release Wednesday stating that it, too, would support Blu-ray. The largest online retailer says it will continue to sell HD DVD movies and hardware, but will give preferred product placement to Blu-ray players and discs.

Amazon's music and movie head Peter Fancy said that sales of Blu-ray discs have started to increase since Warner Bros. made the announcement to support only Sony's format, going from a 50/50 split with HD DVD to over three-quarters of high-definition movie sales.

Amazon says its move aims to "demystify high-definition entertainment for consumers." The retailer carries one of the broadest selections of both Blu-ray and HD DVD players and software, including Xbox 360's HD DVD add-on and the PlayStation 3.

As expected, prices for HD DVD hardware appear to be falling since Toshiba's announcement Tuesday. The Toshiba HD-A3 HD DVD player is now available from Amazon for just over $100, while the HD-A30 is priced at $140 -- all without rebates. The cheapest Blu-ray players Amazon is now offering, Sharp's Aquos BDHP20U and Samsung's BDP-1400, are still priced at $350.

Circuit City is now also selling the Toshiba HD-A3 for $99 and the HD-A30 for $129. Best Buy hasn't yet lowered its prices. These prices still include the 7 free HD DVDs.

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