LOS ANGELES - Warner Bros. Entertainment said Friday it will release movie discs only in the Blu-ray format, becoming the latest studio to reject the rival HD DVD technology and further complicating the high-definition landscape for consumers.
Warner Bros., owned by Time Warner Inc., was the only remaining studio releasing high-definition DVDs in both formats.
It is the fifth studio to back Blu-ray, developed by Sony Corp. Only two support the HD DVD format, developed by Toshiba Corp.
Both formats deliver crisp, clear high-definition pictures and sound. But they are incompatible with each other, and neither plays on older DVD players, which means consumers seeking top-quality playback face a dilemma.
Warner said it decided to go with Blu-ray because consumers have shown a stronger preference for that format than HD DVD.
"The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger," Warner Bros. Chairman and Chief Executive Barry Meyer said in a statement.
Pali Capital analyst Rich Greenfield said in a Web posting Friday that he expects the HD DVD format to "die a quick death, versus a prolonged format war."
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