The WSJ reported yesterday that support for the HD-DVD rollout this fall is waning. Paramount had committed to releasing 20 HD-DVD titles in the fourth quarter, and now won’t release any. Universal is scaling back from 16 titles to 12. And Toshiba’s HD-DVD player will probably be the only HD-DVD player available this year.

These things put a dent in the HD-DVD launch which is scheduled for the end of this year. The HD-DVD camp is getting a head-start on the Blu-ray camp by coming out this fall, but it looks like it’ll be a timid step instead of a bold entrance. Breadth of support is vitally important for either Blu-ray or HD-DVD to succeed. And if it looks like studios are getting cold feet, that’s not a good sign to consumers.

Which is only good news for the Blu-ray camp, of course. And Blu-ray, it seems, is still facing media bias against Sony. In the WSJ article, it says that HD-DVD is backed by “Toshiba Corp. and others” while Sony is mentioned as the Blu-ray supporter. What about all the other Blu-ray supporters? Shouldn’t it have said “Sony and others”? There are more big name “and others” supporting Blu-ray than HD-DVD. It would be nice if WSJ didn’t give Sony short shrift. 1up.com continues this bias in their coverage of the WSJ article, saying “Clearly [Microsoft] won’t support Sony’s proprietary Blu-ray technology”.

First of all, why not? Microsoft has always been known for doing what’s best for itself and, its agreement with Toshiba notwithstanding, it could still choose Sony’s Blu-ray if it feels it would be better for the Xbox 360 to do so. I, for one, think it would be a smart move. And as a matter of fact, Microsoft has not yet confirmed that it will use HD-DVD. Bill Gates said “we are looking at whether future versions of Xbox 360 will incorporate an additional capability of an HD DVD player or something else.” That “something else” could be Blu-ray. This is the extent of Microsoft’s committment to HD-DVD in the 360, and it’s not firm. (For more on why Microsoft should use Blu-ray in the Xbox 360, see my article about it today on PS3Blog.net.)

And second, if you’re going to call Sony’s Blu-ray proprietary, even though there’s a gazillion companies supporting it, you should at least acknowledge that HD-DVD is a proprietary format as well, developed by Toshiba. OR!!! If you look up proprietary in the dictionary, you get “Owned by a private individual or corporation under a trademark or patent.” So either Blu-ray and HD-DVD are both proprietary (being developed by Sony and Toshiba) or neither are (there’s widespread industry support behind both). And the DVDForum’s support for HD-DVD means squat. There’s an association of manufacturers (that’s all the DVDForum is) behind Blu-ray as well. It’s called the Blu-ray Disc Association. So 1up.com is being just a bit specious with their statement.

Link: 1UP.COM - HD-DVD Support Waning
Link: AVS - HD-DVD Rollout, Set for Holidays, Gets Scaled Back