In a surprise move today, Netflix announced that they would be moving towards exclusive Blu-ray support. You can read more about the announcement here, or on practically every other tech site out there.
Now I understand why they made the decision. After all, it makes complete business sense. Ever since the Warner Brothers move, it was clear that Blu-ray was going to win this format war sooner or later. It also must have been a huge pain for Netflix to support Blu-ray and HD-DVD concurrently, all the while keeping the standard DVD format on tap as well. So it makes sense for them to finally throw down the gauntlet and move to a single HD format as soon as possible.
At the same time, the move disappointed the hell out of me because I rely on Netflix for most of my HD-DVD watching. Sure, Blockbuster still offers HD-DVDs through their mail-rental service, but it’s nowhere near the cultural powerhouse that is Netflix. None of my friends are on the Blockbuster system, so I would lose all that great community feedback from Netflix. Giving up Netflix would also mean giving up their fabulous unlimited streaming service–something which I’m hesitant to do.
So I’m stuck. While I still think HD-DVD is a good deal for getting into HD media on the cheap, the loss of Netflix has significantly lowered the value you’d get out of such a purchase. With Best Buy now making moves towards promoting Blu-ray over HD-DVD, we’ll probably see more retailers follow suit. Anyone jumping into HD-DVD now would do well to become familiar with eBay, as well as keep an eye on sites like Amazon and Deep Discount DVD who will surely start blowing away their HD-DVD stock soon.
And while I recognize that it was the wisest business move to drop HD-DVD, it definitely wasn’t in the best interest of Netflix subscribers. I predict Netflix will be seeing flack for some time now from HD-DVD fans, as many of the comments in the Engadget thread make clear.
As for me, I think it’s about time I seriously looked for a Playstation 3.
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[...] surely start blowing away their HD-DVD stock soon. And while I recognize that it was source: Netflix, Youre Breaking My Heart, The Far Side of [...]