If you plan on playing back any HD DVDs with it in the future, we’d politely recommend you didn’t. Apparently CyberLink saw fit to remove HD DVD compatibility altogether from its latest version of PowerDVD, leaving v7.3 as the last remaining edition that played nice with red. Thankfully, the company has emailed out a statement to those questioning the move and assured us all that both v7.3 and v8.0 can be installed on a computer at the same time without issue, so at least all hope isn’t lost. A lot can change in 16 months, huh?

[Thanks, Ryan]

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Many were quick to claim that HD DVD was dead when the NPD group‘s numbers showed Blu-ray players had a 93 percent share the week after Warner’s announcement. While those numbers were staggering, those with a level head wanted to wait to see if the blue camp could keep it up, and now according to the same firm, it did not. In fact the very next week sales were back to where we’d grown to expect them, about 65 percent Blu. As interesting as these numbers are — as many have pointed out in the past — Amazon and other online retailers are not included, and we all know how popular HD DVD players are on Amazon. While at the same time Blu fans would argue that many buy the PS3 as a Blu-ray player, which is also not counted in the study. Regardless, the better metric for the success of a packaged media format is media sales and with two weeks at about 84 percent and almost no decent red titles in sight, we’d be surprised if Blu victory in that court didn’t continue.

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According to new reports, Woolworths is following the wave and will be banishing HD DVD players from its stores starting in March. Reportedly, the move was substantiated by the fact that Blu-ray Discs outsold HD DVD titles “ten-to-one” in Woolies stores over the Christmas holidays, and in just a few weeks, consumers scouting a new HD DVD player from this particular retailer will have to place their order online. Interestingly, we’re not told whether or not the firm plans on phasing out actual HD DVD movies as well, but we suppose we don’t have long before finding out.

[Via GamesIndustry, image courtesy of Stives-Town]

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And so it begins this week, as Warner’s first title to be affected by the three week delay for HD DVD is released for Blu-ray. Meanwhile HD DVD fans will have to wait until February 19th to check it out. But that isn’t the only thing that is in three weeks, as the first decent title for the red camp also comes out that day in the way of American Gangster. But the bad news for red doesn’t end there this week because there are only three titles and we can’t say we’ve ever heard of any of them. Of course this isn’t that surprising considering HD DVD’s ace in the hole Universal and Paramount are on the bench for the third week in a row. At the same time Blu-ray’s lineup isn’t anything to call home about either, but at least it includes a day and date in Invasion and Daddy Day Camp — yeah, we’re not excited either. Probably the most interesting title this week is the cult comedy classic Mony Python’s Life of Brian, which includes both a TrueHD and LPCM sound track, that the reviewers say doesn’t really sound any better — but at least the video quality delivers. Looking ahead to next week, there isn’t much to get excited about either, but at least Universal has a title for red.

HD DVD 381 vs Blu-ray 427*

Blu-ray

• Daddy Day Camp (Sony)
• Damages: The Complete First Season (Sony)
• Dispatch: Zimbabwe – Live at Madison Square Garden (Warner Music Group)
• The Invasion (Warner)
• Justin Timberlake: Live at Madison Square Garden (Sony BMG)
• King of California (First Look)
• Monty Python’s Life of Brian (Sony)

HD DVD

• Dispatch: Zimbabwe – Live at Madison Square Garden (Warner Music Group)
• King of California (First Look)
• Strauss: Die Fledermaus (Opus Arte)

* Blu-ray total does not reflect 32 Paramount titles that were previously available.

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Gartner, the fat lady of research firms, is singing HD DVD’s swan song this morning. Hiroyuki Shimizu, Principal Research Analyst in Japan, says in Gartner’s Semiconductor DQ Monday Report that, “Gartner believes that Toshiba’s price-cutting may prolong HD DVD’s life a little, but the limited line-up of film titles will inflict fatal damage on the format.” He goes on to call the recent price cuts “useless resistance” in avoiding the inevitable. What’s that, you coyly ask? According to Shimizu, “Gartner expects that, by the end of 2008, Blu-ray will be the winning format in the consumer market, and the war will be over.” With 5 of the 7 major studios now backing Blu-ray exclusively, Gartner’s certainty on the subject doesn’t appear to be much of a stretch.

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