Washington, D.C. (October 30, 2007) -- Warner Bros. has been neutral in the Blu-ray-HD DVD disc war, releasing movies in both high-def formats.

However, that policy may be changing, says a top Warner executive.

Dan Silverberg, Warner's vice president of High-Definition media, hinted Monday at a Blu-ray briefing for the media that the studio might soon endorse Blu-ray.

Warner is now the only major studio that releases movies in both formats; two support HD DVD exclusively while four have endorsed Blu-ray.


Warner films like 300 could soon be Blu-ray exclusives.

But Home Media Magazine reports that Silverberg believes that Blu-ray may be winning the format war and, consequently, it may be time for the studio to pick one over the other.

“One thing that may be changing is our strategy,” he said. “When both formats launched and hardware prices were high, we made a decision to support both formats and let the consumer decide. But now that hardware pricing is affordable for both Blu-ray and HD DVD, it appears consumers no longer want to decide — so the notion of staying in two formats for the duration is something we are re-evaluating now that we are in the fourth quarter.”

The Warner executive noted that Blu-ray sales have topped HD DVD by a 2-1 margin over the last nine months.

While he didn't come out and endorse Blu-ray, it sounded like the studio had a clear favorite if it decides to endorse one format.

“We can definitely talk Blu-ray,” he said. “We are committed to the format.”

Warner's decision to support Blu-ray over HD DVD could have a major impact on the high-def disc format war. Without Warner, HD DVD's catalogue would only include titles from two studios.

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