Scott Hettrick's Blog on Demise of HD-DVD

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http://www.hollywoodinhidef.com/blog_detail.php?id=143

Blu Bundles, Discounts, and Prediction of HD DVD Demise

Panasonic is about to bundle Blu-ray players with plasma displays at Best Buy and Circuit City, perhaps along with a $500 discount.
Masayuki Kozuka, a general manager of Panasonic parent Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., told Dow Jones that the company will bundle and may offer discounts on Blu-ray players beginning next week to customers who buy Panasonic plasmas.
Even before that news broke today, Pali Research's Rich Greenfield was predicting that Warner is about to abandon HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray exclusively and that will result in the complete collapse of the HD DVD format within 6 months - 9 months.
It would appear that Blu-ray is beginning to shift into high gear.
Panasonic has already introduced a sub-$500 BonusView (Profile 1.1) player and several major manufacturers will announce plans at CES in less than a month to follow suit with even lower prices.
Already today, Samsung's BD-P1400 1080p Blu-Ray Disc player can be purchased on Amazon.com for $297.95.
Also at CES, the first BD Live players are expected to be announced by at least one major manufacturer.
Greenfield predicts in today's Dec. 10 forecast that when Warner (and sister New Line) stop releasing in HD DVD, the format war will quickly end as Universal and Paramount/DreamWorks do not have enough product to sustain a format by themselves (along with only one major hardware company -- Toshiba), especially in light of disappointing DVD sales of "Shrek the Third."
Media companies like Time Warner in particular, with its vast catalog, is finally feeling the pressure of the declining DVD market and needs to embrace a single next-gen DVD, "soon-to-be-known, simply as Blu-ray," according to Greenfield.