Best Buy Sides With Blu-Ray in High-Def Format War

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You're probably sick to death now of hearing about the high-def format war being waged between Blu-ray and HD DVD, but if you care about the outcome, every tidbit of news is important. Today, consumer electronics monster Best Buy got in the Blu corner.

Digital Journal -- The HD DVD camp will have its work cut out for it if it wants to rebound from repeated beatings in the consumer electronics space, as more powerful players dump the format for its Blu competitor.

Today, Netflix announced it would only stock Blu-ray for its mail-order high-def DVD business and now Best Buy says it will also "recommend" the format.

So far, Best Buy has not picked sides in the format war, as this battle was supposed to be decided by consumers who would put their money behind the technology they preferred. But the battle has been ongoing now for years, and many people want a standard to be adopted.

The word "recommend" is peculiar, but clearly Best Buy would not be so short-sighted as to completely pull HD DVD from store shelves (yet). Instead, the company says it will "prominently showcase" Blu-ray hardware and software beginning in March.

Brian Dunn, Best Buy's president and chief operating officer said in a statement to the media: "Consumers have told us that they want us to help lead the way. We've listened to our customers, and we are responding. Best Buy will recommend Blu-ray as the preferred format. Our decision to shine a spotlight on Blu-ray Disc players and other Blu-ray products is a strong signal to our customers that we believe Blu-ray is the right format choice for them."

So if you're in the market for a high-def player, Best Buy says it will still stock an assortment of HD DVD gear, but most in the tech biz would probably now advise you to not waste your money on the format.

On the studio site, Blu-ray has support from Disney, Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, MGM and Warner Bros. whereas HD DVD is backed by Universal and Paramount (who are also widely rumoured to be thinking about giving up on HD DVD).