HD-DVD Association: Don't hate us because turkey movies come out in our format!

In the titanic battle between Blu-ray and HD-DVD for supremacy in the home, Sony (who backs the Blu-ray standard) may have dealt a major blow to their rival. Blockbuster will say on Monday that it will rent high-definition DVD's only in the Blue-ray standard in all its 1,450 stores starting next month.

Apparently, Blockbuster has been renting both hi-def format types in 250 stores and Blu-ray is the consumer's choice more than 70% of the time. (Blockbuster will continue renting HD DVD in those stores).

But the North American HD DVD Promotional Group has a good explanation. They point out that Blu-ray only looks better because the results are skewed by the success of films released by Blu-ray studios in the first three months of the year. The Sony camp will only continue to be helped by the release of such huge hits as "Casino Royale," "pirates of the caribbean" and "Spider-Man" (all of which come out exclusively in Blu-ray).

So, do you get their point now? Movies that you might actually want to watch in hi-def are Blu-ray but you should still buy an HD DVD! But not to rest on that fine point of logic, the group said that HD DVD has since gained momentum, selling more players and popular titles such as "The 40-Year Old Virgin."

"I think trying to make a format decision using such a short time period is really not measuring what the consumer is saying," said Ken Graffeo, co-president of the group.

Ken, I have news for you. What consumers are saying is that they don't want to watch The 40-Year Old Virgin, they want to watch good movies. I think they are also telling you that you that Disney's decision to exclusively release on Blu-ray is more compelling than Universal Studio's decision to exclusively release on HD DVD. (The other studios release in both formats).