Paramount plumps for Blu-ray too

One of Hollywood’s largest movie studios has announced that it will release films on both high-definition DVD formats next year.

Paramount had previously committed to the HD DVD platform but has now said that it will begin releasing movies on Blu-ray discs in Japan, North America and Europe just as soon as the first Blu-ray players become available.

In effect, Paramount is looking to exploit the fact that Blu-ray drives will be inside every PlayStation 3 games console, which is due to launch in the Spring of 2006.

Other major studios up to now have backed one or other of the formats, presumably in the hope that a common standard could be agreed. With that no longer a possibility, Paramount may just be the first to commit to both. It could also mean that consumers may get the chance to pick which format they prefer – although there appears to be little to choose between them – rather than the studios.

‘We have been intrigued by the broad support of Blu-Ray, especially the key advantage of including Blu-Ray in PlayStation 3,’ Thomas Lesinski, Paramount Pictures president of worldwide home entertainment, said in a statement. ‘After more detailed assessment and new data on cost, manufacturability and copy protection solutions, we have now made the decision to move ahead with the Blu-ray format.’

Paramount’s announcement follows a war of words over the advantages and disadvantages of the two formats between Intel and Microsoft on the hand and Dell and HP on the other.