High definition DVDs expected to take off

By Kate Holton

LONDON (Reuters) - Watching movies on high definition DVDs is expected to take off in 2008 following the resolution of a format war which had divided and confused consumers, a survey said on Monday.

The 2008 Digital Entertainment Survey said watching HD DVDs was expected to have the highest rate of growth in 2008 compared with any other form of entertainment.

Over 60 percent of consumers said they had been put off buying a next generation disk player due to the presence of two formats in the market, but this had now changed after Japan's Toshiba pulled out of the high-definition home movie war.

Toshiba gave up on its HD DVD format earlier this month after losing the support of key studios and retailers which had turned instead to the Blu-ray technology backed by Sony. The battle had confused shoppers and stalled a move to the new technology in the $24 billion (12 billion pound) global home DVD market.

Of the 1,600 consumers surveyed, 24 percent said they intended to watch next generation movie disks in the next six months. Almost 40 percent of the sample have or have access to a high-definition-ready TV.

"It's great news for Sony who can expect the PlayStation 3 (with its Blu-ray capability) to become the must-have gift this Christmas," said Charles Moore, TV and Film partner at media law firm Wiggin who produced the report with research experts Entertainment Media Research.

The survey also revealed strong consumer interest in on-demand programming, with recently released movies, live music concerts and comedy proving the most popular.

BBC Director General Mark Thompson has described the arrival of on-demand television as on a par with the introduction of the first colour TVs and all broadcasters are putting content on the Web to try to keep younger people watching traditionally made programmes.