Warner Brothers has unexpectedly announced it will push back a scheduled launch of its first dual HD DVD/Blue-ray disc titles (dubbed “Total HD”) from this fall until sometime early next year. The company did not say the delay was necessitated by production problems.
Although it’s not clear yet whether the delay is connected to production problems, by early 2008 a possible winner and loser in the current next-gen disc war would be more obvious than it is today.
The idea for issuing dual-format titles, first unveiled by Warner at CES2007 last January, was devised to appease consumers who may have been hesitant to purchase new disc players until a single standard has been agreed upon. The Warner movie titles originally were set to ramp up in time for the important 2007 holiday season starting in November, with CE manufacturers and Hollywood studios hoping to see Blu-ray or HD DVD players take off with consumers.
Confirmation of the delay in Total HD titles came from a Warner exec during an industry meeting last week in Los Angeles, according to High-Def Digest. The exec said there is no expiration date on the concept, so the company isn’t in a rush to do it.
Regardless of when it does commence, the Total HD venture does not include a large inventory of titles; Warner initially plans to offer as little as a dozen films.
