Samsung is not planning to abandon HD DVD just yet. A Samsung spokesperson said that "Samsung was surprised by Warner´s decision to exclusively support Blu-ray but that it will continue producing the dual-format player if market demand warranted."

"I don't think we can preface that the format war is over," said Kevin Morrow, marketing director of Samsung´s HD players. "There are still a number of companies involved and will continue to support HD DVD." "There is still that HD DVD market segment that is not going to go away immediately, and I don´t know if it ever will," he continued. He also made it clear that they still would have announced their latest Duo HD player, the BD-UP5500, at CES 2008, had they known about Warner Bros in advance.

For its part, Microsoft has officially denied reports from Reuters that it was considering supporting the Blu-ray camp. TThe headline misconstrued the context of what I said," says marketing manager Albert Penello. Microsoft announces that they are not planning to create devices to accommodate the BD format, and that they still believe in the succes of HD DVD. They also say that HD DVD is not dead as long as Toshiba says it is not. This means that there will not be a Xbox 360 with Blu-ray yet.

While Universal Studios is unlikely to renew its HD DVD exclusivity deal with the format backers which is coming to an end, it has officially dismissed the rumour that it will be dropping HD DVD in favour of Blu-ray.

"Contrary to unsubstantiated rumors from unnamed sources, Universal's current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format," said Ken Graffeo, executive vice president of HD strategic marketing for Universal Studios Home Entertainment and also co-president of the HD DVD Promotional Group.

Story filed 14.01.08