Most people gauge the format war based on how many studios support either side. With yesterday's Paramount defection to HD DVD, you could add a +1 to HD, or a -1 to BD.

But, my question is this: how does the format war play out in regards to the relative sizes of the studios that support each format? Who is the biggest studio? Who is second, third, etc?

In terms of recent success, Paramount/DW is a HUGE defection for BD. In terms of back catalog (a.k.a. "the vault"), Universal is a HUGE weapon for HD. But the 800lb gorilla in the room is Warner, and they're not likely to swing one way or the other without serious incentives. Taking into account recent events, let's for a moment assume that one camp or the other can afford to court Warner's exclusive favor. For HD that could mean a dramatic turnaround, possibly even being favored to win the format war. For BD that could mean taking back the lead, and at the very least giving themselves a LOT more time and resources to do battle.

In the end, though, I don't know if studio strength alone can match the power of rising alternative technologies. As record companies continue to cry over lost album sales in the face of the music download threat to that industry, I have to wonder if either HDM format will win or if the days of optical media (at least as we currently know it) are coming to an end. Consider...

If Microsoft is such a huge supporter of HD (BD supporters already claiming conspiracy in the $150m payoff), then why did they release the 360 Elite without a built-in HD drive? What is to be made of the rumors that the 360 will eventually be able to operate as a DVR-enabled IPTV set top box, possibly using a lot of the same code Microsoft has already written for the AT&T U-verse (an IPTV service) set top boxes? What about Cisco, another major player in IPTV, purchasing cable set top box maker Scientific Atlanta? What about the continual push of fiber optics closer and closer to your home by both telephone and cable companies, not to mention the buzz concerning HD Movies On Demand by various television service providers?

In the very near future it is entirely possible this move kills HDM's wide-spread adoption... That as a result the movie collections of the masses will go the way their music collection started to go several years ago... Saved to a folder on a mass storage device.

why did they release the 360 Elite without a built-in HD drive?

The fastest HD DVDROM drive has a DVD-read speed of 8x and the XBOX 360 spec requires a 12x drive for games to work properly (with streaming assets and whatnot).

Sony's studios have had more hits the past couple of years... I believe prior to their announcement, it could be expected that 9 of the top 10 movies from 2006 (or even 2007?) would be released on bluray while 4 or 5 would be released on HD-DVD.

2008, as far as I am aware, looked very different to me. Only "Horton hears a who" is a blu-ray exclusive studio movie that could do well next year (AFAIK). Corrections would be helpful if you think I'm wrong.

But, my question is this: how does the format war play out in regards to the relative sizes of the studios that support each format? Who is the biggest studio? Who is second, third, etc?

Well, it's a tough question that may (or may not) have an impact, for a couple of reasons:

1. People (so far) are not buying catalog titles in any meaningful way. Even big, classic hits like Casablanca or The Sting struggle to sell 2000 copies. So the size of a studio's back catalog is probably irrelevant until more people adopt high def media.

2. The size of a studio doesn't necessarily have any bearing on what they release. MGM has 4000 films and 10400 television episodes. BDs released to date: 9.


That being said, you can probably go to the "About Us" (or whatever) section of each studio's site for the ballpark figures. MGM is above. I know that Paramount/Dreamworks has 3500 films and 18000 hours of TV. Sony has 3500 films and 35000 hours of TV.