The format promises four times the visual resolution of existing Blu-rays, and improved sound too.
And thats even though lots of people have stuck with DVD, and remain quite happy with it.
Ad content continues below
Yet for a long time, Blu-ray wasnt the heir apparent.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
The problem was this wouldnt be a smooth transition, as the migration from VHS to DVD had been.
People, after all, had long become accustomed to CDs for music.
DVDs looked the same, and swiftly became the equivalent for movies.
A silver disc with a film on it was very easy to sell.
Money talked, though, and a further format was sought.
The inevitable end result was competing formats, with potentially a huge prize at the end.
These formats were mooted in the early 2000s, finally arriving in stores in 2006.
But for those wanting to move to a high definition disc format, the worse end result had emerged.
There were two formats to pick from on shop shelves, and many titles that were exclusive to each.
On the HD DVD side of the proverbial fence, Toshiba, Microsoft and Pioneer were driving the format.
Blu-ray, meanwhile, was spearheaded by Sony and a union of manufacturers.
Different companies and crucially movie studios lined up on differing sides of the divide.
Neither format had an exclusive title akin toThe Matrix, which was credited with helping DVD break through.
Youd walk into a store, and both HD DVD and Blu-ray players would be side by side.
This period is widely held responsible for holding high definition optical disc take-up back.
Toshiba would eventually be $1bn out of pocket at least once it called time on the project.
Sonys coffers would be pillaged too.
But it did have a major card to play.
In short, it was willing to gamble the future of the PlayStation on the success of Blu-ray.
It would prove to be a pivotal, yet costly, endeavour.
It was Sonys game to lose.
Microsoft was more battle ready this time, though.
And Sonys fumblings with Blu-ray in the early days would be a key reason why.
The problem was two-fold, though.
This meant two things.
And secondly, the PlayStation 3 was much more expensive than both the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox 360.
But the PlayStation 3s launch day in the UK was notoriously slow.
Many retailers were lumbered with an awful lot of stock, and it wasnt selling fast.
People, in the early days, were buying Xbox 360 machines instead.
Sony would, to be clear, turn the PlayStation 3 around.
Even today, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One is a more even fight.
The days of one side winning so dramatically would more likely have ended anyway.
But Sony hastened that.
One aside, here.
With sales of high definition players and discs depressed, however, something ultimately had to give.
When Christmas 2007s sales failed to declare a clearcut winner, other factors took hold.
It was at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in 2008 that the key turning point came.
Fox would have been it, and the fight would suddenly have been balanced in HD DVDs favour.
Yet 20th Century Fox changed its mind at the very last minute.
AsGizmodoreported, Sony reportedly gave Fox north of $100m to stay on the side of Blu-ray.
A cheque from Sony for a reported $500m helped sweeten things.
These amounts have never been confirmed on the record, we should note.
Bottom line: Warner Bros. declared its exclusive support for Blu-ray on January 4th 2008.
To all intents and purposes, the format war was done right there.
Yet retailers followed Warner Bros. lead and stopped stocking both formats.
The announcements came thick and fast.
It would take some time for Blu-rays Excel spreadsheet to stop looking so red.
Was it worth it?
It was certainly not a battle that either side could really afford to lose.
And lessons have clearly been learned.
When the format lands next year, itll be take it or leave it.
All investing in it will be sincerely hoping for the former…
