JB Hi-Fi to sell Blu-ray only

The war between high definition video formats Blu-ray and HD DVD has escalated today with major retailer JB Hi-Fi announcing it will only sell Blu-ray movies through its stores.

Speaking at the official launch of Blu-ray in Sydney today, Scott Browning, marketing director at JB Hi-Fi, said the format had the support from Hollywood and predicted that "content will be the king" for Blu-ray.

"Indeed this is the reason that we have decided to only stock Blu-ray products at JB Hi-Fi. The range of exciting new film and TV releases as well as the potential back catalogue means that we can deliver everyone's favourite films on Blu-ray", Browning said.

Browning added that the company intends to dedicate up to ten percent of store space to the new format, despite being forecasted to only account for three percent of sales. He said that many stores already stocked thirty Blu-ray titles.

Browning did concede JB Hi-Fi would consider selling HD-DVD movies online if there was "enough demand for it".

Sony PlayStation 3 is due to launch on March 23, 2007, and is seen by many to be the key ingredient in ensuring Blu-ray's success, due to the fact it comes with a Blu-ray player on board. The PS3 will retail for $999 and include a 60GB drive.

Competitor Microsoft, which has a stake in HD-DVD, will release its own HD-DVD player for the Xbox 360 a week later for $250. The most expensive Xbox 360 retails for $649.