Blockbuster was offering both Blu-ray and HD DVDs in 250 rental stores. These stores will keep renting both formats. But the last year statistics showed that 70 percent of the costumers choose.

"We intend to meet the demands of our customers and based on the trends we're seeing, we're expanding our Blu-ray inventory to ensure our stores reflect the right level of products," said Matthew Smith, SVP Merchandising for Blockbuster. "While it is still too early to say which high-definition format will become the industry standard, we will continue to closely monitor customer rental patterns both at our stores and online, so we can adjust our inventory mix accordingly and ensure that Blockbuster is offering customers the most convenient access to the movies they want, in the format they want."

There were several factors for Blockbuster to make their decision. The first factor is that the customers choose Blu-ray format, this is the key factor.

The second factor is that all major movie making studios release their movies in Blu-ray format.

For example The Walt Disney Co. Releases movies only in Blu-ray format, Warner Bros, Time Warner Inc., and Paramount Pictures release movies in both formats. Only Universal Studios releases its movies exclusively in HD DVD format.

The battle between DVD formats began last year and it was yet unclear who will win the battle. But this decision by Blockbuster is a step that moves Blu-ray closer to happy end.

Customers were also involved in the battle, because they were hard in making a decision which DVD player to buy. Sony is the manufacturer of Blu-ray DVD player that now costs $499 comparet with its initial $1,000 price. Toshiba is the manufacturer of HD DVD player that now costs $299 compared with its initial $499 price.

Neither HD, nor Blu-ray DVDs can be played on standard DVD players, but standard DVDs can be played on both format players. For HULIQ.COM