Netflix to officially phase out HD DVD on December 15

Subscribers to the online movie rental service Netflix this afternoon found a not-entirely-unexpected message in their e-mail, informing them that HD DVD-based movie titles would not be available in one month's time.

"Effective December 15, 2008, we will no longer carry HD DVDs," the message from Netflix reads. "At that time, we will automatically replace any HD DVD titles in your Queue with standard DVDs when available. You don't have to do anything...Last February, we announced that since most of the major movie studios had decided to release their high-def movies exclusively in Blu-ray, we were going exclusively Blu-ray as well and would be phasing out our HD DVDs."

Naturally, the phasing out of new HD DVDs should come as no surprise since such titles aren't being produced any more. What may be surprising is Netflix's sense of timing, as many high-definition movie titles that had been released on HD DVD have yet to be reissued on Blu-ray Disc. Standard definition DVDs may be the only form available for titles from studios that had supported HD DVD unto the last, including Universal.