According to a report in the Financial Times, in Europe film makers are favoring the HD-DVD format. Currently, at least 35 European films are available on HD-DVD, while just 10 European films are available in the Blu-ray format.

European movie studios are favoring HD DVD over Blu-ray due to the cost savings involved in HD DVD duplication for these independent European studios, according to a report.

The Financial Times also emphasized on the fact that production costs of these players are a key issue for film makers. DVD production lines can be easily upgraded to make HD-DVD discs. However, Blu-ray requires completely new equipment.

According to a chief executive of French DVD replication company QoL, “HD-DVD replication line costs about €800,000 (around £545,000) and you can make 40,000 discs a day on it. A Blu-ray replication line costs around €18m and you can make 10,000 to 15,000 discs a day. The risk is not the same.”

Even though the Blu-ray disc has a much higher capacity than that of HD-DVDs, this fact has not appeared to change the minds of most European film makers.

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