One of the moments I've feared has happened. The director's cut of a movie I'd like to purchase, Terminator: Salvation, is going to be made available on Blu-Ray only. I can't imagine that there's any content that requires Blue-Ray to enjoy, therefore I am attributing this decision to darker ulterior motives at Warner Brothers.

Hollywood has invested a fair amount of money in Blu-Ray, yet the format hasn't really taken off. For my part, I've got a large plasma display that shows off high definition content quite well. However, what I'm finding is that my DVDs are providing all the enjoyment I want, simply by setting the DVD player to use anamorphic mode, which offers higher vertical resolution on a 16:9 display. In short, I see no reason to buy a Blu-Ray player. I understand there are many others like me who, if it would bring greater enjoyment, would get Blu-Ray, but who don't need to because DVD does the job just fine.

Well, it seems that Warner Brothers has drawn a line in the sand, and that this line makes their agenda crystal clear: "We will not sell premium content except on Blu-Ray, and if you want that content then you're going to pay for a player and then be more inclined to buy our (more expensive) Blu-Ray discs down the road." Think I sound paranoid? Ask yourself what other reason Warner Brothers could possibly have to deny owners of DVD players the opportunity to add the director's cut of a movie to their collections.

I consider this bad behavior on Warner Brothers' part. Their decision to release this premium content on Blu-Ray only clearly reflects a "screw the consumer" attitude, and I've got no intention of rewarding them by purchasing Blu-Ray discs.

My prediction for the future: DVD quality will be degraded and anamorphic modes eliminated, so that DVD quality is crappy on large screens, effectively forcing consumers to upgrade to more expensive Blu-Ray when they don't want to. We're now a step closer to this sorry state of affairs.