After just eight months, Blockbuster has chosen its winner in BluRay versus HD-DVD battle. The company introduced both formats in 250 stores in November 2006, but since then the BluRay rentals significantly outpaced HD DVD rentals at its stores.

As a consequence, Blockbuster today announced that it is rolling out an expanded Blu-ray disc inventory for rental to 1,700 stores by mid-July.

"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."

For those who loves HD-DVD format, the titles will continue to be available through Blockbuster’s online rental service and at its initial 250 stores.

Blu-ray formatted titles are available from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment, FOX Home Entertainment, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Lionsgate Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video, and Paramount Home Entertainment

Two weeks ago Sony slashed the price of its latest Blu-Ray player. Back in February, Sony announced that the BDP-S300 would sell for $599, but in June the Japanese company said it had slashed the price by $100, due to to lower-than-expected manufacturing costs.

Sony’s PlayStation 3 integrates also a BluRay unit that can be used in order to watch movies.