Michael Bay, the director of Transformers, has slammed distributor Paramount's decision to release the hi-def version of the film only on HD DVD.

He said the move was "short-sighted" and alleged it would delay consumers' adoption of HD content.

"As a director, my critical eye is that Blu-ray is where my money is," Bay said on his blog. "Consumers are smart, and they are going to wait it out."

Earlier this week, Paramount lauded the Transformers HD DVD as the fastest selling hi-def disc yet. The distributor claimed 100,000 discs were sold on the first day of release, rising to 190,000 by the end of the first week.

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The previous record holder, 300, was less successful on its first day, but was purchased 250,000 times during its first week, its distributor, Warner Home Video, said earlier this year. 300 is available on both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

Transformers is the first big release from Paramount since it said it would focus on HD DVD for all future releases. Previously, like Warner, it backed both formats. It's scheme takes in movies released by DreamWorks... almost. DreamWorks films directed by company co-founder Steven Spielberg are not likely to be released only on HD DVD.

Clearly sufficiently powerful directors can force distributors to support other formats, and we may find more of them doing so, as they perceive the potential audience for their works are being limited by distributor policy.

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