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Toshiba Making Funeral Plans for HD DVD
Posted by
Zonk
on Friday February 15, @01:14PM
from the cue-taps dept.
from the cue-taps dept.
Blue Light Special writes "With HD DVD on life support, Toshiba is reportedly preparing to bow to the inevitable and allow HD DVD to expire quietly. 'While denying that a decision on the fate of HD DVD has been made, a Toshiba marketing exec left the door wide open. "Given the market developments in the past month, Toshiba will continue to study the market impact and the value proposition for consumers, particularly in light of our recent price reductions on all HD DVD players," Jodi Sally, VP of marketing for Toshiba America Consumer Products, said.'" A few folks have also noted that Wal-mart is joining the Blu-ray train, further lowering the stock of HD DVD.
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Hardware: HD DVD Player Sales Grind To a Halt 507 comments
Lucas123 writes "While the news may fall under the 'Duh' category, it's still relatively shocking how quickly the death knell for HD DVD player sales came on after Warner Bros. announced they were dropping dual hi-def DVD format support in order to back only Blu-ray. According to a Computerworld story, the week after Warner's announcement, sales of HD DVD players dropped to 1,758, down from 14,558 players the week before. In contrast, consumers bought 21,770 Blu-ray Disc players, up from 15,257 the previous week."
Firehose:Toshiba making funeral plans for HD DVD by Anonymous Coward
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Hardware: Toshiba To Halt HD-DVD Production 492 comments
Multiple users have written to tell us that Toshiba is planning to halt production of devices related to HD-DVD. According to Japanese broadcasting network NHK, Toshiba will lose "hundreds of millions of dollars" as the format war finally draws to a close. Regardless, investors are pleased that Toshiba has made the decision to cut its losses. This comes after a last-ditch price cut was unable to prevent Wal-mart from throwing their lot in with Blu-ray, although some sources suggest that Wal-mart was already aware of Toshiba's plans to withdraw from fight.
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Sony Paid Warner Bros. $400 Million to Go Blu-Ray? 486 comments
eldavojohn writes "How much would you pay to be the leading video media technology right now? Is $400 million too much? Sony didn't think so and this article speculates that's how they won the Hi-Def format war. 'With billions of dollars in global sales at stake, experts had predicted the Toshiba-Sony battle would go on for years - not unlike the 1980s battle of videotape formats between VHS (Matsushita) and Betamax (Sony). That war lasted a decade, leaving Sony battered and humiliated. So how did this epic battle come to such an abrupt end? The answer lies in part with the bruising Sony experienced with Betamax, which, like Blu-ray, was also the better product on paper.'"
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That's a Shame (Score:5, Interesting)
Blu-Ray != Sony (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Blu-Ray != Sony (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:That's a Shame (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:That's a Shame (Score:5, Insightful)
Or just buy a PS3 and don't worry about it.
I have a 60GB PS3 and there's not a BD or a special feature out there that it won't play. Nor will there ever be.
Re:That's a Shame (Score:5, Interesting)
Quick show of hands...how many bought a PS2 not because it was a game console, but because it let them get a console and DVD player in one, for not a lot more than a high-quality DVD player?
PS3/Blu-Ray is going to follow a very similar track, I think.
Re:That's a Shame (Score:5, Informative)
I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. Because, you know, 4-5 years ago, a 1080p 42" LCD would have cost $4,000. Today, if you pay more than $1,000 for a major brand, you've paid too much.
A 75% reduction in cost over a few year period is not enough for you? I think it's time to admit that you're probably just a cheapskate.
Re:That's a Shame (Score:5, Insightful)
If you buy more discs, you're investing in a dead-end system, and when your original machine breaks down, you'll likely have to buy a secondhand player in a few years time if you want to keep watching your collection. Which might not have the benefits of newly-built (and Blu-Ray only) hi-def players- and what if you want to use them in your computer(s)?
And if you end up wanting to watch Blu Ray stuff, you'll end up forking out for that anyway, have two players cluttering up the place and (as above) effectively just be using the HD-DVD player for watching a few discs.
I'm not saying that you're necessarily wrong though- *if* they sold HD-DVD discs off cheaply enough, this may not matter if you get your money's worth of enjoyment from the system anyway. Particularly if you hadn't planned on buying Blu-Ray at present.
Oh, and remember that the "worth" of a movie is the minimum of either (a) the most you'd be willing to pay for it and (b) the lowest price you can get it for without too many drawbacks. So perhaps it's "worth" $30 based on the RRP, but what's its real worth? Then again, $30 doesn't sound too bad to me, so forget this last paragraph
Re:It's not really over until Porn embraces Blu Ra (Score:4, Informative)
At least it's over... (Score:4, Interesting)
Hopefully I'll soon be able to get all of my favorite movies in high definition, not just the particular ones owned by production companies who signed specific format deals.
A lot of people won't be happy about it, but I've gotta admit I'm impressed with how Sony marketing pulled this off. I definitely didn't see it ending this way.
Am I the only one? (Score:5, Insightful)
At least Blu-Ray rolls off the tounge easier. And yes, I'm convinced that's at least part of the reason it won.
It's Over, But Blu-Ray Isn't Ready (Score:5, Informative)
The only Blu-Ray player even worth considering for consumers is the PS3. But then you're stuck with a big game console instead of just a standalone movie player, which is what many people really want.
I had bought a Toshiba HD-A3 HD DVD player for $159. Feature complete. Booted to drawer open in under 30 seconds. Loaded all movies in under 30 seconds. Did everything I needed (my TV has fine 3:2 pulldown so 1080i out is all I needed). And it came with 10 movies. Even now, there's really no equivalent on the Blu-Ray side. No standalone 2.0 player that isn't dog-slow.
When Warner switched, I simply stopped buying HD content. Most of my friends that were buying HD DVDs did the same thing. Sure, I may buy into Blu-Ray eventually. But it looks like it's gonna be a while before it's capable of doing what it should.
Don't throw it away... Recycle it... (Score:5, Insightful)
Then let's see who wins in the long run. Toshiba can still ship HD-DVD recorders, media, etc. Being fully open, the platform will reach every corner that Blu-Ray doesn't, by design. Blu-Ray is a very consumer-hostile format as-is; it's designed to limit the medium. Toshiba should give up not by burying it, but by becoming the antithesis of its competitor.
betamax, minidisc, 8-track (Score:5, Funny)
Re:betamax, minidisc, 8-track (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, apparently the mood in the opposing bunker is pretty grim:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB2e7pfZmGA [youtube.com]
Re:betamax, minidisc, 8-track (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:HD DVD joins Betamax in tech hell! (Score:4, Insightful)
You mean like CD and Betacam? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Ew... (Score:5, Informative)
Not really. Sony isn't even the majority patent holder in Blu-ray, they're just the most visible proponent of the format and have sold a few million of the players.
Re:Ew... (Score:5, Interesting)
The Wii is doing great, but the PS3 has been picking up quite a bit of steam. The XBox360 is also doing great in the US, but not so much elsewhere. Sony got broadsided early on, but has been surprisingly competitive as of late.
I think the interesting thing is that the Wii is selling to a lot of people who would probably never, no matter how Sony would have priced, packaged or marketed it, bought a PS3. Thus, the Wii is increasing the size of the total market, which isn't all bad for Sony. Also, the Wii is cheap enough that for those would WOULD buy one of the other consoles, it's not necessarily an either/or decision-- many can buy a Wii AND a PS3.
Re:Ew... (Score:5, Informative)
You can use it to rip or just simply to disable HDCP so that the disc will play on your non-DRM ready hardware at full resolution.
The downside to ripping is HD movies are 25gb vs 5gb for a DVD, and you'll need to find a software player that can handle HD content since most media players wont.
Re:Myself? (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, the truth is pretty much the opposite of this statement. Because Blu-ray had 50% more bandwidth, it could be compressed less, and since it supported exactly the same video codecs as HD DVD that's all that really matters. Although some of the audio codecs are optional on Blu-ray that are mandatory on HD DVD, when present Blu-ray requires greater bandwidth for those, too, leading to better fidelity.
Yes, HD DVD were cheaper to produce, but the discs cost the same to the consumer. (And much less $ per megabyte, which matters for the geeks out there who will use it in their computers.)
Re:Looks like Sony's gamble paid off. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:PS3 now viewed as "more attractive"? (Score:4, Funny)
The add-on will be a complete blu-ray player but can only output to the PS3, which will then pass the signal along to the display.
Re:BD+ (Score:4, Informative)
BD+ is another layer on top of it.
I dont think commercial titles with BD+ where available a year ago (or they just came out)
As far as I know, they didnt "crack" BD+ yet, but I havent followed doom9 in a while....