Saturday, February 16th 2008

Toshiba to Give Up on HD DVD

Following closely on the heels of news that both Netflix and Wal-Mart plan to drop HD DVD support, it looks like Toshiba, one of the key firms behind the format, is planning to do the same. A company source is being reported as saying:
We have entered the final stage of planning to make our exit from the next generation DVD business.
An official announcement is expected to come within the next few days, and it is estimated that the move could see Toshiba suffer losses of hundreds of millions of dollars. This is likely to put an end to the HD format war, with Blu-ray, backed largely by Sony, looking almost certain to overcome HD DVD, which had powerful names including Toshiba and Microsoft supporting it.

Update: Toshiba denies the reports:
"The media reported that Toshiba will discontinue its HD DVD business. Toshiba has not made any announcement concerning this. Although Toshiba is currently assessing its business strategies, no decision has been made at this moment."
Source: Reuters
Add your own comment

81 Comments on Toshiba to Give Up on HD DVD

#51
thoughtdisorder
RavenasNobody is telling you what to buy though. If you want a cheap solution, get a DVD upconverter. If you want a different solution, try iTunes. But the fact is, no one is telling you what to buy.

Even if it were that way, it would mean Toshiba has been telling you what to buy for the past 20 years.
Ravenas, I stated right in the post "we don't have to buy". That's not the point, the point is the options for consumers is decreasing. If Ford were the only car available and all the others went away, would you be happy? Would your answer be, you don't have to buy a car, just walk to work? It's not just Toshiba I'm unhappy with, it's the coordinated effort of several companies to drive the market. There is a valid reason for anti-trust laws. Send an email to Bill Gates and ask him about monopolies, he's the King of monopolies.:laugh:
Posted on Reply
#52
Ravenas
thoughtdisorderRavenas, I stated right in the post "we don't have to buy". That's not the point, the point is the options for consumers is decreasing. If Ford were the only car available and all the others went away, would you be happy? Would your answer be, you don't have to buy a car, just walk to work? It's not just Toshiba I'm unhappy with, it's the coordinated effort of several companies to drive the market. There is a valid reason for anti-trust laws. Send an email to Bill Gates and ask him about monopolies, he's the King of monopolies.:laugh:
Ahh sorry, I got kinda confused with your post. You went from saying we are being told what to buy to we don't have to buy. :laugh:
Posted on Reply
#53
EastCoasthandle
Easy Rhinoive been on avsforum and have read that. ive also read the responses that pretty much tear that guy a new asshole. some studios dont spend the time with certain movies to render out the best possible 1080p picture. sometimes there are movies which are simple upconverts from a DVD source.ghost rider is one of them. i own 12 blu-ray movies and all of them are above and beyond the quality of a regular dvd.
Regardless, it goes to show those what you can expect out of br. We are simply the consumer and don't care about the finger pointing and is not the bed of roses some try to paint.
Posted on Reply
#54
Ravenas
EastCoasthandleRegardless, it goes to show those what you can expect out of br. We are simply the consumer and don't care about the finger pointing.
Yes, but you're talking like the problem can't be fixed or that Sony hasn't fixed it. Sure they had problems with their first gen models, but what company doesn't? MS had plenty of problems with their xboxs, and they spent the money to fix it. Does this mean Sony is out to try to gouge the consumer because you're leaking products that have errors? No.
Posted on Reply
#55
MilkyWay
HD DVD i wish would have been bought more but if it has to go let it be now rather than have it drag on like PS2 sales.

NOW thats consumer power for ya all those people actually made a product disapear.

IF only people looked at the pros and cons and weighed up the facts, i myself buy economicaly and really so should everyone.
Its a shame that Blu Ray is the dominant brand because there are no pluses to buying blu ray, i mean only one comes to mind and that is future proofing for the fact that hd dvd might not exist next year.

HD formats are very expensive and Blu Ray is over the top expensive.

The only reason Blu Ray has succeeded is because it (sony) forced people to have blu ray buy including it in its ps3 seriously how many people would buy a blu ray add on for the ps3 if it wasnt built in i think only a small percentage.

EDIT : I can give plenty of reasons that HD DVD is a much more economical and better buy, cept that its nearly done for i cant vouch for that.
Posted on Reply
#56
miksanity
i want an HD-DVD player in my cereal box now!
Posted on Reply
#57
thoughtdisorder
RavenasAhh sorry, I got kinda confused with your post. You went from saying we are being told what to buy to we don't have to buy. :laugh:
It's all good! I wasn't very clear! I shouldn't post after 4 or 5 Bacardi's!:D
Posted on Reply
#58
Easy Rhino
Linux Advocate
EastCoasthandleRegardless, it goes to show those what you can expect out of br. We are simply the consumer and don't care about the finger pointing and is not the bed of roses some try to paint.
what do you mean what we can expect from br?
Posted on Reply
#60
Triprift
Lol thats fantastic great find:laugh::laugh::laugh:
Posted on Reply
#61
Hawk1
RavenasI think this video clearly explains the mood of the format war pre-death of HD DVD:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydtoRNf8Jr8

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:
Oh, those video's never fail to put a smile on my face. The original one with his xbox live account getting suspended is still the best though.
Posted on Reply
#62
Duffman
Hawk1Oh, those video's never fail to put a smile on my face. The original one with his xbox live account getting suspended is still the best though.
I dunno, this version seems to fit better tho!
Posted on Reply
#63
spacejunky
RavenasSpacejunky you're not worth talking to...You can't accept the fact that you may be wrong, even when it hits you in the face. No offense but you've never had anything useful to say in a conversation, it's just you trying to ignite some sort of flame war. Oh well, I guess that's the nature of a few.
Ravenas,
All I ever read from you are your IMOs. I try to present facts and you interpret it as starting a flame war??:roll:

Chew on this and let's here your IMO since you are so insightful with all of your HD friends and HD-TVs.

Warner Bros. Talks About HD DVD Releases After Mid-2008
and
HD DVD Is Still Standing, The Format War Not Over Yet – Says HD DVD Promo Group.

BTW, Myself and 5 HD people that I know have XBOX 360s and HD-DVD ROMS and 2 of us have combo ROMs in PCs connected to HD-TVs to play both formats and none of us plan on buying a PS3 anytime soon just to watch BR movies.
Posted on Reply
#64
Ravenas
When I say "you try to ignite things" you obviously have no idea what I mean. Everytime I state my IMO, you say something I think is wrong, or immediately start sourceing the links. Just like you did in this post. Instead of posting your imo, like one does on a discussion thread, you just attack other people's opinions? What's your problem bud?

Personally, I could care less if you ever use BR, or a playstation 3. It would probably be better for the the playstation 3 community in general. However, I will say I'm happy to know I made a good investment in a good product.

When you realize how to functionally talk in a forum let me know. If you got anything else to say directly to me, take it to a PM.
Posted on Reply
#65
spacejunky
Easy Rhinomy friends came over and were blown away by "the patriot" on a 42 inch HDTV at 1080p pushing LPCM 7.1

yea, i may pay 30-40 bucks for a blu-ray movie but i get 100 times the picture quality out of it.
I am hooked on HD as well but I am a techno junky.

One parallel I see with recorded HD content adoption and PC gaming is you still don't see gamers knocking down doors to get Vista for DX10. Yes, DX10 enables better 3D effects (and lower frame rates) but you still don't see gamers touting it as a must have. I don't plan on going any further than the Vista install on my virtual machine especially with SP3 right around the corner. With this in mind, I believe those that say they have no intention of dropping SD-DVD in favor BR or HD-DVD.
Posted on Reply
#66
pentastar111
Screw all of this...I'm going back to VHS:laugh::toast::D
Posted on Reply
#67
Triprift
Lol better you than me i say when my vhs broke down i just threw it out.
Posted on Reply
#69
Siren
Didn't some university manage to get like 700Gb on one HD DVD? Why couldn't that format become a storage solution?
Posted on Reply
#70
effmaster
SirenDidn't some university manage to get like 700Gb on one HD DVD? Why couldn't that format become a storage solution?
Because its not cost effective silly.:laugh:
Posted on Reply
#71
Siren
Every new tech starts out crazy expensive but if the need is there people will pay for it. Heck... I recently backed up my itunes library and it took 4 DVDs and I do not consider my collection to be big. It is so annoying to have to keep track of multiple disks.:banghead:
Posted on Reply
#72
Ravenas
SirenEvery new tech starts out crazy expensive but if the need is there people will pay for it. Heck... I recently backed up my itunes library and it took 4 DVDs and I do not consider my collection to be big. It is so annoying to have to keep track of multiple disks.:banghead:
BR disc could do the same thing right now, probably store even more, its just not profitable for them to be selling 500gb disc so people can store data right now. They would rather sell tons of 25gb discs, or 50gb dual layers. They make more profit.
Posted on Reply
#73
Siren
RavenasBR disc could do the same thing right now, probably store even more, its just not profitable for them to be selling 500gb disc so people can store data right now. They would rather sell tons of 25gb discs, or 50gb dual layers. They make more profit.
True, greedy &@$! just adds more waste to the landfills.:shadedshu
Posted on Reply
#74
Ravenas
Hehe yeah...

The production costs of those disc would also probably be out the roof... It just wouldn't be feasible for them to sell those. I recommend time capsule or any other e-HDD for backing up media.
Posted on Reply
#75
pentastar111
RavenasHehe yeah...

The production costs of those disc would also probably be out the roof... It just wouldn't be feasible for them to sell those. I recommend time capsule or any other e-HDD for backing up media.
Amen to that.:cool:
Posted on Reply
Add your own comment
Jan 21st, 2025 05:51 EST change timezone

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

Controversial News Posts