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HD DVD bids its farewell

by Parm Mann on 19 February 2008, 09:30

Tags: Toshiba (TYO:6502)

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HD DVD - RIP (March 31, 2006 - February 19, 2008)

Recent events have signalled the imminent death of Toshiba's HD DVD format but as of today, it is now officially official.

At a press conference held in Tokyo, Toshiba announced that it will no longer develop, manufacture or market HD DVD players and recorders.

Toshiba President and CEO, Atsutoshi Nishida, said:

"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop. While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality."

During a Q&A session that followed, Nishida-san offered few details as to what would become of Toshiba's Aomori HD DVD factory but did confirm that the company currently has "no plans at all" to adopt Blu-ray.

HD DVD's short spell in the market accumulated an estimated 730,000 units sold worldwide. Today's announcement will prove a bitter pill to swallow for early adopters of the format, but Toshiba believes it faces little to no risk of class action lawsuits.

Though HD DVD is now well and truly behind us, I recently posed the question "Will Blu-ray prevail?" and indeed, the question still remains. The format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray has reached its conclusion, but the format war between Blu-ray and DVD is still going strong. Not to mention the war between Digital Distribution and everything else, that one is still getting started.

Official press release: Toshiba Announces Discontinuation of HD DVD Businesses



HEXUS Forums :: 21 Comments

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cue floods of HD DVD players on eBay…

I guess this could be seen coming a way off… even from a Joe Public view, the lack of HD DVD advertising on TV was a big clue.

Expect to see PS3 sales increase as those waiting to see what format would win now go out and get themselves a BD capable bit of kit.
So does this mean Toshiba are going to start manufaturing BR equipment?
*Looks at hardly used PS3 - and goes to heavily used XBOX360 and EP30 and shakes head*

Ok so BluRay won (I have over 30 -15 of which unwatched) but what's the bets the price of them goes up by £5+ overnight an the price of HDDVD drops like a stone?

I reckon HDDVD isn't dead as such - alot of people will pick them up cheap and hope that the media drops a fair amount - this is what happens when manufacturers dictate the price of the media with Studios - it wouldn't surprise me if BluRay which discs are more expensive for gave a bigger share to the studios.

HDDVD could have survived, if only thay had reduced the media to around £9.99 a disc…

Matt
Mike Fishcake;1340929
So does this mean Toshiba are going to start manufaturing BR equipment?
Mike, quote from article: “During a Q&A session that followed, Nishida-san offered few details as to what would become of Toshiba's Aomori HD DVD factory but did confirm that the company currently has ”no plans at all“ to adopt Blu-ray”
MD
*Looks at hardly used PS3 - and goes to heavily used XBOX360 and EP30 and shakes head*

Ok so BluRay won (I have over 30 -15 of which unwatched) but what's the bets the price of them goes up by £5+ overnight an the price of HDDVD drops like a stone?

I reckon HDDVD isn't dead as such - alot of people will pick them up cheap and hope that the media drops a fair amount - this is what happens when manufacturers dictate the price of the media with Studios - it wouldn't surprise me if BluRay which discs are more expensive for gave a bigger share to the studios.

HDDVD could have survived, if only thay had reduced the media to around £9.99 a disc…

Or, as has happened in the past, now that the confusion has been removed, more people start to buy Hi-Def with confidence, so more disks and hardware will be produced, which in turn will drive the prices down.

Just like it did with DVD, CD, VHS etc etc..

HD-DVD will certainly be dead as nobody will be producing hardware, or releasing new films on the format - sure you'll be able to pick stuff up cheap for a few months while the inventory has cleared, but what's the point in buying up a dead format with no future?