“Toshiba Corp is planning to stop production of equipment compatible with the HD DVD format for high-definition video, allowing the competing Blu-Ray camp a free run, public broadcaster NHK reported on Saturday,” Nathan Layne reports for Reuters.
“Toshiba is expected to suffer losses amounting to tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars) to scrap production of HD DVD players and recorders and other steps to exit the business, Japan’s NHK said on its website,” Layne reports.
“Toshiba was dealt a blow on Friday when Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it would abandon the HD DVD format, becoming the latest in a series of top retailers and movie studios to rally behind Blu-ray technology for high definition DVDs,” Layne reports.
Full article here.
Enjoy those Microsoft Xbox HD DVD players now, ya hear?
Oh well……..
Glad I have a PS3… I’d never have bought an Xbox anyways, though…
I’m sure they’ll find some way to retrofit the existing HD DVD players to support Blu-Ray. That would be the responsible way to go forward.
I know of one wedding videographer who is not a happy bunny. He used the HD export features of OSX to create HD-DVD’s on regular DVD’s. Now that route is a dead dodo. I told him to buy up a pile of HDDVD players at a knock down price and give them away to his customers, along with the DVD’s. He could last out a year or more on that route for minimal upfront costs. Otherwise, to get his HD footage to the client, means going Blueray and I am not so sure Apple really support that at the moment, plus and a big negative, the BR discs are so much more expensive. I figured he could get an HD DVD player for the price of a few BR discs and still come out tops. So this is not a winning situation for people like this videographer.
Huh. Discs are dead, anyway. It doesn’t matter.
MacDailyNews Take: Enjoy those Microsoft Xbox HD DVD players now, ya hear?
Yeah…and I will also be enjoying making HD DVD discs using APPLE Final Cut….
What I’d like to see is a boycott on Paramount / Viacom titles. They accepted a bribe from the HD camp and now should suffer some consequences. Let them release their crap on HD only format. Lay down with dogs and get up with fleas.
“Enjoy those Microsoft Xbox HD DVD players now, ya hear?”
Not so much as I enjoy Final Cut!
MacDailyNews Take: Enjoy those Microsoft Xbox HD DVD players now, ya hear?
Don’t quit your day job, guys. Why people (including myself) visit this miserable excuse for a ‘blog’ – is beyond me.
Quasi-journalist…
Forgive my ignorance, as I don’t own Final Cut. Does Final Cut also support Blu-ray?
Anyways, I’m VERY glad that HD-DVD is dead. The only bad thing about Blu-ray is that it uses regions. I know that something like 2/3 of all Blu-ray disks are regionless. But many consumers would really appreciate if all Blu-ray titles were regionless. I have a feeling that this issue will be resolved — one way or another — as the Blu-ray spec continues to mature.
Rip Ragged
I have HUNDREDS of movies (and over 400 cd’s).
There is NO WAY that I’m buying 5 or 6 terabyte sized drives to hold (what I’m assuming you’re getting at?) digital downloads.
For anyone who’s more than a casual viewer, discs are MOST DEFINITELY NOT dead!
Do HD players play regular DVD’s?
“Enjoy those Microsoft Xbox HD DVD players now, ya hear?”
Ooooooooooooh…..now that was just a tad mean eh?
Oh well, I never liked HD-DVD anyway and jumped into the Blu-Ray camp a while back. The only thing I think HD-DVD had going for it was easier name recognition. That simply means that someone who knows nothing about either format would find it easier to figure out what “HD-DVD” was vs what Blu-Ray was. However the name recognition was not a big deal and besides Blu-Ray has a fresher, newer, cooler sounding name. I hope those with HD-DVD players and big disc collections can find some solace. Maybe the HD-DVD format discs that exist will still be playable for sometime to come.
> Toshiba is expected to suffer losses amounting to tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars) to scrap production of HD DVD players and recorders
I wonder when Toshiba will start making Blu-ray products. Sony eventually made VHS products.
Being the best format didn’t win the day for Blu-ray.
Having the best, as in most onerous, DRM won the battle for the Blu-ray camp.
The question is, did the consumer win?
I suppose, given that every form of DRM is eventually broken.
Wow you sound like one informed consumer. Did you buy your computer because you liked the cute little i in front of the Mac.
X Box sucks anyway. I’m glad I didn’t buy one.
“Wow you sound like one informed consumer. Did you buy your computer because you liked the cute little i in front of the Mac.”
i think, if you only had reading comprehension, you find that he was saying some other people might decide based on the name.
…if you can’t comprehend what someone says, you really shouldn’t criticize it.
@Sixvodkas,
Discs aren’t dead yet, but they ARE dying.
Blu-Ray is just a stop gap measure till the internet providers catch up and start delivering the speed needed for the true next gen format, which is HD files..
@ MikeK
The providers are trying to ramp up fees before bandwidth. Just watch as Time-Warner puts caps and charges per megabyte beyond their allotment right along with streaming HBO movies “for free” to subscribers. Satellite looks better everyday — I just wish I didn’t live on the north side of slope so I could get it.
Physical media of some description will always be needed because bandwidth cannot grow fast enough to support current demand and secondly too many countries have restrictive communication policies that result in additional costs to the downloader.
Was wondering, my flat mate has an xbox, does he now have to go out and buy all his games again or will they be re-issued in blu-ray format by the distribution companies?
Don’t worry I’ve been trying to convert him for ages hopefully this will do the trick
Apple sure is looking brilliant by waiting for the format war to end. Now we’ll probably see Blue-Ray drives in Macs in the near future.
Hitachi is a good company. It’s a shame they have to be hit hard like that. But there can only be one ‘winner’ here. The market was being hurt by the uncertainty.
Personally, I think CDs, DVDs, etc SUCK. We’re in the frelling 21st century here people. You have to be kidding. They’re unreliable, they have to be kept spotless to get them to play at all, the players cannot be jiggled too much… good grief. Spinning little plastic discs are going to look sooo stupid a few years from now.
It won’t be long before flash memory is cheap enough for *reliable* mass storage, unless something better comes along…
Apple’s decision not to actively influence the outcome of the format war by installing Blu Ray drives (despite much criticism) was brilliant. It was a fight they didn’t need to fight.