Toshiba says to quit HD DVD

The consumer electronics company plans to exit the business by the end of next month and has "absolutely no plans" to make or sell players that use the rival Blu-ray technology.

The story "Toshiba says to quit HD DVD" published February 19, 2008 at 2:47 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

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[epiccollision]

rofl

hmmm...what could have possibly went wrong

[jrm125]

Good riddance

Two formats was one too many. Good riddance to this war.

On that note, I feel bad for everyone who kind of got screwed in hardware sales. Though upconverting of DVDs is at least something that can hang around.

[celticbrewer]

Great Day

Castro and Toshiba both resign. What a great day! I didn't care too too much about who won as long as there was one format choice. At least the superior format won, even if it's *currently* pricier.

[maverick_nick]

Superior format?

Don't you mean the more "restrictive" format?

[WiiFreak]

Please explain how BR is superior...

...because I've read nothing that shows its superiority. I believe what I've read - and what led me to invest in the HD-DVD format - was a neutral, down the middle, pro/con analysis, and HD ALWAYS came out on top.

For me, price and the ability to upscale my current movies was the decision maker, along with the great features.

Someone PLEASE show me a NON-SONY or NON-FANBOY article that proves BR's superiority!!!

[elliottdp]

Possible oversight that NO ONE has solved yet??!!!!

I expected the Blu-ray camp to win out, however, what will happen to HUGELY popular movie series that are still being filmed???

Such as Harry Potter??? Released on HD DVD for the first 4 movies, but for the rest to be on Blu-ray.

Does anyone DEFINITIVELY know if they will re-release the first 4 on Blu-Ray???

And don't you people just type in "They'll have to!" if you don't know. PROOF!!!! Please site any articles you've read. I haven't been able to find any info.

[Dr. Planarian]

Interesting Question

I have all of the Harry Potter movies on Blu-Ray already. I must not understand the question.

A better question might be whether the movie studios will permit swap-outs, free or at nominal cost, of HD-DVDs for Blu-Rays. I have heard rumors to that effect. I have both formats in my home theater system, and I would certainly swap out the now obsolete HD-DVDs for Blu-Rays in anticipation of the day when my HD-DVD player breaks down and cannot be replaced.

[johnnyZzz]

They'll have to!

They'll have to!

[MattG75]

Check again

Harry Potter is already out on BluRay - I could have bought the boxed set but didn't have the extra cash. I'll just wait on replacing my DVD copies.

Matrix was already planned in BR as was Batman Begins. NBC Universal and Paramount were rumored to be making plans for this eventuality, including re-releasing already released product. Paramount actually had some films like Transformers just held back.

[st430]

suckers

suckers that bought HD DVD will have to buy BD again.

[McPlot]

Blu-Ray is dead! Thank you Toshiba.

Well, there goes the chance of ever having sub $100 players. Blu-Ray movies will go up in price. Sony wanted new movies to be $40-$45. But they had to compete with HD DVD pricing of $30 ($35 for those dual formattted ones). We all got screwed. You PS3 fanboys are cheering, until you see the cost of movies go up, the price of players stay where they are or go up too. Look how well Sony did with LaserDisc. No compentition meant they never lowered pricing. I do not see $ony doing anything but the same thing with Blu-Ray. This will ensure that the format will not be widely adapted. Most people will stick with their DVD's and upscalling DVD players. By the way, HD DVD players do a much better job of upscalling then normal upscalling DVD players. So you may want to pick one up just for that.

[sommer182]

Not likely to happen...

Well, Sony and their party (Sharp, Samsung, etc.) aren't likely to drastically cut prices until the holidays now, but I don't think they will RAISE prices. Even they know the backlash and negative press a price hike would cost. Sadly you are correct, however, in that Blu-Ray will probably never hit the $100 price point that signals mass market adoptation. I was kind of hoping Toshiba would say YES, we are going to be building a Blu-Ray machine soon and it will cost $150.00 or less, just to spite Sony. Oh well, next price cut for PS3 maybe I'll jump on one. Until then, I'm watching for clearance deals on a spare HD-DVD player and every combo format HD movie I can buy!

[MattG75]

Are you crazy or just uninformed?

Comparing this to LaserDisc...WOW.

first off, LaserDisc was made by Pioneer, not Sony. It never had the broad support of the studios, and the production costs never came down. I suggest before you compare the two formats you do a little bit of research instead of talking out of your ass.

And no matter how much Sony wants to "control" pricing, it won't matter. Discs are on sale regulary (I picked up The Departed for $20 yesterday), and companies like Funai will be driving the price of the equipment even lower, as their first machine will start out at $299.

[st430]

upscaling?

price will come down when more movies are on BD and more players sold.
feb is just after christmas, so price went back to normal ...
electronics price always comes down when getting more popular. there had never been a exception.
don't post stupid stuff just to scare people.
you bought a dead weight HD DVD add-on. get a
doctor...get over it.

upscaling better on HD then BD? what upscaling?
from DVD? each machine brand use it's own formula . nothing to do with HD to BD , you moron.
When toshiba comes out with BD player...they will use the same upscale chip. don't be stupid.

price won't go up for one reason.
BD has to beat regular DVD.

[DigitalBullet36]

BluRay wins by TKO!

Hopefully this will lead to Transformers being reproduced in bluray format.

[Migraine]

Blue Ray will cost way to much Green!

I agree with you That Sony will jack up the price of disks and players after HD is Gone making it way to much for every Day users.

I don't Feel Blue Ray will take off big we will need something new that's not owned buy one company.

[ralfthedog]

Sony wants 100% market penetration.

Short term, they may move some of their products closer to cost, Long term, they will get more aggressive on pricing. Look to see prices drop as fast or faster.

[st430]

you hiding in a cave?

HD DVD only sold 1 million stand alone machines
(including 300,000 xbox add ons)
Playstation 3 has alread sold 10 million machines
and expect to sold another 10 million this year..
especially HD DVD is dead now!
will 10 million machines at least that can play blue ray disc, you think it's not going to sell well? you can get it from walmart, netlfix, blockbuster, bestbuy in volume.
even amazon's movie price are going down.
player price is going down too.
I am pretty sure there is going to be another ps3 price cut soon before christmas this year.
And xbox, it's going to have a BD add-on really soon and so is toshiba... they might exit hd dvd..but they still need a hd player to compete.
with all movie studio switching, I don't see why players won't fly off the shelf faster.
and you forgot, 2009 is switching to digital boardcast...a lot of suckers is going to buy hdtv.

[www.hdgreetings.com]

Now I just want affordable discs

Even the current $300 is not terrible for a player, I can live with that until it comes down over time.

But the price of movies is crezy.

It's like when music CD's actually became cheaper for companies to product than records yet CD's were still more expensive.

Also I don't want to steal movies anyway, but I predict the pirating will be less once BluRay is cracked because what's the point of taking a perfect looking movie and making it look like a 650MB divx special?

[venkata4]

Now no compitetion and a possible Blu ray root kits

I liked the competition the idea of HD DVDs region free and all.

Now it is only single producer, maker & player. No BD 2.0 compatible ( at least a BD format compatibly came by) players yet, and may be I should get ready for a BD root kits in the future.

[Matthew Hurst]

History show prices will go down, not up.

The widespread acceptance of VHS lead to cheap VCR decks and
tapes. The widespread acceptance of DVD lead to cheap players
and discs. Why would you think that now once the HD Disc
format is unified you won't see a lowering in price? Historically
you statement makes no sense. Manufacturing cost all areas
will go down. There will certainly be competition in the area of
players as almost all electronic manufacturers will now be
making Blu-ray discs and there will be competition in content as
now all studios will be releasing in Blu-ray. The lack of a
unified HD Disc format the past two years has lead to lack of
consumer confidence and a postponement of widespread
acceptance which has equalled higher prices.