Comments on: R.I.P. HD DVD: Toshiba reportedly ends the war

Toshiba plans to withdraw from HD DVD production, according to a report on Japan's NHK. This follows announcements by Netflix, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart to favor Blu-ray Disc format.

[donwright]

"yourright" and thank you

That is exactly what I was referring to in my post. As far as the 37 inch TV comment, that was brandonh33.

The only 1080p sources out right now are movies (BD/HD-DVD) and current gen video game consoles. 720p and 1080i are your only other options for cable/satellite tv sources.

But yeah... If you still have a 720p or 1080i plasma (my preference) or LCD, you are fine! It will be sometime before there are actual 1080p sources that you use on a regular basis (like watching actual television). And again, you would have to have a pretty big tv screen (50"+) to truly appreciate it for its intent and purposes.

Anything else you hear is pretty much just voluntary ignorant tecno-hype from some corporate marketing agency and hardcore fanboys of said company.

If you can read this, just do a little research on your own..Google is your friend. Try to avoid using the 'geek squads' or others for information if you can, they are there to sell you a product, not information.

Just google 1080p vs 720p, or other questions you have about technology before making a purchase. You'll be glad you did.

[ianim8]

I remember....

..when it was just over a year ago. I was looking for a lcd/plasma for my PS3 when (mis-informed) staff at local Futureshop was hell bent on HD-DVD being the winning flatform. no one was really sure then who the clear winner would be, but their tactics were based on p*rn and naming (HD-DVD has DVD in it) conventions. this was a personal battle for some but in the end Im sure were all glad that itll be over with soon. now of course were going to have some harsh feedback with words such as digital downloads. now you bring up p*rn. but last I heard, most of that is free anyway. so yes I welcome free digital downloads of HD 1080i/p quality movies :)

[belawrence]

more 720p vs 1080p hype

[belawrence]

more 720p vs 1080p hype

*edit*(a very popular "home theater magazine") debunked this a while ago. Even on displays larger than 50 inches if you're sitting the proper distance away from your display you still shouldn't be able to tell the difference between 720p & 1080p. In fact they recently compared a bunch of different displays and their hands-down winner was a native 768p plasma.

[Mikeybabes]

Unsupported Discs - I TOLD YOU SO

A few months ago when I posted a comment that HD-DVD owners could be faced with a situation where they have a load of discs that they would eventually not be able to play a number of posters thought I was talking rubbish. Well HD-DVD owners, you have essentially a 1st-gen HD-DVD player that might make it through a year or 2. I mean, are you still using the same DVD player from when DVDs first came out?
If Toshiba withdraws from the market, as is looking more and more likely I doubt that they (and their supporting manufacturers) would be charitable enough to say they are going to provide warranty on all HD-DVD players for the life of their discs. Quite likely they are going to be cutting their losses, which by current estimates is going to be significant. I said it before and I will say it again, HD-DVDs that were tempted to take this route by the Toshiba loss leader price cuts are going to be up the creek without a paddle, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually.

[fmarasco]

resolution

What is point this argument. There is a difference between 1080p and 720p but you do need a tv larger than 50 inches to notice it. Try a projector and the difference is clear.
But what does that have to do with hd-dvd or bluray? These are options for getting far better resolution than dvd- 480. And those differences are huge on almost any size tv.

[Wes#1]

Universal and Paramount left hanging...

as Toshiba runs out the door before them! Astounding!

Now let's hope the masses on the fence will see that it's time to join the HD drive with this format war over. Want to guess how long regular DVD lasts?

[sommer182]

DVD will last until everyone has boardband

DVD won't die anytime soon. The only way it will fall off the shelves is if people stop making the media, no one rents it, you can't buy a machine, etc. It is simply too good of a profit center for most studios, which is another problem with this "format war." The real format war should be high def DVD video versus standard def DVD video. Until you get DVD off the shelves, 90% of the population is going to keep buying them simply due to PRICE.

[justdenny]

Every DVD player I've ever bought still works...

[justdenny]

Every DVD player I've ever bought still works...

and I assume my HD DVD player will be working long from now as well, first-gen or not. Of course, a first gen HD DVD player is still far ahead of any Blu Ray 2.0 player technologically speaking, or so the majority of review sites say. I'm sure the Blu fanboys will say otherwise, but it looks great to me.

[agentbb007]

Oh well I have both

Oh well I've got the xbox 360 HD DVD drive and a PS3 so I got both bases covered. But I really wanted HD DVD to win :(

[tbbt73]

I also want HD DVD to win

HD DVD is the best choice. It is a combo DVD player. I think that if there is a fair competition, HD DVD will win. I think Sony wins based on relationship.

[botlawyer]

It was also a question of branding

Even though both politics and the underlying technology played a role in the outcome here, the choice of "HD DVD" as a brand was abysmal. How much easier to the ear does "Blu-Ray" sound?

This is just marketing 101 stuff. And yet I wonder if the head of marketing for Toshiba will lose his/her job? You can bet that the product manager(s) will, though.

[sommer182]

Blu-Ray will have short lifespan anyway.

In the end it probably doesn't matter who won this war. VHS was around as the dominant format for what, 25 years? DVD didn't become a bigger seller until 2003, and now the tech companies expect us to purchase ALL NEW EQUIPMENT AND DISCS only five years later? The future doesn't look much better for us consumers. Technology continues to evolve at a fast pace, which is good for us geeks like myself who want the newest and the best, no matter what the spouse says. Blu-Ray will have less time to live than DVD did, IF IT CAN EVEN CATCH THE NUMBERS DVD HAVE SUPPORTED. High Def DVD format has a long way to go--no portable players, no players available for under $100 bucks (the price point before it will be viewed as needed by most people) and movies that cost WAY to much. And it will be five years or less before something better comes along and we all are forced to shell out money all over again for the same movies we have purchased six times in the past 20 years!

Whoever said their first DVD player still works is correct. I've purchased six DVD players in the past 8 years, the first being a Pioneer machine that still looks GREAT on my old 480i JVC-tube TV. My Playstation 2, portable Panasonic, the RCA HDMI upcoventer in the basement, the HD-DVD A2 and Panasonic DVD Recorder in the living room, and even the CHEAP Coby machine we have in the beadroom all work GREAT. I expect my consumer electronics items to last ten years or more, and so far, so good on all of them.

[labazzo]

How long now until Blue-

[labazzo]

Rwgular DVD format is here for a while

Blue-Ray will not become the only format for quite some time. most people can't even afford a HD TV. So untile they stop make DVD I will not be buyng any HD players.

[grmertz]

Sony is now free to stick-it to the consumer

I have looked at all the technology I have purchased, audio,video,computer,mp3,home automation,home theater,car audio and only found a Sony DL DVD drive in my one computer. So it would seem that over the years Sony has been high priced and not a good value. The same will be said for bluray, it will be to high priced for people to jump on the band wagon.

[planblove]

The format is dead now, let it go people..

I didn't have a preference but I didn't care which format won. I stayed out of this war up until last year when Walmart had $100 hd-dvd players. At that price I didn't care and it was worth it. I didn't but any movies, I rented them all so no money lost there. Now, it'll just be a good upconversion player which I don't mind. And the price of Blu Ray is not gonna go up just because it won. Thats just idiotic to believe that. I think the most pissed off people are the ones who invested heavily into it thinking hd-dvd would win. The smartest thing Sony did for Blu ray was including it in the PS3. The dumbest thing Microsoft did was not include the HD dvd player in the xbox 360. I think that will always be what the biggest backbreaker was for the format.

[JonTitor]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywWfmRdOmJ0

[tessant]

technology

social network!!!

http://growthportfolio.ning.com/

[pubmat]

I wanted Toshiba to win this one

I HATE SONY and their mass market, "lifestyle" oriented dreck. I so wanted
Toshiba to kick their butts, that I would have contributed my own money if it
might have helped. And even though the storage space of an HD DVD was
PLENTY big enough, Phony Sony had a better product, (I guess) or at least a
better MARKETED product. Another reason to despise sony.

[giannig]

Marketing IS IMPORTANT

If you had any common business sense, you would know if you want your product to be known you would have to market it and advertise it. Toshiba and HD DVD had done a very poor job with this. Over all it was a very poor job from the confusing branding to the advertising. As someone who works in a top 5 global ad agency, I know the importance of this.

[ianim8]

dont worry be happy...

so much hate friend :) try taking a deep breath before typing. itll do you good ;)

[s1apnutz]

Does it really matter?

My guess is that no matter who won this war, we will be downloading our HD media direct to a hard drive somewhere in the not too distant future if iTunes is any indicator. I'm still not going to waste my time or money buying up Blu-Ray. I imagine that the second the bandwidth is there, we'll be able to download the movie for cheap and extra bonus features at an added cost a la carte. When that gets here is anyone's guess, but Blu-Ray is only a transient technology in my opinion.

[BCF1968]

yes it does matter

50% of Americans either have no internet or only have dial-up. They aren't downloading anything.

HD downloads are rentals only. Which is fine if you only like to rent. I do. But many people would like to OWN their media. Even once the studios let you download to own you know there will be all kinds of restrictions placed on it to make it impractical or impossible to have it be portable like a disc is.

Blu-ray is 1080p with a bitrate of 40 Mbps. Itunes HD is 720p with a bitrate of 4 Mbps. Hell even regular DVD has a bitrate of 8 mbps. To say that an Itunes "HD" download is the same thing as blu-ray is to be very ignorant. Xbox Live HD downloads are also 720p and have a bitrate of 6 Mbps. And you can only store them on a Xbox.

HD downloading has a LONG ways to go and so does broadband penetration in the US. Until those two things improve greatly, physical media is going to be with us for quite awhile.

[pubmat]

Possibly,but.....

I still think that people like having a hard copy of a video, cd, etc when "owning"
it, so there will still be a place for dvd's regardless if you can download them or
not.

[giannig]

I totally agree

I 100% agree with you on this in regards to actually owning a movie that is
physical media.