Microsoft says end of HD DVD won't hurt Xbox 360

Toshiba reportedly plans to announce exit from the HD DVD business on Tuesday; Redmond says such a move would not have "any material impact" on the game console.

The story "Microsoft says end of HD DVD won't hurt Xbox 360" published February 18, 2008 at 4:49 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

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[t8]

Microsoft's quote

"'We do not believe the recent reports about HD DVD will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace,' the company said."<br /><br />How does that help those who have bought Microsoft's defunct technology? Oh that's right, they will have to buy a new Blue Ray DVD plug in drive.<br /><br />Microsoft maybe cheaper than the PS3, but you end up paying more for cheap. As the saying goes, no one regrets buying quality.<br /><br />I am glad that I never bought an Xbox with HD DVD drive. What a waste that would have been.

[timber2005]

Alternate Ending

But think what if HD DVD wasn't dead and it was Blu-Ray... then what to the 7 million (nexgenconsole.com figure) PS3 owners?<br />Doubt there is anywhere near that amount of HD DVD addons for the 360. Its ok. People who bought it knew the risk, but its not like tomorrow its a paper weight. They still have discs that won't need replacing until they have them in Blu-Ray. Recall that some of those movies came out only in HD DVD.

[Maclover1]

It was

an add on. No version of the 360 came with HD-DVD as part of the package.<br /><br />The 360 was always cheaper than the PS3 because of the inclusion of BR.

[t8]

Sony to make money on Xbox

More bad news for Microsoft. Now they have to deal with Sony for Blue Ray DVD capability. How ironic. Sony may end up making money on every Xbox sold with Blue Ray.

[Maclover1]

I doubt MS

will come out with a BR option. They will probably try to push their Live on-demand movies.<br /><br />BR next battle is with on-demand providers. Cable companies, BlockBuster, Netflix, Xbox Live and Apple TV. Every TV can use these options, but only HD TV's can really use a BR player. Heck only second generation HD TV's have 1080p. From 2001? Until about 2006 all HD sets were 720p/1080i...which cant use BR to its max resolution.<br /><br />BR will make money but I can see on-demand cutting into its possible success.

[tom.clarke]

Sony don't own Blu Ray

Sony don't own Blu Ray - it's not their format (though I'm sure they'd be pleased to hear that people think it is). There are 17 other members of the Blu-Ray Disc Association and many of them would stand to gain more than Sony should MSFT put BD into xbox.<br /><br />Anyway, it's kind of a moot point because I don't reckin MSFT will be putting BD into xbox at all. It would be a major climbdown if they did.

[Gasaraki]

Ok

It's ironic that Microsoft will make money off of Sony because Sony computers use the Windows OS...<br /><br />Companies use each other technologies all the time.

[The j0ker]

Sony is AWESOME!!!

The happier Sony is, the better my PS3 lol.<br /><br />And for those of you who hate Sony, ur all poor and can't afford Sony products. :)

[t8]

Why doesn't Toshiba open source HD DVD?

Rather than throw away the technology, can Toshiba open source this tech?

[timber2005]

Physical Media

Even if we (the people) could see the code and change it, we won't be able to obtain burnable media or drives shortly.

[hammc]

That makes too much sense

I would say that Toshiba's partners would never go for that. What kind of digital video formats are open source at current time?

[TomboSlicko]

Sony is a Monopoly

Just goes to show you that Sony needs to be broken up and we in the USA need to file a lawsuit against Sony. Microsoft needs help.

[NM_Bill]

It takes gall to talk this talk.

Does TomboSlicko live in some parallel universe?

[Pixelslave]

Microsoft helped kill HD-DVD

IMO, Microsoft helped kill HD-DVD. It never seems to have full confidence on the success of the format. The fact that it didn't include the HD-DVD drive with the Xbox 360 is clearly one of the many reasons why HD-DVD failed -- remember that Xbox 360, up to this point, still outsell PS3. If every Xbox 360 comes with a HD-DVD, the battlefield b/w Blu-Ray and HD-DVD will definitely be different today.

[law_hog]

Right, but...

If Xbox360 came with an HD-DVD drive, it would be at least $100 more expensive, and they wouldn't have sold nearly as many as they have.<br /><br />Make no mistake, MS are out to sell MS gear, and don't care a Monkey's chuff about formats apart from their own. Xbox Live is their deal. That's what they see as the evolution of Xbox. HD-DVD is someone else's problem.

[John largent]

HD is alive!!!!!!

Everybody knows that HD is going to win Warner Bros and Fox <br />don't make better movies than Paramount or Dreamworks put <br />together with all these awsome titles coming out for HD DVD, HD <br />will surely win this battle. Its really sad that those smaller <br />companies like Toshiba backed out that was just bad <br />management.Besides there are slot of good companies backing <br />HD DVD MS,Paramount ,Dreamworks, the list goes on there is <br />no competition HD has the better formats

[X-C3PO]

Not true, I think

I think, if the Xbox360 ship out with the HD-DVD, then the cost may high as the PS3, so the xbox360 may also sell $599, then the customers maybe choose to buy the PS3.

[Maclover1]

Ummm yeah

because they are going to say...<br /><br />"Well for those users still waiting make a purchase of a next GEN gaming consoles, the PS3 come standard with the next gen DVD format and ours comes with a RROD".

[WJeansonne]

NetFlix on Vista is Awesome

You are right. On-demand is going to overshadow demand for Blu-ray if what's beginning to appear takes hold. NetFlix's Watch Instantly features works flawlessly through my IE 7 Web browser. Now all NetFlix has to do is port that puppy to Windows Media Center and/or Xbox and the rest is history!

[t8]

Puppy?

Puppies grow up to be dogs.

[celticbrewer]

No On-Demand

- "On-demand is going to overshadow demand for Blu-ray"<br /><br />I doubt that. Seeing as a VERY small percentage of people have broadband. I do, and I still wouldn't want to download a movie (assuming the audio and video quality are Hi Def). And what about companies like Comcast that are throttling certain bandwidth? Imagine if everyone started downloading hidef movies all the time and the hissy fit the ISPs would throw for their piece of the pie. On-demand will overshadow bluray in about 10 years.

[jrm125]

I use it in Firefox

Download a plug-in called IETab and you can use Netflix inside Firefox. W00t!<br /><br />And on-demand won't be taking over Blu-ray any time soon, no matter how much you want it too. The quality isn't comparable.

[PFreak]

What year is it where you live?

HD downloads of movies are so far in the future they can't <br />compete with BR. The vast majority of this country doesn't even <br />have high-speed internet, which is still far to slow to download <br />an HD movie anyway. And where would you Xbox 360 Arcade <br />owners store said movie with no hard drive? Just because you <br />can download a 4 minute song on iTunes doesn't mean the <br />infrastructure is anywhere close to being able to offer HD <br />downloads. You're looking at least 10 - 20 years down the road. <br />Will the Xbox 360 be around then?

[Groucho6]

When they say.......

"We do not believe the recent reports about HD DVD will have any <br />material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the <br />marketplace," the company said. <br /><br />Translation:<br />"We weren't selling any add-on HD-DVD players anyway, so who <br />cares?"

[Penguinisto]

Xbox is already hurting.

See for yourself:<br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://vgchartz.com/hwtable.php?cons%5B%5D=Wii&#38;cons%5B%5D=PS3&#38;cons%5B%5D=X360&#38;reg%5B%5D=Total&#38;start=39446&#38;end=39495" target="_newWindow">http://vgchartz.com/hwtable.php?cons%5B%5D=Wii&#38;cons%5B%5D=PS3&#38;cons%5B%5D=X360&#38;reg%5B%5D=Total&#38;start=39446&#38;end=39495</a><br /><br />...xbox is currently #3 globally behind PS3 and Wii, and it's dropping. <br /><br />/P

[Vegaman_Dan]

It's the #1 reason Microsoft is bankrupt today

Or at least in your dreams this would be true.<br /><br />Yes, they are #3. Apple isn't even that computer sales. Your point? Does this mean that by your very logic that Apple is a failure? Somehow I doubt you would say that, but it does show that your attempt to spin the facts can be done with anything.<br /><br />The PS3 is on top not because of game selection (it has the poorest selection of all three), choice of gamers (again poorest of all three) but because it has that Blu-Ray player. Now take that player and add it to the Wii or 360 and see what happens.<br /><br />I think you'll be singing a different tune at that point

[BrokenRecord]

Xbox is #2, PS3 is #3

The link you provided only shows sales from the past month...which is nice and all, but just cherry picks data to support your statement. If you use that same site for an analysis from December 06 (first holiday season for all 3 systems) up to this point, Xbox is ahead of PS3.<br /><br />Not only that, but Xbox has a MUCH larger game attachment for their system, something like 7 or 8 games per system sold, which is huge. And remember, Microsoft and Sony lose money on every system they sell since it's more expensive to manufacture them then what they retail for. So they only make their money back with software titles and licensing...and PS3 is the leagues behind Wii and Xbox in quality games. In fact, the only real way they can make money is from the Blu-Ray player. And I don't know one person yet out of my 50 or so tech friends that has bought into Blu-Ray or PS3. On-Demand/Interney HD movies &gt; Blu-Ray.

[JCPayne]

Another Microsoft backed technology bytes the dust.

.... NEXT!!!!

[NM_Bill]

Techno-babble PR from Microsoft.

Meaningless avoidance in denial nonsense.

[phatfatd]

i agree with microsoft

juat because hd dvd is out doesnt mean the end there cant be anymore xbox they can change to blue-ray just like the original xbox and the ps2 both used dvd format