HD DVD Looses To Blu-Ray, Toshiba Quits


by Jan Feb 20, 2008 fileunderFound in Electronics


TOKYO — The biggest consumer electronic format war in a generation is officially over.

Toshiba, the Japanese electronics giant, threw in the towel on its HD DVD technology Tuesday, announcing that it would no longer develop, produce or market disc players for the format. In doing so, it ceded victory to Sony’s competing Blu-ray format, which now looks set to become the global standard for high-definition DVDs.

Source: NYTimes
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2 comments

1.  avatar brandonink2001  Feb 20, 2008 12:01pm

I bought HD DVD even despite knowing it was likely going to lose the format war. For me, $400 for a BluRay player is outrageous, and I am not a gamer, so that was small motivation to invest in a PS3.

Basically, after incentives, sales and free movie offers, I spent less on the HD DVD player than I would have on a basic upconverting SD DVD player. Once BluRay becomes reasonably priced and the titles available expand more, I will dole out the money for that format.

I am glad the "war" is over, to be honest, not that it was ever much of a war. Now I look forward to more competitors entering the BluRay hardware supply side so those prices can start to fall.
2.  avatar Omar  Feb 20, 2008 1:03pm

I do think that the PS3 is the best Blu Ray player as it is essentially future proof and you don't have to worry about profile 1, 1.1, etc. Furthermore, it's also an excellent media streaming device, AND obviously plays PS3 games.

As for the war itself, I've been saying it for a while, but I still believe that digital distribution will be the next clear winner. You'll see a lot of hype about Blu-ray sales surging and such over the next few months, but I don't think you'll ever see mainstream adoption. And DVD will be the last mainstream disc format.
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