HD DVD is dead...

[A121]

sony finally wins the format war?


http://gizmodo.com/357957/toshiba-kills-hd-dvd-official

Toshiba Announces Discontinuation of HD DVD Businesses

19 February, 2008

Company Remains Focused on Championing Consumer Access to High Definition Content

TOKYO--Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.

HD DVD was developed to offer consumers access at an affordable price to high-quality, high definition content and prepare them for the digital convergence of tomorrow where the fusion of consumer electronics and IT will continue to progress.

"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality."

Toshiba will continue to lead innovation, in a wide range of technologies that will drive mass market access to high definition content. These include high capacity NAND flash memory, small form factor hard disk drives, next generation CPUs, visual processing, and wireless and encryption technologies. The company expects to make forthcoming announcements around strategic progress in these convergence technologies.

Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements. The company will continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives within the overall PC business relative to future market demand.

This decision will not impact on Toshiba's commitment to standard DVD, and the company will continue to market conventional DVD players and recorders. Toshiba intends to continue to contribute to the development of the DVD industry, as a member of the DVD Forum, an international organization with some 200 member companies, committed to the discussion and defining of optimum optical disc formats for the consumer and the related industries.

Toshiba also intends to maintain collaborative relations with the companies who joined with Toshiba in working to build up the HD DVD market, including Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, and DreamWorks Animation and major Japanese and European content providers on the entertainment side, as well as leaders in the IT industry, including Microsoft, Intel, and HP. Toshiba will study possible collaboration with these companies for future business opportunities, utilizing the many assets generated through the development of HD DVD.

[xpac]

and so, the war is over....................

[mhelskie]

tsk tsk, is it time to get a PS3? Blu ray disc player and game console in 1

[boybi]

It's expected. With Sony Corp. owning a few of the Hollywood's biggest production companies, and with the hottest selling console player, Blu-Ray definitely gets the bigger share of the high-definition pie.

[Monseratto]

Dami na paso sa war na yun. May mga members sa PinoyDVD na naka collect ng 100+ HD DVD titles. Pag nasira yung player, magiging 100+ coasters na lang kasi wala ng mabili na kapalit.

Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008.

Blu-ray is not Sony. The biggest portion of the blu ray royalty pie goes to Panasonic. Sony is only the spokeperson for the association of blu ray companies, BDA.

[Radical!]

Personally, I can't tell the difference between the two formants.

Sony won 'the battle of content' and is posed to win the war.

[Camgen6]

Dami na paso sa war na yun. May mga members sa PinoyDVD na naka collect ng 100+ HD DVD titles. Pag nasira yung player, magiging 100+ coasters na lang kasi wala ng mabili na kapalit.

Tsk tsk tsk

[darksword_08]

ayos yan para magmura na yan at makabili na tayo ng burner nyan.... imagine 32GB sa single disc mawawalan na ko ng problem backuping files

[pup2]

ayos yan para magmura na yan at makabili na tayo ng burner nyan.... imagine 32GB sa single disc mawawalan na ko ng problem backuping files

I'm sure palalakihin naman nila ang files ... hahaha. Parang windows.Anyhow, when Blu-ray comes around, mamatay na din kaya ang VCD sa atin?

[HIFI]

A pity....

Personally, I prefer the HD DVD. I believe that HD DVD has several technogical advantages over the BlueRay format.

Toshiba was out-manuevered, out-smarted, out-sold, and obviously...out-of-luck.