Rumor: Toshiba Dropping HD DVD, Ending Format War
Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:18PM EST
See Comments (58)
Sources say the fat lady has sung: Toshiba will be killing off the HD DVD format in a matter of weeks, after retailers' decisions to stop carrying hardware and software using the format have left it with no other choice.
For the record, Toshiba officially states that no decision has been made, but that the company is "studying the market impact and the value proposition for consumers" of HD DVD.
But the writing is pretty clearly on the wall. Since the beginning of 2008, Blu-ray discs have outsold HD DVD discs at a rate of 3 to 1. With more and more retailers opting not to stock HD DVD equipment and movies, there's just no way that number is going to go up. (Even the HD DVD fire sale and a $2.7 million Super Bowl ad don't seem to be helping.) While previous analysts have guessed that HD DVD would survive through the holiday season of 2008, it looks like Toshiba is ready to call it quits and move on to greener pastures. It's said the company now loses several hundred dollars on each HD DVD player sold.
The only real question remaining is how soon the announcement could come, and what the remaining backers of HD DVD will do when it does. How quickly will Paramount and Universal be able to switch production from HD DVD to Blu-ray? And what will Microsoft, a longtime HD DVD supporter, do? Fodder a-plenty for future blog posts, I'm sure.
Meanwhile, I'm happy to kick off the official date of death pool for HD DVD right here. My guess: March 7. (Why? Toshiba's fiscal year ends on March 31, and it will want to take the huge writeoff it has coming before the end of the year. March 7 gives it enough time to set things up for a rebound in 2008... probably making Blu-ray equipment and eating humble pie.)
Post your death date prediction in the comments section below. Winner gets bragging rights until Sony jacks Blu-ray prices up an extra 20 percent in celebration of its big win. Yay!
(Update: Wal-Mart announced it's going Blu-only today, too. Come on, Toshiba!)
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27 Posted by odatrobert on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:43PM EDT Report Abuse
This might sound like a question that has been asked before..... however...... if it seems their is so much demand for this new, very expensive format, why can't the companies like Sony, etc. make a combination machine? I have 2 perfectly good DVD's an I see no reason to go out and spend hundreds of dollars for something I really don't want or need. If I have to change, I'll wait until the price is down where the DVD's are now, and by then their will be something new to replace it. Until then, we will just watch TBS and the Learning Channel.
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28 Posted by vansuper1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:31PM EDT Report Abuse
There are a lot of nice comments. Let's end this and accept the fact that HD DVD is already dying. The manufacturer of HDDVD already have an admission, so be it.They know better, what the consumer (majority) wants no matter is the reasons behind. I got my BR at costco with an instant rebate with 5 movies free. Then I bought the HD DVD player but after a week was returned. It does not even upscale it to 1080p which is the only reason to keep it coz the HDMI is included ($129.00)
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29 Posted by j.m6317 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:26PM EDT Report Abuse
I agreed with you azheelshock, also a HD-DVD supporter. If this does happen, those hd movies will hit low prices and i would also build my collection. I have no plans in buying a blu-ray any time soon. $400 for the cheapest player. Give me a break. Dvd will still be here for a good 5 years. maybe then ill buy a blu-ray. ----------------------------------------------- I am Christina, a beautiful woman from us. i am just at the begining of my career and want to seek a man for support...where should i start?? maybe here.. i also uploaded my hot photos on the famous service http://MeetSTD.com under the name sexychristina4u, maybe you want to check out my photos!
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30 Posted by read_alexander on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:33PM EDT Report Abuse
Who cares about HD-DVD or Blue-ray? It was a futile war from the beginning! The future is Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD) to hit the stores by 2010.
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31 Posted by hcya001 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:17PM EDT Report Abuse
WAR WAR WAR, need keeping on battle,,cause it would down the price and the benefit will be to consumers...China market is still in a blank for the high tech..hmmmmm....nice play!!
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32 Posted by mustang_xmod_fast on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:30PM EDT Report Abuse
I say hold on people are just testing their waters with blu-ray. it is ahead of it's time when they made the ps3 they rushed blu-ray to get it out to take a hit on microsoft.
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33 Posted by jarmow on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:28PM EDT Report Abuse
the fat lady sung at CES last month. what? you didn't read your own blogs on the studios announcing that they were dropping HD DVD for Blu Ray? this was big news and it seems everyone had their head stuck in the sand or some other dark place and missed it.
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34 Posted by silque1964 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:23PM EDT Report Abuse
If blu-rays are now the beta thing and standard dvds and HD dissapear . what do I do with the 2000 standard dvds that I have in my library and the 3 dvd recorder and players I have ? I haven't yet started the HD-DVD thing yet but was ready to .whats next ? now you have to buy a blue-ray tv to play them on and the new 50inch HD TV you just got for xmas is now obsolete . I guess they are forcing me to downlosd all my movies now and doing the copy no-no . they need to leave this alone and have both and let everyone pick what they want !!
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35 Posted by tjkenny13 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:12PM EDT Report Abuse
In 2004, my son an M.D. bought his mother (and me sorta)a Tosiba HD TV, 42", Pic-in-Pic, bells/whistles--Oh yeah! It was a darned good TV for 3 years. Then, we had the picture pixels start to "do the rhumba" by closing simultaneously from top to bottom--at first for 7 mins--then 10min- etc. until in Jan. 08--36 mins. However, after these girations were over, TV would act normally w/o a hitch. BEST BUY was resaler. We bought INSUrANCE. Private tech (Geeks to over after Dec. 31, 2007) came out twice to try to fix the problems..first with one component, then a second) and said he was working with a Toshiba REP FIXIT man. No DEAL. Nothing fixed it. Go back to insurance company and get REPLACEMENT (not Best Buy which I thought curious). Well, the BEST BUT rep who sold my son the TV absolutely stated that THIS TOSHIBA TV, if it crapped out, would be replaced by BEST BUY!!! After some initial cursing and threatning, I was told that BEST BUY would act for the insurance company, and that I wouldn't have to contact the insurance company first. Actually, I thought I bought the insurance from BEST BUY. I trusted, but did not VERIFY!!! At first the BEST BUY sales rep tried to palm an INSIGNIA 42" plasma off as a replacement. That's the 'best' BEST BUY could do. Being a COLD WAR veteran who served in the 11th ABN DIV going into the FULDA GAP if need arose in 55-56, and being quite expendable, I decided to "take no prisoners" at BEST BUY. For the 50th time since 1960, at least, my wife and I were at the point of DIVORCE. Eventually, BEST BUY reoffered the next Monday when the original sales rep was absent from duties. We got a SAMSUNG 42' plasma replacement. My wife was with me so that I would not BREAK BAD and start tearing BEST BUY store up! YES, you guessed it; the insurance contract was totally worthless--but we did not get a replacement TV as good as the many featured TOSHIBA. When BEST BUY printed the exchange sales slip out, BB made sure that the SAMSUNG had the ORIGINAL TOSHIBA price on the exchange ticket. The transaction cost me a little over $400 because I bought a new insurance contract and an $89 cable when the GEEK STORE installer came out to hook the SAMSUNG up. Oh Yeah, my wife and I came down from DEFCON 4 only after she learned my youngest daughter's ARAB husband was going under stints for closed arteries. After 84" of snow in Madison, WI this winter, the TV fiasco, my son-in-law's health trauma, BUSH, McClain, Obama, Huckabee, and that fellow from NYC, I definitely am ready for a 2 week R & R on Gertie Strasse in downtown Munich. I would try my best to float down the Danube, trying to beat the Orient Express to the Black Sea port of Savastopol!!! I would wish the Danube would suddenly turn into LOWENBRAU, and that I'd arrive DEAD DRUNK at the port at about the same time as the EXPRESS!
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36 Posted by skspartan117 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:26PM EDT Report Abuse
Well first off, blue-ray players can also play regular dvd's, so it's not like regular dvd's are going to be useless... And in my opinion i think blue-ray won the hd/blue-ray battle with the ps3, and this is why.... there was a HUGE craze for the ps3, so of course parents buy it for the p.o.s. ungrateful kids... and then suddenly here comes the commercials for blue ray and hd... then the parents learn, hey, we already have a blue-ray player in the ps3. instead of going out and having to by ANOTHER player, they have it there in the ps3... just my opinion on that. no, it's not ahead of it's time, with the 720 and 1080 television coming out, might as well as use them for what they were meant for, i have watched both regular and blue-ray movies on mine, and there is a HUGE DIFFERENCE the the quality... so it's a no brainer for me...doesn't help that i like technology as well.
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37 Posted by skspartan117 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:26PM EDT Report Abuse
Well first off, blue-ray players can also play regular dvd's, so it's not like regular dvd's are going to be useless... And in my opinion i think blue-ray won the hd/blue-ray battle with the ps3, and this is why.... there was a HUGE craze for the ps3, so of course parents buy it for the p.o.s. ungrateful kids... and then suddenly here comes the commercials for blue ray and hd... then the parents learn, hey, we already have a blue-ray player in the ps3. instead of going out and having to by ANOTHER player, they have it there in the ps3... just my opinion on that. no, it's not ahead of it's time, with the 720 and 1080 television coming out, might as well as use them for what they were meant for, i have watched both regular and blue-ray movies on mine, and there is a HUGE DIFFERENCE the the quality... so it's a no brainer for me...doesn't help that i like technology as well.
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38 Posted by davidnemon on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:38PM EDT Report Abuse
I feel with the ability to download Movied in High Definition directly through Cable, The Xbox 360 and the internet the days of going out and buying a physical disc of any sort are numbered... I have hundreds of DVD's sitting on the shelf collecting dust.. Now a handfull of HD dvd's as well. I thin the days of buying DVDs are gone... i have not bought a Music CD in 3 years, and dont think I will be antime soon....
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39 Posted by ohki86 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:43PM EDT Report Abuse
Many posts turn to on demand movies, i am not absolute but in my instance on demand hd movies are only available in 1080i. Anyone who buys a hdtv that supports 1080p would just be cutting themselves short by watching on demand movies in a lesser quality(1080i). As a blu ray owner and 1080p hdtv owner, the difference between hd on demand movies and blu ray is well worth the investment. Technology will not improve much more. Unless of course human eyesight improves...
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40 Posted by jcab923 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:30PM EDT Report Abuse
Congratulations Sony! My condolences consumers. Just like everything else that Sony buys oops I mean wins. They will over price this for the next 5 years and really hold back the technology. But Yaaaaaaa the war is over!!! Yippeee. Competition breeds cost cutting. Without it lets see how Sony out prices themselves this time.
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41 Posted by ndomarew21756 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:34PM EDT Report Abuse
Hey all, just spoke with Toshiba and this IS A RUMOR, nothing more. Executives who are off today (of course)and will be making an announcement in the coming days. Toshiba will continue supporting HD DVD players. This is an unfounded rumor started on the internet of course. It's a Blu Ray or Walmart conspiracy, EEEK.... So you can all feel relieved now. I know I do.
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42 Posted by lrvman@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:58PM EDT Report Abuse
So when do I get my Blu-Ray pornos?
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43 Posted by dale_durbin on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:34PM EDT Report Abuse
HD-DVD lost because of Toshiba's and Microsoft's arrogance. I guess they felt the market would choose their format, "just because". Charging extra for the HD-DVD in Xbox 360 while BR is included in a PS3 at no charge is the real reason BR won. This gave the market a chance to experience BR. What did Toshiba do to give the same to the market, nothing? It was a dumb move on TOSH/MS’s part to not match this marketing strategy. 10 million world-wide BR players in the market after about 18 months of PS3 release compared to how many Xbox's with HD-DVD, not very many. It does not take a rocket scientists do figure this one out, except of course Toshiba and Microsoft. Market suicide I’d say. And as for those of you whom continue to by HD-DVD’s, are you still playing your Beta-Max tapes or how about your 8-track tapes? Don't waster any more of your money.
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44 Posted by seig5052 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:12PM EDT Report Abuse
ndomarew21756, Who are you? Why should I listen to you? You may be someone of importance but without stating your credentials in this post all you are doing is spouting unsubstatiated nonsense in my opinion. Blu-ray won. This next part goes to jcab923. Sony is not the sole owner of blu-ray. The prices will fall because they are still competing with DVD. It amazes me that people believe once hd dvd is gone Sony will be able to keep prices high and this and that. If they want people to adopt blu-ray they certainly will not. You have these hd dvd bots out there that keep talking about the consumer is getting screwed and how Sony is this evil empire. Sony is a company. Toshiba is a company. They do what they do to make money. They care about the consumers to the point where they don't look bad so people continue to buy their product. That goes for both companies. There is no evil in this war, just two formats that are in many ways mirror images. I picked blu-ray because I wanted a ps3 and it happened to have blu-ray so i got two great things for one price. I'm happy the war is over because soon I'll be able to get Paramount/Dreamworks and Universal movies on blu-ray, plus all the directors that own the rights to their movies, i.e. Spielberg and Lucas, will feel comfortable releasing their movies in hd because there is one format. There are advantages to both formats. One is really no better than the other. But one did need to win and that format is blu-ray. I'm happy blu-ray won but it would not have torn me up if had they not because I would still have a ps3 that is capable of more than just watching movies, although it does make a great player. If they lost I would have bought an hd dvd player when I had the money and started collecting hd dvds. The blu-rays that I own I would keep and continue to watch until my ps3 dies, which I don't predict that to happen for some time. But blu-ray won and I'll continue to buy blu-ray until they stop making blu-ray. Whether downloads win in the end I don't care because that is at least 5 years away. I can buy a lot of movies in 5 years. Its funny how the same people that wanted hd dvd to win so badly now, since the format is on deathwatch, contest that it is a non issue and that people are happy with dvd or downloads will win. Funny how those didn't matter when hd dvd was still in good favor.
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45 Posted by americanhistorynut on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:52PM EDT Report Abuse
Really? Going, going, gone? I guess it's a good thing my mom didn't by one then.
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26 Posted by s_vernborg on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:53PM EDT Report Abuse
The only reason that HD-DVD didn't make it is becouse it DID NOT advertise on tv like Blu-ray did. You want to sell something you have to show it. I was hoping they would win but I knew two months ago they were out of the race.