Toshiba: HD DVD "Has Not Lost"

Sun Jan 6, 2008 9:16PM EST

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Execs for HD DVD backer Toshiba insist the embattled HD disc format, which suffered a brutal blow at the hand of the Blu-ray camp on Friday, isn't dead yet.

Speaking here at CES, Toshiba exec Akiyo Ozaka said that HD DVD "had not lost," despite the announcement Friday that Warner Brothers, the last neutral studio in the HD format war, was dropping its HD DVD support and going exclusively with Blu-ray—a move that leaves HD DVD with support from only two movie studios, versus five for the Blu-ray camp. Toshiba is one of the biggest backers of HD DVD, along with Microsoft and Universal.

Ozaka went on to say that Toshiba was "very disappointed with Warner Brothers' announcement," as "sales of HD DVD were very good last year, especially in October to December" (according to Reuters).

Brave words, indeed, but as Reuters points out, Ozaka didn't reveal HD DVD's game plan for countering the latest blow from Blu-ray—and indeed, the abrupt cancellation of HD DVD's lavish CES press conference (which had been slated for tonight) suggests that the HD DVD camp is still reeling from the news.

The latest twist of the Blu-ray/HD DVD saga is the talk of the town here in Vegas, and I've been seeing a lot of fist-pumping by Blu-ray fans today. But while I wouldn't declare the HD format war to be over quite yet, these are certainly dark days for the HD DVD camp.

Related:
Toshiba says HD DVD "has not lost" despite Warner move [Reuters]
Why We Did It: Warner Explains Its Move to Blu-ray (Interview) [Yahoo! Tech]

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  • 6 Posted by chasmpictures on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:22PM EDT Report Abuse

    Yeah, next come the class action lawsuits. Anyone wonder why this "announcement" by Warner came after Christmas? Consumers have been duped by behind the scene corporate shena----- ns. "Well, if you want to watch "Transformers", you have to have this player, but "Pirates of the Caribbean" is only available for this other player." The previous poster is correct in that the simple fact is that content, or who is paying whom for exclusive rights to content, is the deciding factor of this "war." Paramount accepted $150 million from Toshiba to be HD-DVD only. But at least they didn't take the money, hide it and then try to tell consumers they were doing them a favor. "It all comes down to numbers." Yeah, it sure does, Blu-Ray players cost 200% as much and deliver about 20% more potential video performance. Which when viewed side by side, provides a neglibly perceptible benefit. Sony created a technologically superior format, but was late in delivering, then: 1)Sold it to the public initally at a loss in order to get it established (PS3). 2)Released it before it was ready with inferior title encoding (MPEG-2) with only one layer. 3)Paid off major resellers to prominately display it. 4)Convinced other companies to only support their format. Why such drastic measures if you really have a truly better product? Sony knows that patents pay handsomely as does Toshiba and every other manufacturer currently producing players (nearly all the companies currently involved hold patents on one side or the other, LG has patents for both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD). Don't kid yourself, it's not about image quality or disc space. This is a battle of patent domination and in the long run forcing consumers (and other manufacturers) to pay fees for the winning format. P.S. Warner holds a patent for Blu-Ray. Oops, was that left off the press release for going Blu-Ray only.

  • 7 Posted by jjfowler69 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:35PM EDT Report Abuse

    how can we trust sony! DO YOU REMEMBER BATAMAX AND UMD VIDEO

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