Game Over

[tha_con]

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...ps_HD_DVD/1477

Following several days of rumors, Toshiba has confirmed that it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders, effectively ending the high-def format war.

In a just-issued press release, the company said that it reached the decision following "recent major changes in the market." Toshiba emphasized that it will continue to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.

“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 said it will begin reducing shipments of HD DVD players and recorders immediately, with the aim of pulling all HD DVD players, recorders and disc drives from store shelves by March. The company went on to say that it would "continue to assess" the long-term viability of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives.

Asked at a Tokyo press conference whether his company had any plans to adopt Blu-ray, Nishida said Toshiba had no such plans at the moment.

HD DVD first hit stores in April of 2006, and enjoyed an early sales lead against rival format Blu-ray up until the release of Sony's Blu-ray enabled PlayStation 3 later that year.

Though Blu-ray software outsold HD DVD throughout 2007, a series of tactical moves from the HD DVD camp kept the format in the game up until early this January, when Warner Bros announced it would drop its HD DVD support and would release its titles on Blu-ray exclusively, beginning this June.

In the weeks that followed, HD DVD backers vowed to fight on, issuing a series of price drops and embarking on a new marketing campaign, but it wasn't enough to convince retailers to stick with the fledgling format. Faced with the prospect of diminishing prominence at such top US retailers as Best Buy and Wal-Mart, insiders say it was only a matter of time before Toshiba would pull the plug.

[tha_con]

I'd like to take this time to compose a 'best of' quotes of folks from past Format threads:

until BR stops using MPEG-2, HD-DVD is better in my book.

VC-1 or bust

And I strongly doubt HD-DVD will be obsolete considering it backed by one of the most POWERFUL and business savvy companies in history.

Also if I recall, lets take a look back at the VCR days........ who lost that battle? Sony.

(One of my personal favorites).

BR has a spike in movies available now because sony also happens to produce movies & can flood the market to coincide w/ the PS3. its indicative of being more a temporary phenomenon than a lasting trend

It's like this, for one year Betamax(HD-DVD) had the edge over the coming VHS (Blu-Ray) format, because it was the only medium on the market. When VHS (Blu-Ray) hit the market, it could store more, had more content, but a loss in "quality".

(teehee, I was right!)


Eh, I could dig these up for days, but it would be pointless.

What I find funny is Toshiba constantly said they had over 1 Million Stand alone players on the market, and when they actually released solid numbers, it was a total of 730K players, and 300K of those were 360 add ons!!!! They also counted PC drives as 'stand alone' players, apparently. Sweetness.

[NoobieNooberson]

lol

[tha_con]

Later today when I get time during work I'm going to dig up all my incorrect predictions, lol. There's a lot of those too in reference to this format war (mostly pertaining to Paramount and the length of time it would take).

Either way, Universal and Paramount movies incoming!

Cannot WAIT for my Indiana Jones stuff!

[Shiba-Kun]

Yup. Night night, lights out!

Toshiba quits HD DVD business By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer
Tue Feb 19, 7:02 AM ET

TOKYO - Toshiba said Tuesday it will no longer develop, make or market HD DVD players and recorders, handing a victory to rival Blu-ray disc technology in the format battle for next-generation video.

"We concluded that a swift decision would be best," Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida told reporters at his company's Tokyo offices.

The move would make Blu-ray — backed by Sony Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic brand products, and five major Hollywood movie studios — the winner in the battle over high-definition DVD formatting that began several years ago.

Nishida said last month's decision by Warner Bros. Entertainment to release movie discs only in the Blu-ray format made the move inevitable.

"That had tremendous impact," he said. "If we had continued, that would have created problems for consumers, and we simply had no chance to win."


Link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080219/.../japan_toshiba

[dmb]

Originally Posted by Shiba-Kun

Yup. Night night, lights out!

Toshiba quits HD DVD business By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer
Tue Feb 19, 7:02 AM ET

TOKYO - Toshiba said Tuesday it will no longer develop, make or market HD DVD players and recorders, handing a victory to rival Blu-ray disc technology in the format battle for next-generation video.

"We concluded that a swift decision would be best," Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida told reporters at his company's Tokyo offices.

The move would make Blu-ray — backed by Sony Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic brand products, and five major Hollywood movie studios — the winner in the battle over high-definition DVD formatting that began several years ago.

Nishida said last month's decision by Warner Bros. Entertainment to release movie discs only in the Blu-ray format made the move inevitable.

"That had tremendous impact," he said. "If we had continued, that would have created problems for consumers, and we simply had no chance to win."


Link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080219/.../japan_toshiba

hai arigato shiba-kun san

[blackdelsol94]

It's all over teh interwebz:

Toshiba's HD DVD Officially Bows Out
Call all bets off and let no doubt remain: HD DVD has gone from being on life support to officially dead. With Toshiba pulling the plug, the next-gen storage format is going the way of the dodo.
Posted by David Radd on Tuesday, February 19, 2008


Today, Toshiba officially announced that they are putting their HD DVD business to bed. All production and research will cease on the next-gen disc format by the end of March.

"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.

This announcement followed a board meeting in Toshiba's corporate offices in Tokyo. Reports over the weekend said that Toshiba was planning to abandon HD DVD, though the company denied having already made that decision.

"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," added Nishida.

As was expected, Warner Bros and various retailers (such as Best Buy) favoring of Blu-ray were major factors in Toshiba's decision to cut HD DVD. "The change in Warner Bros.' decision was a real bolt out of the blue," commented Nishida. "The impact was large as U.S. retailers [reaction] to this."

Toshiba will move forward with their other businesses, announcing a plan to spend billions of dollars with SanDisk to build flash memory plants in Japan.

[blackdelsol94]

Originally Posted by tha_con

I'd like to take this time to compose a 'best of' quotes of folks from past Format threads:





(One of my personal favorites).



(teehee, I was right!)


Eh, I could dig these up for days, but it would be pointless.

What I find funny is Toshiba constantly said they had over 1 Million Stand alone players on the market, and when they actually released solid numbers, it was a total of 730K players, and 300K of those were 360 add ons!!!! They also counted PC drives as 'stand alone' players, apparently. Sweetness.

Or don't, because one could find a good amount of posts that do not fall into 'your favor,' if you will.

[blackdelsol94]

Originally Posted by tha_con

Later today when I get time during work I'm going to dig up all my incorrect predictions, lol. There's a lot of those too in reference to this format war (mostly pertaining to Paramount and the length of time it would take).

Either way, Universal and Paramount movies incoming!

Cannot WAIT for my Indiana Jones stuff!

I agree. It will be very nice to finally have all movies available on one format!

[tha_con]

Originally Posted by blackdelsol94

Or don't, because one could find a good amount of posts that do not fall into 'your favor,' if you will.

Like what, lol. Me not saying HD DVD is a dying format the day Blu-Ray launched?

I mean, who are we kidding here?

I've always said HD DVD would be dead by or before 2009. I've always said Blu-Ray would win because of suprior support.

What are you going to post? That I bought a DS3 and thought the PS3 would be successful because of it's name and american culture? Seriously?

I never predicted the PS3 would be in first place, that the Wii would 'fail' or that the 360 would be a terrible game box.

I never really predict anything out of the ordinary that's not in line with common knowledge. You act as though I'm the only person who was saying Blu-Ray would win.

[blackdelsol94]

Originally Posted by tha_con

Like what, lol. Me not saying HD DVD is a dying format the day Blu-Ray launched?

I mean, who are we kidding here?

I've always said HD DVD would be dead by or before 2009. I've always said Blu-Ray would win because of suprior support.

What are you going to post? That I bought a DS3 and thought the PS3 would be successful because of it's name and american culture? Seriously?

I never predicted the PS3 would be in first place, that the Wii would 'fail' or that the 360 would be a terrible game box.

I never really predict anything out of the ordinary that's not in line with common knowledge. You act as though I'm the only person who was saying Blu-Ray would win.

There are a few things I could find pretty quick, and the DS3 ordeal isn't even at the top of that list.

I'm glad you made a good prediction, good for you. However, I never said you were the only one supporting Blu-ray... That is definitely not true.

Anyways, digging up such comments would serve no purpose. Pretty sure most of the folk you would be quoting don't hang 'round the parts much anymore.

[Shiba-Kun]

Didn't you guys buy the 360 HD-DVD attachment?

I told you to Craigslist them LOL!