HD-DVD Death Official: Toshiba Announces Defeat
by Patrick Steen on February 19, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Toshiba have officially thrown in the HD-DVD towel, announcing today that they will no longer develop, manufacture, or market the HD-DVD format.
After rumours of the company’s withdrawal from broadcaster NHK, this outcome comes as little surprise. Though the Toshiba Corporation denied such rumours over the past couple of days, they were clearly waiting for the right time and manner with which to give the news.
Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation had this to say:
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.
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.
What they mean by this support for high definition content does not appear to be in support of Blu-ray (yet at least), but in the creation of high capacity NAND flash memory, small form factor hard disk drives, next generation CPUs, visual processing, and wireless and encryption 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. The company also plans to end volume production of HD-DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same time frame.
With the high-definition format war officially over, Sony’s Blu-ray format has been given free reign of the marketplace, with only downloadable HD content to hold them back. Such a conclusion to the “war” may have positive results for sales of the company’s Playstation 3, the piece of kit that ultimately put Sony ahead of their rival in HD disc sales. Ironically, Toshiba had a hand in the PS3’s CPU, the Cell - a technology that they intend to ingrate into their HDTV’s.
The smug Blu-ray Assossiaction had this to say about Toshiba’s decision:
We in the Blu-ray Disc Association are very happy that this long format war is officially over. Now the task ahead for our member companies is to promote the Blu-ray Disc format as the best way to bring premier quality high definition content into consumers’ lives.
Though Toshiba will lose a lot of money from ending their format, as well as stretching their relationship with partnered companies/studios (Microsoft, Intel, HP, Universal Studios and Paramount Studios), the potential savings made from ending the battle now rather than later, greatly outweigh the losses.
Source: Toshiba Corporation
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on February 19, 2008 3:45 pm
I am glad its over, these kind of format wars only hurt the consumer in the end.
on February 19, 2008 4:46 pm
Huzzah! V-DVD Day! At last, we can rest in peace, knowing that this costly and painful war is at an end. Never again will we have to suffer the hardships and burdens of shouldering a savage war that benefits the rich at the expense of the poor… at least, for another couple of years until the next one. >_<
on February 19, 2008 9:22 pm
I was burnt by being an early adopter for DVD. Not that the format had issues but my player only lasted a few months before it started not reading discs.
Even with Blu-Ray winning I won’t be picking up a player until they’re reasonably priced. Sure sign I’m getting old. ;)
on February 19, 2008 11:06 pm
This sucks!
on February 20, 2008 2:35 am
Only reason why im getting blueray is because PS3 has it.. i feel like im getting a deal since it has upconverting, blue ray and pretty sweet gaming graphics in one! Better than a same priced $400 stand alone homo player.
on February 20, 2008 8:11 am
@Mikhail: “Better than a same priced $400 stand alone homo player”
I thought we were talking about Blu-Ray players? Did I miss a transition somewhere?
on February 20, 2008 11:54 am
homo players?
hey leave the wii owners alone, its not there fault there gay.
on February 20, 2008 12:11 pm
Yeah! And it’s not LC’s fault that he’s illiterate. ;)
on February 20, 2008 12:23 pm
I read what I want like I hear.
*shrugs*