Toshiba officially mulls pulling HD DVD

http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/02/17/toshiba.mulls.hd.dvd.pull/

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Sunday, February 17th

Toshiba is reviewing whether or not it will continue the HD DVD format, the company said Monday morning in a public statement. The Japanese electronics firm neither confirmed nor denied claims by national broadcaster NHK that it would halt HD DVD production outright but has admitted that it is reconsidering its position on the HD movie disc standard. The comment is the first public acknowledgement by Toshiba that it may need to discontinue the format after a succession of key studio and retail losses.

Before Toshiba's statement, multiple claims by American publications and the Reuters news agency had suggested that Toshiba would retire its HD DVD efforts within weeks.

Doubts began to rise in earnest for HD DVD's future when Warner dropped HD DVD from its movie catalog at the start of January, explaining that it would phase out the format in favor of Blu-ray by June. This triggered a rash of moves by smaller studios and retailers who echoed Warner's position. The most damaging move since Warner's announcement was Wal-Mart's move to Blu-ray exclusivity, which effectively cut HD DVD from the largest movie sales outlet in the US.

While Toshiba is not the only firm involved in promoting HD DVD, it serves as the primary manufacturer of HD DVD hardware and would leave the format with virtually no distribution should it leave the market.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/17/announcement-of-hd-dvds-death-expected-in-short-order-duh/

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We know it looks like HD DVD's death is a foregone conclusion at this point, but it isn't official until Toshiba says it is, and Ars is reporting that a number of their sources have pegged the impending announcement for within the next few days -- not weeks. Apparently HD DVD's future was in serious jeopardy even before Netflix dropped 'em, and the holdup on Toshiba's part now comes from the company's need to formulate its plans to shut down production -- which is no small task given the volume of hardware and media they were geared up to move.

Of course, out Tokyo way the party line's all the same. Our Japanese bureau checked in with Toshiba HQ, which was obviously on PR red alert since they responded to our query in nine minutes, and well well before business hours. The boilerplate response is about what you'd expect, though: "We are considering our future business policies and plans, and studying the market response [to recent developments]." Let's just get this thing over with already, okay Toshiba?

Sounds like there's a good chance we'll know by Tuesday. Hopefully they won't completely abandon support of the format and will start to make a dual format model.

All I want is to be able to purchase the movies that are currently scheduled to be released. I truly believe that for $148 that I spent on my A-3 at Walmart, that I got my moneys wortht. Especially since I got two movies and the five that hopefully arrive even if they pull the plug.

I think Toshiba will drop HD DVD completely, there's no reason to put money into a product that retailers won't carry, and that won't sell.

Toshiba should simply admit defeat and throw it's support to Blu-ray. This will allow Universal and Paramount out of their contracts so they can release their titles on Blu-ray.

I would assume since these discs are already being/been pressed they'll see the light of day. The studios will need to recoup some of their investment back. As we've seen during this war it's all about the money. I don't really envision studios having people go to their factories pile up discs outside and set them on fire. Well maybe Paramount.

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I think Toshiba will drop HD DVD completely, there's no reason to put money into a product that retailers won't carry, and that won't sell.

Toshiba should simply admit defeat and throw it's support to Blu-ray. This will allow Universal and Paramount out of their contracts so they can release their titles on Blu-ray.

No good reason if you don't care about your customers or your reputation. If they just walk away and leave no legacy support, they can forget about leading another format to market, and their rep will go to shit. They need to offer a dual format player, whether they themselves 'want' to or not, because they owe it to their loyal customer base. This does not hurt Blu-ray in the slightest, and Paramount and Universal can go Blu-ray immediately. However, it would be best for them to be nuetral for a few months (say, until at least June, when the WB contract expires), so that current owners with new players will have the option to buy new releases for it as they thought they could do. Even if few do, at least they had the chance.

There's a way to end this with dignity, you know. Everybody knows that Blu-ray will be the format going forward, so there's no reason to yank software support right away.

[Post edited by BruceAmes on Feb 17, 2008]

Awesome statement BruceAmes and respectful.