Toshiba Announces Discontinuation of HD DVD Businesses

Link from their site.

http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2008_02/pr1903.htm

Enjoy the ebay HD DVD's and non 1080P/24 downloads BD haters.

Yeah, no more details than what was already leaked.

> DIRECT LINK here.

Hopefully, more info/insight will be forthcoming, especially specific info about HD-DVD titles currently in production for release over the short-term.

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

Pretty much what everyone expected. Like Jimi says, hopefully we get more specific info about which titles will get released and which won't. I hope Into the Wild and Beowulf makes it out myself.

FYI...

> EngadgetHD News (with reader comments)

> HighDefDigest News (with reader comments)

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Feb 19, 2008]

Link(s) to Reuters Japan VIDEO report (71 seconds) etc...

> Investors Cheer DVD War End
(brief clip after upfront adv.)

> CNBC Video clip (from Sunday, after adv)

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Feb 19, 2008]

FYI...

> DVDTOWN Report on Toshiba

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

BEST NEWS EVER
CANT GET ANY BETTER

QUOTE(from most hd-dud-ded-adopters)"it aint over till toshiba says its over"

WELL GUESS WHAT?----TOSHITBA SAYS ITS OVER
looks like they made the decision when warner chose the BETTER blu-ray format,but decided to milk as much cash as possible from consumers and early adopters,before people started wondering why they were bothering(something blu-ray owners have been doing since the warner bros announcment)

hey where are all the adverts for hd-ded players?

they usually taint this site with their horrid red colours

now all i see is gorgeous hues of blu

As a long time supporter for the HD DVD side I must say that it is a shame that it turned out this way. But let's be fair here, they gave it their best but the market choose for Blu-Ray. I'm really pleased that this format war is finally over.

Personally I've never hated Blu unlike a lot of fanboys but was more attracted to what HD offered it's consumers. As soon as I read the announcement from Warner to go Blu I already saw this moment coming. It all went down hill from there.

What will I do with my standalone HD player? I will keep it to play my 70+ titles and for it's great upconverting properties with standerd def dvd's. And as for me supporting Blu-Ray, hell yeah. I recently purchased the Playstation 3 just to play these discs and fanboys from both sides must admit that at first HD had the upperhand when it came to quality and features but that Blu is gaining a lot of ground. With the release of profile 1.1 Blu actually can offer everything that HD could except for the online features.

Good luck to both sides and let's just hope that the BDA will help lower the prices for movies and players to the affordable stage so that mass adoption can finally take place in the HD market.

NEO DID IT THE WAR IS OVER!!!!!

Quote:
hey where are all the adverts for hd-ded players?

they usually taint this site with their horrid red colours

now all i see is gorgeous hues of blu

Sorry troll, I'm still here, and I'll be 'tainting' this site some more.

Quote:
WELL GUESS WHAT?----TOSHITBA SAYS ITS OVER
looks like they made the decision when warner chose the BETTER blu-ray format

BETTER? Ha ha ha, thats funny. When I watch a movie in BD or HD-DVD they look the same to me. Oh well, I'm sure its worth the extra $300-$400 for the Sony "name". You know what, Sony doesn't bother me, it's little p-ness's like you.

[Post edited by fe_toad on Feb 19, 2008]

The better format LOST ...let that be on your conscience that blu-ray, is not "fully operational" and that we are going to be stuck upgrading and upgrading and upgrading and....for how long?

HD DVD was ready since launch, blu-ray was and is still NOT.

And I don't feel bad at all for having a soon to be obsolete HD DVD player, as much as those people who bought blu-ray players that can't be upgraded... ...that, is the saddest part...

HD DVD supporters are reported to be doing this today:

FYI...

> Another REPORT (with a pic of Toshiba's president)

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Feb 19, 2008]

FYI...

> Why Sony Won the Format War [2/19]
(from PC Magazine)

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Feb 19, 2008]

FYI...

> 2 Years of Battle Between HD-DVD and Blu-ray
(EngadgetHD Report - with some pics too)

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

-This is a very good (brief) report!

FYI...

> Blu-ray Triumphs in High-Def DVD War
(from the 2/20/08 USA Today)

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Feb 21, 2008]

FYI...

> Blu-ray Victory Likely to Boost PS3 Sales
(a report from Yahoo! 'Video Games' news)

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

Quote:
Blu-ray Victory Likely to Boost PS3 Sales

Well DUH JIMI,

the $399 P$3 is the cheapest Blu Ray player you can buy, of course it is going to boost sales.

But check this topic out...

http://www.dvdtown.com/messageboard/topic/6486/6/0

FYI...

> Blu-ray Victory Means Royalties, Royalties, Royalties
(from Cnet.com's CRAVE News - 2/19, w/reader comments)

"The royalties will be split among several players - Blu-ray has a lot of grandfathers. A lot of people call it a Sony standard but by our estimates Sony doesn't even have 30 percent of the IP," Doherty said. The top four intellectual property holders are likely Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, and Warner."

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

Quote:
"The royalties will be split among several players - Blu-ray has a lot of grandfathers. A lot of people call it a Sony standard but by our estimates Sony doesn't even have 30 percent of the IP," Doherty said. The top four intellectual property holders are likely Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, and Warner."

And then there was silence.

Good read.
Royalties are one of the reasons I think it will be a while before anything BD comes down in price.

No - just the opposite. To make more royalties, sales must INCREASE, and if prices don't become more affordable (cheaper), then sales will DECREASE (slower, less growth), which means less royalties, not more.

It's like Walmart. They are the #1 retailer with the largest volume of sales, yet the prices are mostly LOWER than their competition. So, their profits are realized by large-scale consumer sales, giving the company 'small profit per item', that then add up to large, MAJOR profits OVERALL.

For Blu-ray to become successful (like DVD), prices will have to become more affordable (both the players and discs, and computer drives etc), so that the masses will adopt and BUY the format. If successful, then the Blu-ray royalties will increase and benefit the patent holders. If unsuccessful (due to higher costs that stagnate adoption), then the royalties will be small, and of not much financial value to their creators, compared to VHS or DVD royalties.

-JIMI (the Voodoo Chil)

Good point JIMI, you are on the ball but when a person buys a player SD DVD, HD DVD, BR... or whatever, a lot of different people get a portion of the profits. So if a product is already more expensive to make (just guessing hear, I don't know) and then you have to pay royalties to a butt load of other folks that will jack the price up even more. That's why SD DVD is the big money maker cheaper to produce, bigger market (more people with regular tvs and players), etc., etc.



Just thinking out loud really....
L8R fellas

FYI...

> The Death of HD-DVD and the Art of Backroom Deal Making

(from 2/25/08, on the Gearlog Gadget Guide for Geeks)

"When mapping the trajectory of the two formats, it's Warner's pull out at the beginning of the year that is largely considered to be the straw that broke HD-DVD's back... Was Toshiba's abandonment of the format simply a case of it having "no chance to win," as the company's president, Atsutoshi Nishida suggested, or was it perhaps another case of a backroom favor? Slashdot points out that Sony announced an agreement to sell Toshiba a chip facility for $835 million, just after Toshiba announced their all-important decision to abandon their beloved format."

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Feb 28, 2008]

I noticed something kind of interesting. You know at the top of the browser where on this page it says, "Re: Toshiba Announces Discontinuation of HD DVD Businesses". Well on Toshiba.com they list some of the products they sell up there. HD DVD players used to be up there, but they removed it.

@hendrix

I remember reading about that MONTHS ago. Before the WB announcement even.

[Post edited by NutManIV on Feb 29, 2008]

Maybe Toshiba decided to get out before all of the CH players get out and flood the market.

Aren't they capable of playing HD DVD?

In other news this man announced that he fell of a horse.
And oh yea the sky is blue.

Thanks for the heads up.

This is off-topic, but that's a great-looking photo you posted, xavier311. It's got great detail and it almost has a 3-D look to it! Did you take that photo, or did you grab that off of the Internet?

Off of google images.

FYI...

> DARK SKY Films to Produce Blu-ray Discs

(from the distributors of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and HENRY ~ Portrait of a Serial Killer, among others)

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

CH DVD will not be released in America. It is called China High Definition DVD for a reason.

Quote:
The better format LOST ...let that be on your conscience that blu-ray, is not "fully operational" and that we are going to be stuck upgrading and upgrading and upgrading and....for how long?

In what ways is HD DVD better? Its every specification is exceeded by Blu-ray. From disc capacity, to bandwidth, to required persistent local storage. I hope new features keep being added as technology improves. I would love to see a 3D profile that played on BonusView players as a 2D film and would output a 3D signal for players. I look forward to 100GB and 200GB discs (which I hope will work in most current generation players with firmware upgrades).

I hope there are many other features I have not even considered that get added over time.

Quote:
And I don't feel bad at all for having a soon to be obsolete HD DVD player, as much as those people who bought blu-ray players that can't be upgraded... ...that, is the saddest part...

So if I understand you correctly, you feel sorry for people who will be able to play the hundreds of new titles that will be released every year, but might not be able to play interactive content (or see PiP content but would have to watch it separately) but not for those who will not be able to receive any new content at all.

Got it.

Certainly an interesting perspective.

/carmi

I think we all know bluray has better specs theoretically. While there are some great possibilities with all this potential and we may even be able to control the space shuttle with our bluray players one day, until we notice an improvement in picture or sound these specs seem to be futile.

After all it took them how long to get interactive and web features standardized? Hopefully they get it together and show us why bluray is "beyong high definition".

[Post edited by Falcon01 on Mar 4, 2008]