AP: Microsoft pulls plug on HD DVD players

Microsoft pulls plug on HD DVD players 1 hour, 1 minute ago



Microsoft Corp. said it will stop making HD DVD players for its Xbox 360 video game system after Toshiba Corp. ceded the high-definition video format battle to Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray.

Microsoft said Saturday it would continue to provide standard warranty support for its HD DVD players. Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida last week estimated about 300,000 people own the Microsoft video player, sold as a separate $130 add-on for the Xbox 360.

"HD DVD is one of the several ways we offer a high definition experience to consumers and we will continue to give consumers the choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and TV shows directly to their living room, along with playback of the DVD movies they already own," Blair Westlake, a corporate vice president of Microsoft's media and entertainment group, said in a written statement.

Microsoft was one of HD DVD's main backers, along with Intel Corp. and Japanese electronics maker NEC Corp., and its support for the format was seen as a big win for Toshiba's format.

But support for the HD DVD waned as major movie studios — Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Co., News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros. Entertainment — picked Blu-ray to distribute high-def DVDs. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. struck what seemed to be the final blow just over a week ago when it said it would only sell Blu-ray players and discs.

Microsoft said it is looking at how the HD DVD technology it has developed, such as HDi, which adds interactive features to HD DVDs, and its VC-1 video encoding technology, can be applied to other platforms.

The Redmond-based software maker said the decision to stop selling HD DVD players won't have a material impact on its video game business

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Microsoft Corp. said it will stop making HD DVD players for its Xbox 360 video game system after Toshiba Corp. ceded the high-definition video format battle to Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray

The Microsoft XBOX 360 HD DVD drive is actually manufactured by Toshiba, so of course there will no longer be an add on HD DVD drive once they sell out of them as Toshiba is going to stop manufacturing them.

My only question is how many remain unsold in warehouses throughout the country??

It might be a decent thing to hack into use with a PC, so I probably will be buying a few.

I figure they won't drop the prices until after 2/28 when the 5 free HD DVD deal goes away, then probably $49-$75 with the bundled King Kong HD DVD movie.

Wow... what a surprise. Who could possibly have seen that coming?

If M$ was smart, they would announce that Blu-Ray add on A.S.A.P. to prevent a bunch of 360 owners/HD-DVD loyalists from buying a PS3. We all know it's coming, and it makes the most sense to announce it before Sony gets some new customers in the form of people wanting to play games and HD movies on the same machine... what's the hold up?

The 6ok news on Ch5 Boston covered this story. Their exit line was "Microsoft will now support BluRay." Is that accurate?

VideoCipher

As most people know the 360 HD add on works great with any Vista computer.
All you need is any USB 2.0 cable and pretty much any PC built in the last year or so.
For software you can use Cyberlinks PowerDVD Ultra. Which support Dolby HD and DTS HD.

So its worth getting one for that price.

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[Post edited by xavier311 on Feb 24, 2008]

I actually wasn't able to get it to work on my Vista Enabled PC... Then again I didn't really try that hard, nor do I care.

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As most people know the 360 HD add on works great with any Vista computer

As most people know, Vi$ta doesn't work great on many computers, so I will be searching for rogue drivers to get HD DVD working on earlier versions of Windoze, OS X, and Linux.

Thats funny I have 3 Vista Pcs and they all work great. Not so much as a hiccup in over a year.
One of them has 2Tbs of ripped DVD movies that I can watch with the click of a button. on my remote
IMO I think that most of the beating Vista gets is because MS does a poor job of going from one OS to the other. That said I strongly feel that Vista is allot better then most people give it credit for.

The folks over at thegreenbutton.com have some great ideas for people interested in Using the 360 HD add on to any computer. Worth checking out.

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[Post edited by xavier311 on Feb 24, 2008]

Well I think the problem was that the Toshiba download I needed was incompatible.

I use the XBOX drive in my PC. Works great for me. Look at ebay they are like 25 bucks...

i own a 360, hddvd addon, stand alone hddvd player and a ps3.

i only use the ps3 for blu, as soon as microsoft releases a blu addon, ill be selling my ps3. already made up my mind i like the 360 in my life for a very long time.

WOW! , this is a no brainer.

I had the Microsoft Player for my XBox when I first decided to try HD DVD. The first one I had the add on was so noisy I took it back and got another one. The second one worked OK but I was not happy with it as a movie player and so took it back and switched over to a Toshiba Player.

I was sorry to hear that it was decided to shelve HD DVD and that Blu Ray would be the media of choice. However, I will NOT be buying a blu-ray player because of the price and the many problems I have read about with movies not playing etc. I don't think that media will last long and feel that the flash memory will come out and that will be the end of blu-ray. Having been a guinea pig for so many years chasing technology, I think that I will now take a back seat, watch the HD DVD movies I have, and to be honest, the up converted regular DVD's look so good that I am happy with them and will just buy regular less expensive DVD's. Since I do not have the Dolby True HD sound, it is not a great deal for me to just sit back with the regular Dolby Digital 5.1, it works for me. I think if they had lowered the cost of the software for the HD DVD movies, with the lower cost of the players the situation might have been different. When one can buy a regular DVD for $12 or have to shell out anywhere from $21 to over $30 for an HD DVD, it is no wonder that the format sort of fell flat, that and the fact that blu-ray had more movie industry support.

So to all who have the blu-ray players... congratulations.... and enjoy it for as long as it lasts... somehow I think the behind the scenes people will be working on something new very soon.

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So to all who have the blu-ray players... congratulations.... and enjoy it for as long as it lasts... somehow I think the behind the scenes people will be working on something new very soon.

So true. I bet some future generation will be laughing at us and our 1080p optical disks as they enjoy virtual reality while being perpetually asleep in a pod of liquid goo.

LMAO at liquid goo!!!!