Let's be honest guys, it hasn't been the best week for team HD DVD. Retailers have been dropping support left and right, wild speculation has been running rampant across the internets and Engadget even put HD DVD on their "death watch" list. Ouch. Rumors have even been swirling that Toshiba will be announcing the death of HD DVD as early as sometime this week. But we're guessing Toshiba isn't ready to pull the plug yet as earlier this morning they put out a statement regarding that rumor saying that "the media reported that Toshiba will discontinue its HD DVD business" but "Toshiba has not made any announcement concerning this." They go on to say that "although Toshiba is currently assessing its business strategies, no decision has been made at this moment." Toshiba also confirmed that Toshiba likes to refer to itself in third person.So, there you have it. Toshiba isn't throwing in the towel just yet or they simply aren't ready to announce that they will be throwing in the towel. Still no answers and all bad news for HD DVD ... humph.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2-18-2008 @ 11:33AM
evilJaze said...
Big deal. Large corporations never confirm rumours. Ever.
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2-18-2008 @ 11:38AM
ymmv said...
Yep. The interesting thing is how they don't deny the rumor, they just don't want to confirm it at this moment. I bet there's a contingent of lawyers at Toshiba HQ going through the Universal, Paramount and MS contracts right now.
2-18-2008 @ 11:49AM
Boff said...
My thoughts exactly. They never actually say that "Toshiba will continue it's HD-DVD business."
But they do say "Toshiba is currently assessing its business strategies, no decision has been made at this moment."
Which basically means 'We are getting rid of the dead wood but want to keep it quiet for as long as possible so we can sell a few more HD-DVDs before the plug is pulled.'
2-18-2008 @ 11:47AM
Dragod said...
You watch.. HD-DVD's going to come back... People are buying it more than ever with all the recent price drops :P
I wouldn't be surprised if the price drops saved the format, and forced publishers to reassess their stance on supporting HD-DVD.
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2-18-2008 @ 11:51AM
Boff said...
It'll be the biggest comeback since Rocky fought Ivan Drago!
2-18-2008 @ 11:48AM
Sacredleader said...
Toshiba may not be throwing in the towel just yet, but that towel might as well be in a Matrix like slow mo mode in mid-air until it hits the ground. Ouch!
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2-18-2008 @ 12:00PM
Bravo6 said...
There's also no GoW 2 in the works.
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2-18-2008 @ 12:18PM
Adam said...
Who says bravo last i heard nothing was mentioned about gears2 at gdc.
2-18-2008 @ 12:01PM
Adam said...
I think as a storage format hddvd could succeed as the burners im sure could be made cheap enough and the media itself is cheap enough.Then you would have people burning hddvd movies copied from blurays etc and then toshiba could say screw you sony and screw the studios.
sell hddvd players and burners and recordable hddvd discs and that could work.Let the people steal this shit from the studios that wronged them they will still make a profit.
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2-18-2008 @ 12:02PM
Tony said...
I was thinking this too. It's cheap to manufacture, it holds a decent amount... if not on a consumer level, then perhaps on a commercial level.
HD-DVD does have other purposes beyond movies.
2-18-2008 @ 12:18PM
Adam said...
Look at it like this.If they develop it primarily for a storage medium.By the time microsoft releases another console.Maybe they could intergrate it as a gaming storage medium.If its successful in the storage and burning world by 2011 ms maybe would use it for there games instead of supplying sony with there money.That would do two things.
They know people would be using it to burn hd movies by then so that would kill bluray somewhat and also it would be a great gaming storage format and sony wouldnt make a dolllar off ms.
Its a good strategy i think.It will also push more people towards digital downloads and get them used to the concept.
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2-18-2008 @ 12:21PM
thadwhit said...
It would be bad business to confirm the death of your media player and then try to sell more players for another month or so. Look for cheap fire sales and stores dumping out their stock of HD DVD players and movies, and then Toshiba will announce that they are giving up.
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2-18-2008 @ 12:26PM
Adam said...
no no no.Its simple enough to throw burners on the market for cheap money.As dfar as i know its impossible to find bluray burners and if you could they would be super expensive.The best strategy would be to push a hddvd burner to the market for two reasons.
People would be able to burn hd 1080p movies and that would kill studios.Then maybe sony would follow suite and destroy themselves in the process.Toshiba has nothing to lose with no studio support but sony throwing a cheap bluray burner on the market to kill toshiba would cause havoc to there marketing and sales of movies killing the format.Kinda llike what happened to the dreamcast with burned games.People would be burning blurays weather on hddvd discs or on bluray discs.
This could be a really good strategy one i would jump on.If i was toshiba i would take em all down with me.
2-18-2008 @ 12:34PM
Bac0nator said...
Does anyone even buy movies anymore???
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2-18-2008 @ 12:38PM
thadwhit said...
Some people obviously do, but I don't see why they bother. I'd rather just use a service like Netflix, view movies and shows in Hi Def, and then move on. I'm not likely to watch something over and over, and I doubt most adults do, they just like to collect things.
2-18-2008 @ 12:41PM
Bac0nator said...
I agree, I find myself buying new seasons of shows like the simpsons just because i already have the older seasons. I end up putting it on the shelf with my collection and never watching it. Weird eh?
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2-18-2008 @ 12:51PM
Adam said...
I got a brother in law like that.Loads of dvds half he has never watched and probably never will.I myself like to download rips off utorrent and screeners etc.I get my hddvd rip and bluray rips in 1080p and stream em to my tv thru 360.The 360 never needed a hd player built in its ability to stream hd doesnt hold it to one format.Alot of people dont understand that.Bluray may be good for a gaming aspect but when you got people already ripping blurays to wmv in 1080p there isnt much of a quality diffrence believe me i know.I have tested my theory on a ps3 between a ripped bluray wmv file and a bluray on the same tv which was a sharp aquo's 32" lcd.
Thsi is what bluray is gonna have to deal with and there just isnt money in physical media anymore with shit like xbox 360 on the market and people that have the brains to know how to use the shit.
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2-18-2008 @ 1:05PM
The Sound said...
I wonder how long it will take you to realize that there is no way (currently) to duplicate a Blu-ray movie and copy it to a computer.
HD-DVD was the only one to be crack, which is probably why it ended up loosing.
Ripping to WMV is a stupid, stupid idea. There are many other better formats to do it.
Oh, and responding to another comment, SONY does NOT own Blu-ray.
Seriously, why all the SONY hate? Honestly, you act like they killed your brother and dog, kidnapped your mother, and burned your house down. Sheesh, it's only a company, and even if you don't like them, you don't need to get all worked up over it.
2-18-2008 @ 1:09PM
refinedsugar said...
It's too bad. Cheap(er), efficient hardware and media, finalized format specs ... oh well, it was an uphill battle from the start. Blu-ray had better get their shit together.
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2-18-2008 @ 1:11PM
Oorang said...
"The Sound said...
I wonder how long it will take you to realize that there is no way (currently) to duplicate a Blu-ray movie and copy it to a computer"
I think you'll find that statement to be wholly inaccurate...
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