HD-DVD Soon to die, toshiba to quit backing it.

[naveen_reloaded]

We're not exactly sure what's going on in Toshiba land, but shortly after not-exactly-believable whispers made the rounds of the firm suddenly deciding to try its hand at making a Blu-ray player, we're now seeing reports stating that it will pull the plug on its beloved format "in the coming weeks." Citing unnamed industry "sources," The Hollywood Reporter is suggesting that the end may be nigh for the HD DVD format. Jodi Sally, VP of marketing for Toshiba America Consumer Products, was quoted as saying that "given the market developments in the past month, Toshiba will continue to study the market impact and the value proposition for consumers, particularly in light of its recent price reductions on all HD DVD players." Of course, we aren't exactly equating said statement to waving the white flag or anything, but whatever the case, it seems the death watch is in full effect.


http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/14...o-drop-hd-dvd/

[praka123]

Wal-Mart says tata to HD DVD format

More bad news for Toshiba as retailing giant Wal-Mart has now said that they would soon stop offering HD DVD movies through their retail stores.
The company would now exclusively offer Blu-Ray format media which competes with the Toshiba’s HD DVD format.


Wal-Mart has stated that they would start phasing out sales of HD DVD systems and discs in the coming months.


By June, they would just have the Blu-Ray media and players on offer. This would bring a lot of joy to Sony who are the developers of the Blu-Ray format.



source:
http://news.techwhack.com/7120/wal-mart-hd-dvd-2/

[Cyrus_the_virus]

Mole claims Toshiba to terminate HD DVD

Is Toshiba about to fall on its sword and announce the demise of HD DVD? That's certainly what one report citing an unnamed mole within the HD DVD camp is claiming, even though Toshiba itself - surprise, surprise - is having none of it. The source mentioned by US Home Media Magazine claims that Toshiba could declare HD DVD dead in "a matter of weeks".

The mag also spoke to a senior Toshiba staffer - Jodi Sally, VP of marketing for Toshiba America Consumer Products - who re-iterated the company's belief that HD DVD "is the best format for consumers". However, she did admit that Toshiba is monitoring the market. "Toshiba will continue to study the market impact and the value proposition for consumers, particularly in light of our recent price reductions on all HD DVD players."

[praka123]

anyways poor M$haft got another beat on their Axx.
Just read ps3 sales are rocking :

A perfect PS3 storm: Blu-ray hotness and Xbox supply issues


The monthly NPD Group console sales numbers usually tell the same old story. Nintendo does awesome, there is a sharp drop in sales of the Xbox 360, and the PS3 is always at the bottom of the list. Well, the numbers for January are in, and Sony has pulled a shocker: the PS3 outsold the Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, and even the PlayStation Portable.

The only system that sold more units than the PlayStation 3 was the Nintendo Wii, but this is a surprising win for Sony. The Nintendo Wii sold 274,000 units, the PlayStation 3 sold 269,000 for a close second, the Nintendo DS sold 251,000, and the Xbox 360 came in dead last with 230,000 units sold for the month. Sony has to be smiling with its system not only above its direct competitors, but within just 5,000 units of Nintendo's number one slot. So what happened?

One possible reason for January's strong performance has little to do with games. Warner cut HD DVD support, Blu-ray sales then surged, and then Blu-ray became the format of choice for both Netflix and Best Buy.

Consumers are beginning to see a welcome end to the format war, and are starting to embrace Blu-ray as a standard. And not only does the PlayStation 3 play Blu-ray discs out of the box, it is arguably the most capable player on the market. The picture is great, the networking features and hard drive make the system future-proof, and, while current Blu-ray owners may be worrying about whether their system can support the new 2.0 profile, PlayStation 3 owners know that their system is ready to go whenever Sony releases the update. The $400 40GB PS3 is a very strong addition to home theaters because of the Blu-ray features, streaming of media files, and even upcoming DVR support in Europe. At one time, observers believed that Sony would use gaming as a trojan horse for Blu-ray to take over your living room. Now, it appears that Blu-ray may be driving the sales of their gaming hardware.

read more:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...ly-issues.html


BTW,I hope DRM wont be spreading in the hands of sony

[amitava82]

PS3 ftw.. no ftXboX360...

[krazzy]

Sony, PS3 and Blu-Ray ROCKS!!! I always knew that people will finally choose PS3 and Blu-Ray over XBOX 360 and HD-DVD.

[iMav]

according to reports xbox 360 sales have dropped because of demand-supply issues .... too much demand too little supply

[MetalheadGautham]

YEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAW
Me just waiting for sony to lower PS3 prices now.

[sachin_kothari]

there are quite a few laptops with blu-ray drives bundled with them.
but i havent yet seen any laptop with hd-dvd drive bundled.
so i suppose blu-ray is the way to go as of now.

[slugger]

another horse(HD-DVD) backed by MS is losin

it looks like except for their SWs MS seems to be losin/comin second everywhere else

[╬Switch╬]

Blu-Ray all the way.....

[goobimama]

Too bad. I was rooting for HD DVD. At least there's less DRM in there...

[hullap]

too bad

[nvidia]

Sony rocks... Toshiba will surely terminate HD DVDs. Its a complete flop...

[praka123]

^yes read in arstechnica somewhere that toshiba is terminating hd-dvd thing soon blow on M$haft

[nvidia]

^^Yeah... its there in post #2.
Good riddance....

[Zeeshan Quireshi]

Originally Posted by goobimama

Too bad. I was rooting for HD DVD. At least there's less DRM in there...

and that they would cost cheaper too .

[Voldy]

Thanks for the news
It has to be happen coz Blu-ray has a upper hand in the disc media industry

[krazzy]

Toshiba drops HD DVD; Blu-ray wins

[praka123]

So...finally end of HD-DVD

[x3060]

hmm . . thats one end of war for now . . soon something else will start .

[ashok jain]

Bad news , we will miss price competition now.

[Zeeshan Quireshi]

I think All-Digital Movie Downloads will be the real winners in 5 Years .

Blu-Ray only for Data Backup n stuff . But Downloads will be the standard to deliver HD movies .

[baccilus]

Read this and you will know what I mean:

Toshiba Corp. will end production of HD DVD products following a round of support for Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray dsdic format, according to a new report.NHK Japan Broadcasting Corp. on Sat. said that Toshiba will continue to sell HD DVD products in the interim, however it will close DVD factories in Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan.
The report follows a rash of announcements from Wal-Mart stores, Netflix Inc. and Best Buy Co. Inc. that it will back Blu-ray disc over HD DVD.
HD DVD has held a tense war between Blu-ray disc at retail for high-definition royalties.
The Blu-ray disc camped scored a coup in Jan. when Warner Bros. announced it will produce new high-definition content exclusively on Blu-ray.
Blu-ray player sales recorded an 82 percent share in the week ending Jan. 27. HD DVD recorded the remaining 18 percent, according to data from Nielsen VideoScan. Major retailers this week are offering steep discounts on HD DVD products.
Amazon.com this week began offering a 'Buy 2 Get 1 Free' promotion on a wide range of HD DVD titles.
Additionally, it is promoting a 3-for-2 sale on Blu-ray disc titles.
Best Buy last week offered a 'Buy 1 Get 1 Free' promo on select HD DVD titles.
Finally, Walmart.com this week held a clearance on a stand-alone HD DVD player. It also discontinued Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 HD DVD Player to online customers.

Source

[slugger]

late in reportin it buddy

requestin mods to merge it with the other trhread

REPORTIN

[Charan]

^^ iTunes Store already provides HD Movies and Blu-Ray will still be used to provide HD movies.. main reason .. many may not have computer at all.. , also HD is ment to be seen on large Displays, so a standalone player + a HDTV will be the next wave if not it already started

[slugger]

Originally Posted by Zeeshan Quireshi

I think All-Digital Movie Downloads will be the real winners in 5 Years .

Blu-Ray only for Data Backup n stuff . But Downloads will be the standard to deliver HD movies .

5 yrs a too less a time frame to completely do away with optical discs for movie distribution, even by western standards

and in India ......

[goobimama]

Yeah. I don't think there's going to be another format after blu ray for consumers. What does a consumer have after all?
Movies? - Can rent them off an online store (at least in 6-7 years this will be a complete reality)
Music? - Online
Photos? - Flickr (AppleTV has already shown that you don't need to have your pictures on your hard drive.)
Documents? - Online storage.

I can only see professionals and corporates using media as a form of backup and such.

[baccilus]

Originally Posted by slugger

5 yrs a too less a time frame to completely do away with optical discs for movie distribution, even by western standards

and in India ......

Just think of where we were in 2003 in terms of internet and computers and you will realise that this is not such an impossible thing.
BTW I posted this too somewhere without checking out this thread.

[slugger]

looks like Toshiba is not goin to give up so easily

Toshiba Bets on Chinese HD DVD Format

The establishment of the China High Definition DVD (CH-DVD) format is one of the few weapons left for Toshiba against rival Sony, at a time where the high-def format war seems to phase out.

Backed by the DVD Forum, Toshiba has been actively preparing the Chinese market for the introduction of the Chinese version of HD DVD in mainland China. The company together with some global HD DVD backers and Chinese companies set up the China High Definition DVD Industry Association on September 7, 2007, in an attempt to promote the mass production of China High Definition DVD (CH-DVD).

But the beginning of 2008 turned out to be unfortunate for the Japanese company, with major studio Warner Bros. jumping to the Blu-ray Disc camp and leaving the competing HD DVD format with a dwindling base of Hollywood support.

Although the lack of HD DVD film content could eventually not allow the HD DVD to establish itself in the major Chinese market, Toshiba may still have some have some chances through the China High Definition DVD.

The basic advantage of the HD DVD format over the rival Blu-ray is the lowest prices of the players. The goal for the CH-DVD format is to maintain lower production costs of the upcoming HD-DVD players than the imported Sony and Pioneer-branded Blu-ray devices. Towards this direction, the China High Definition DVD Industry Association is examining the possibilities to integrate the Audio and Video Coding Standard (AVS) in the HD DVD player decoder chip.

Plenty of domestic companies in the China High Definition DVD Industry Association are preparing to rollout HD DVD players during 2008. Some of the products, priced at no more than CNY 3,000 ($418), will be available in the market in the coming March, according to Lu Da, an official of the Optical Memory National Engineering Research Center (OMNERC).

On the other hand, the Blu-ray camp has also tried to enter the Chinese market. Pioneer-branded Blu-ray players have been provided to Chinese customers since the past year. However, the pricey CNY 14,800 ($2,058) has kept any potential buyers away. Since January 24, 2008, the first CNY 4,990 ($694) Blu-ray DVD player catering for the Chinese customers, launched by Blu-ray backer Sony, has been available on the shelves of the leading Chinese household appliance retailers.

The Toshiba brand is expected to keep aloof from the Chinese HD DVD player market, said Toshiba China Co., Ltd. last week, according to a report on Sinocast China business directory. This means that the largest HD-DVD player supporter is not going to make a foray into the Chinese market in order not to affect the sales of the Chinese manufacturers.

SOURCE