Has anyone adopted one of these formats yet? I picked up an HD DVD player the other day at Best Buy, but I haven't gotten around to opening it yet. Probably will do that this weekend.
I'm hoping Blu Ray wins the format war because it seems more versatile. The prices are still pretty high on that one though.
In the HD DVD player box, I have 300, and the Bourne Identity. I guess I'll be viewing that over the weekend.
Full Version: Blu Ray or HD DVD?
QUOTE (DustyVolume @ Feb 1 2008, 09:13 PM) 
Has anyone adopted one of these formats yet? I picked up an HD DVD player the other day at Best Buy, but I haven't gotten around to opening it yet. Probably will do that this weekend.
I'm hoping Blu Ray wins the format war because it seems more versatile. The prices are still pretty high on that one though.
In the HD DVD player box, I have 300, and the Bourne Identity. I guess I'll be viewing that over the weekend.
I'm hoping Blu Ray wins the format war because it seems more versatile. The prices are still pretty high on that one though.
In the HD DVD player box, I have 300, and the Bourne Identity. I guess I'll be viewing that over the weekend.
many in the industry expect HD-DVD to disappear before the end of the year, maybe by the end of summer. paramount is the only studio that remains exclusively in the HD-DVD camp, target (the #2 retailer of DVD's) has recently announced they are going exclusively w/blu-ray, circuit city never even picked it up. blockbuster & hollywood are exclusively blu-ray.
all of that, coupled with the playstation 3's huge success and being blu-ray (and sony being the primary developer), it's not a matter if "if." it's when will HD go away. and based on recent experiences in format transitions, the software will dry up fast.
Thanks for that insight, Bill. I was afraid that by dropping their prices, HD would win out by successfully placing enough players in the hands of the masses. I may take this one back now and pick up a slightly more expensive Blu Ray. One thing I don't agree with is that the PS3 has been a huge success. From what I understand in the gaming world, they are sucking tail pipe compared to the 360. I think there are something like only 9 truly exclusive games to the PS3, and that margin is dwindling rather than growing.
QUOTE (DustyVolume @ Feb 1 2008, 10:49 PM)
One thing I don't agree with is that the PS3 has been a huge success. From what I understand in the gaming world, they are sucking tail pipe compared to the 360. I think there are something like only 9 truly exclusive games to the PS3, and that margin is dwindling rather than growing.
sorry, i mispoke, what i meant to say when i said "huge success" would have been better said that it was "hugely significant", even though sale are not @ projections, thru PS3 sony has placed tens of millions of blu-ray players into the market. you gotta get he hardware in the market to to sell the software, which (for sony, thru licensing) is where the real money is.
both PS3 & XBX 360 have been disappointments, neither selling near the expected goals. i'm not sure of the exact numbers but i believe they are close to even, 360 may be slightly ahead, not sure. 360 sales were so slow, just months after launch, that bill gates personally ordered and announced a $100 per unit price reduction. and sony has had major management turnover/restructuring and financial issues and seems to have lost some focus on what they do best...market.
the real bright spot in gaming right now is a huge surprise, the resurgence of nintendo w/the Wii system. an amazing little box, it's so cool it shoulda been designed by apple. they are still virtually impossible to get and it's not unusual to see one selling for 4x/5x retail price on e-bay.
it'll be interesting to see what happens w/360 if HD-DVD dies. microsoft is a major player in the consortium of manufacturers of HD-DVD along w/toshiba (blu-ray is a partnership between sony & java), and it is exclusively HD-DVD (w/an add on drive) it would be interesting to see if they would (or if they could?) retrofit/update it accept a blu-ray drive.
Yep, yep. I agree with Sir Wm.
HD DVD will be out of the picture by the end of this year.
Paramount and Universal have been grumbling Blu Ray for a few weeks.
HD DVD will be out of the picture by the end of this year.
Paramount and Universal have been grumbling Blu Ray for a few weeks.
Get a Betamax with an Eight Track.
Jeopardy this week taught me that 8 track was (at least co-) invented by Lear of Learjet fame...
QUOTE (b_lachey@hotmail.com @ Feb 2 2008, 11:20 AM)
Jeopardy this week taught me that 8 track was (at least co-) invented by Lear of Learjet fame...
really. didn't know that. did you know that sony actually developed both vhs and beta? they developed both formats, felt that beta was the superior of the two (which it was) and sold the vhs technology to JVC. ther rest, as they say, is history...
QUOTE (pico de gallo @ Feb 2 2008, 10:35 AM)
Get a Betamax with an Eight Track.
"Bwahahahahahahahahaha!"
QUOTE (pico de gallo @ Feb 2 2008, 09:35 AM)
Get a Betamax with an Eight Track.
Beta was such a technically superior format to VHS.
Corporations (specifically Sony, in this case) are idiots.
My dad, who's also kind of an idiot, naturally ran out and bought an HD-DVD player within a couple months of them becoming reasonably affordable. The one thing I did think was really cool about it is he has a couple of dual-sided discs with a standard DVD on one side and the HD version on the other. Thus, one could build a collection of HD-DVD movies without even trying. But...that idea was waaaay too logical for them, just like the major labels and hybrid SACD's.
It'd be cool to see something like that with BluRay but I haven't heard of anything like it so far.
I did watch 300 in HD last Thanksgiving and it was pretty freaking awesome. Too bad it'll be about 10 years before I could afford HD in my apartment...heh.
well, it looks like the decision may come sooner than later...
losing wal*mart and best buy, both early supporters of the format, is huge. on top of blockbuster, netflix, target and circuit city all already going exclusively blu-ray...
losing wal*mart and best buy, both early supporters of the format, is huge. on top of blockbuster, netflix, target and circuit city all already going exclusively blu-ray...
QUOTE
Home Media Retailing 2/15/2008
Wal-Mart Turns Blu
Author: STEPHANIE PRANGE
Wal-Mart Stores U.S. today announced that its 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores will move forward this year with one high-def movie and hardware format: Blu-ray.
By June, Wal-Mart stores, Sam’s Clubs, www.walmart.com and www.samsclub.com will offer only Blu-ray Disc movies and hardware machines, as well as standard-definition DVDs and DVD players, and upconverting DVD players.
“We’ve listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases,” said Gary Severson, SVP, home entertainment, Wal-Mart U.S. “With the customers best interest in all we do, we wanted to share our decision and timeline with them as soon as possible, knowing it will help simplify their purchase decision, increase selection and increase adoption long term. We anticipate enhancing our selection with continued great values in high-definition Blu-ray products.”
Wal-Mart will sell through remaining HD DVD product, but “in less than 30 days customers will see a more predominant move toward Blu-ray in stores, clubs and online,” the company announced.
The announcement follows similar moves this week by online rental pioneer Netflix and consumer-electronics chain Best Buy. Netflix said it will no longer purchase HD DVD titles, and subscribers with HD DVD in their saved queue will be converted to standard DVD by the end of the month.
Best Buy announced it will begin steering consumers toward Blu-ray Disc with prominently displayed hardware and software displays.
“Consumers have told us that they want us to help lead the way,” said Brian Dunn, president and COO of Best Buy. “We’ve listened to our customers, and we are responding. Best Buy will recommend Blu-ray as the preferred format.”
Netflix’s chief content officer said: “The prolonged period of competition between two formats has prevented clear communication to the consumer regarding the richness of the high-def experience versus standard definition. We’re now at the point where the industry can pursue the migration to a single format, bring clarity to the consumer and accelerate the adoption of high-def.”
==========================================================================
Home Media Retailing 2/14/2008
HD DVD Format on Death Watch
Author: THOMAS K. ARNOLD and ERIK GRUENWEDEL
The format war has turned into a format death watch.
Toshiba is widely expected to pull the plug on its HD DVD format sometime in the coming weeks, reliable industry sources say, after a rash of retail defections that followed Warner Home Video’s stunning announcement in early January that it would only support the rival Blu-ray Disc format after May.
Officially, no decision has been made, insists Jodi Sally, VP of marketing for Toshiba America Consumer Products. “Based on its technological advancements, we continue to believe HD DVD is the best format for consumers, given the value and consistent quality inherent in our player offerings,” she said.
But she hinted that something’s in the air. “Given the market developments in the past month,” she said, “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.”
Immediately after the Warner announcement, the HD DVD North American Promotional Group canceled its Consumer Electronics Show presentation. The following week, data collected by The NPD Group gave Blu-ray 93% of all hardware sales for that week.
Toshiba subsequently fired back by drastically cutting its HD DVD player prices by as much as half, effective Jan. 15. But a hoped-for consumer sales surge never materialized; retail point-of-sale data collected by The NPD Group for the week ending Jan. 26 still showed Blu-ray Disc players ahead by a wide margin, 65% to 28%.
Software sales have declined as well. The latest Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales data show the top-selling Blu-ray Disc title for the week, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s Across the Universe, sold more than three times as many copies the week ending Feb. 10 as the top HD DVD seller, Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Blu-ray Disc titles also accounted for 81% of all high-def disc sales for the week, with HD DVD at just 19%.
Toshiba had been pitching its discounted HD DVD players toward the standard DVD crowd as well as high-def enthusiasts, noting in its ad message that the new players would make DVDs look a lot better as well. And as a last-ditch effort the company ran an ad during the Super Bowl — a 30-second spot that reportedly cost $2.7 million.
But in the end, sources say, the substantial loss Toshiba is incurring with each HD DVD player sold — a figure sources say could be as high as several hundred dollars — coupled with a series of high-profile retail defections, have driven the company to at last concede defeat.
“An announcement is coming soon,” said one source close to the HD DVD camp. “It would be a matter of weeks.”
Microsoft is the other big player in the HD DVD equation; when Paramount Home Entertainment last fall announced it was dropping its dual-format strategy and would release titles only in HD DVD, giving that side a brief resurgence, a pitch to journalists for interviews came from a Microsoft email address.
Several phone calls to Kevin Collins, Microsoft’s normally accessible “HD DVD evangelist,” were not returned. Nor were calls to Ken Graffeo, the Universal Studios Home Entertainment executive who doubles as co-president of the HD DVD North American Promotional Group.
When Warner abandoned HD DVD in January, the format was left with just two of the six major studios, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment, backing it. Blu-ray support among independents is rising. ADV Films, Tai Seng Entertainment, Topics Entertainment and National Geographic have all confirmed they are going Blu-ray exclusive, while more than one indie that was releasing titles just on HD DVD, including Surround Records and Opus Arte, will now offer Blu-ray as well.
This week, two key retailers, Best Buy and Netflix Inc., both got off the fence and threw their support behind Blu-ray exclusively, citing widespread studio support and consumer preference. Both companies said Warner’s decision was a turning point in their strategies.
“We’ve listened to our customers, and we are responding,” said Best Buy president and COO Brian Dunn.
Netflix spokesperson Steve Swasey said it appeared the format war had been won by Blu-ray for the benefit of everyone.
“We wanted to put an exclamation point behind that,” he said.
Industry observers are closely watching Amazon, but there’s been no movement, other than a 50% off sale for 150 HD DVD titles, including Transformers, Zodiac and Stardust.
Blockbuster Inc. last summer already decided to offer only Blu-ray Disc titles at its company-owned rental stores.
Chris Tribbey, Home Media Magazine senior reporter, contributed to this report.
Wal-Mart Turns Blu
Author: STEPHANIE PRANGE
Wal-Mart Stores U.S. today announced that its 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores will move forward this year with one high-def movie and hardware format: Blu-ray.
By June, Wal-Mart stores, Sam’s Clubs, www.walmart.com and www.samsclub.com will offer only Blu-ray Disc movies and hardware machines, as well as standard-definition DVDs and DVD players, and upconverting DVD players.
“We’ve listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases,” said Gary Severson, SVP, home entertainment, Wal-Mart U.S. “With the customers best interest in all we do, we wanted to share our decision and timeline with them as soon as possible, knowing it will help simplify their purchase decision, increase selection and increase adoption long term. We anticipate enhancing our selection with continued great values in high-definition Blu-ray products.”
Wal-Mart will sell through remaining HD DVD product, but “in less than 30 days customers will see a more predominant move toward Blu-ray in stores, clubs and online,” the company announced.
The announcement follows similar moves this week by online rental pioneer Netflix and consumer-electronics chain Best Buy. Netflix said it will no longer purchase HD DVD titles, and subscribers with HD DVD in their saved queue will be converted to standard DVD by the end of the month.
Best Buy announced it will begin steering consumers toward Blu-ray Disc with prominently displayed hardware and software displays.
“Consumers have told us that they want us to help lead the way,” said Brian Dunn, president and COO of Best Buy. “We’ve listened to our customers, and we are responding. Best Buy will recommend Blu-ray as the preferred format.”
Netflix’s chief content officer said: “The prolonged period of competition between two formats has prevented clear communication to the consumer regarding the richness of the high-def experience versus standard definition. We’re now at the point where the industry can pursue the migration to a single format, bring clarity to the consumer and accelerate the adoption of high-def.”
==========================================================================
Home Media Retailing 2/14/2008
HD DVD Format on Death Watch
Author: THOMAS K. ARNOLD and ERIK GRUENWEDEL
The format war has turned into a format death watch.
Toshiba is widely expected to pull the plug on its HD DVD format sometime in the coming weeks, reliable industry sources say, after a rash of retail defections that followed Warner Home Video’s stunning announcement in early January that it would only support the rival Blu-ray Disc format after May.
Officially, no decision has been made, insists Jodi Sally, VP of marketing for Toshiba America Consumer Products. “Based on its technological advancements, we continue to believe HD DVD is the best format for consumers, given the value and consistent quality inherent in our player offerings,” she said.
But she hinted that something’s in the air. “Given the market developments in the past month,” she said, “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.”
Immediately after the Warner announcement, the HD DVD North American Promotional Group canceled its Consumer Electronics Show presentation. The following week, data collected by The NPD Group gave Blu-ray 93% of all hardware sales for that week.
Toshiba subsequently fired back by drastically cutting its HD DVD player prices by as much as half, effective Jan. 15. But a hoped-for consumer sales surge never materialized; retail point-of-sale data collected by The NPD Group for the week ending Jan. 26 still showed Blu-ray Disc players ahead by a wide margin, 65% to 28%.
Software sales have declined as well. The latest Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales data show the top-selling Blu-ray Disc title for the week, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s Across the Universe, sold more than three times as many copies the week ending Feb. 10 as the top HD DVD seller, Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Blu-ray Disc titles also accounted for 81% of all high-def disc sales for the week, with HD DVD at just 19%.
Toshiba had been pitching its discounted HD DVD players toward the standard DVD crowd as well as high-def enthusiasts, noting in its ad message that the new players would make DVDs look a lot better as well. And as a last-ditch effort the company ran an ad during the Super Bowl — a 30-second spot that reportedly cost $2.7 million.
But in the end, sources say, the substantial loss Toshiba is incurring with each HD DVD player sold — a figure sources say could be as high as several hundred dollars — coupled with a series of high-profile retail defections, have driven the company to at last concede defeat.
“An announcement is coming soon,” said one source close to the HD DVD camp. “It would be a matter of weeks.”
Microsoft is the other big player in the HD DVD equation; when Paramount Home Entertainment last fall announced it was dropping its dual-format strategy and would release titles only in HD DVD, giving that side a brief resurgence, a pitch to journalists for interviews came from a Microsoft email address.
Several phone calls to Kevin Collins, Microsoft’s normally accessible “HD DVD evangelist,” were not returned. Nor were calls to Ken Graffeo, the Universal Studios Home Entertainment executive who doubles as co-president of the HD DVD North American Promotional Group.
When Warner abandoned HD DVD in January, the format was left with just two of the six major studios, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment, backing it. Blu-ray support among independents is rising. ADV Films, Tai Seng Entertainment, Topics Entertainment and National Geographic have all confirmed they are going Blu-ray exclusive, while more than one indie that was releasing titles just on HD DVD, including Surround Records and Opus Arte, will now offer Blu-ray as well.
This week, two key retailers, Best Buy and Netflix Inc., both got off the fence and threw their support behind Blu-ray exclusively, citing widespread studio support and consumer preference. Both companies said Warner’s decision was a turning point in their strategies.
“We’ve listened to our customers, and we are responding,” said Best Buy president and COO Brian Dunn.
Netflix spokesperson Steve Swasey said it appeared the format war had been won by Blu-ray for the benefit of everyone.
“We wanted to put an exclamation point behind that,” he said.
Industry observers are closely watching Amazon, but there’s been no movement, other than a 50% off sale for 150 HD DVD titles, including Transformers, Zodiac and Stardust.
Blockbuster Inc. last summer already decided to offer only Blu-ray Disc titles at its company-owned rental stores.
Chris Tribbey, Home Media Magazine senior reporter, contributed to this report.
Backwards compatibility is all I care about. By the time I actually buy HD and a new player the market will have decided for me. I just don't want to lose playability of all my existing DVDs and/or XVID videos.
QUOTE (stivmc @ Feb 16 2008, 09:00 PM)
Backwards compatibility is all I care about.
yeah, that's built into both so no worries there.
Backwards compatibility is easy.
What I can't understand is why they can't do 'forwards compatibility,' in a sense. A few record labels were on the right track with hybrid-SACD discs, doing Dylan, Elton and Stones reissues in that format, then in their eternal wisdom, just abandoned it before the concept could ever get off the ground. If they could do dual-sided DVD/HD-DVD discs, I presume they could do the same with Blu-Ray, now that the format war is over, allowing people to more gradually switch over to the new format. I think it would also help DVD sales at the present, since I think people are going to be slightly hesitant to buy standard definition DVD's soon if they know eventually they'll have Blu-Ray players and whatnot.
What I can't understand is why they can't do 'forwards compatibility,' in a sense. A few record labels were on the right track with hybrid-SACD discs, doing Dylan, Elton and Stones reissues in that format, then in their eternal wisdom, just abandoned it before the concept could ever get off the ground. If they could do dual-sided DVD/HD-DVD discs, I presume they could do the same with Blu-Ray, now that the format war is over, allowing people to more gradually switch over to the new format. I think it would also help DVD sales at the present, since I think people are going to be slightly hesitant to buy standard definition DVD's soon if they know eventually they'll have Blu-Ray players and whatnot.
QUOTE
Investors cheer as Toshiba nears HD DVD surrender
By Nathan Layne
1 hour, 7 minutes ago
TOKYO (Reuters) - Investors cheered an impending end to a format war for next-generation DVDs on Monday, pushing up shares of both Toshiba, on the verge of abandoning its HD DVD discs, and Sony, the leader of the rival Blu-ray camp.
Toshiba Corp shares jumped 5.1 percent as analysts praised its decision to cut its losses, while Sony Corp, whose technology is set to become the industry standard for the next generation of high-definition home movie DVDs, rose 2.7 percent.
"It doesn't make sense for Toshiba to continue putting effort into this," said Koichi Ogawa, a chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments. "It needs to cut its losses and focus its resources on promising businesses."
A source at Toshiba told Reuters on Saturday that the electronics conglomerate was planning to give up on the HD DVD format after losing the support of key retailers and several movie studios including Warner Brothers.
Toshiba, which led a consortium promoting HD DVD, would suffer losses of hundreds of millions of dollars to scrap production of its equipment and other steps to withdraw from the business, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.
But analysts gave high marks to Toshiba's seemingly quick decision to pull the plug on HD DVD because of the heavy costs involved in promoting the format.
Nikko Citigroup raised its rating on Toshiba to "buy/high risk" from "hold/high risk." JP Morgan maintained its "overweight" rating while predicting the elimination of sales promotion costs would add 30 billion yen ($280 million) to Toshiba's operating profit in the next business year from April.
"Since the business has no growth potential without video software, we think the company will probably withdraw completely rather than just partially," JP Morgan analysts Yoshiharu Izumi and Masashi Hayami wrote in a note to clients.
PRESSURE FOR WINNER
While keen on a new format DVD that can hold more content and produce higher-quality pictures, movie studios and retailers want a single format that would avoid the cost of producing and stocking two different types of DVD.
Shoppers, faced with two formats and movies that might only play on one or the other, have tended to buy neither at a time when the entertainment industry was hoping the new generation discs would revive the $24 billion home DVD sector.
An end to the war means consumers can now be sure they won't be stuck with a 21st century equivalent of Betamax -- Sony's videotape technology that lost out to VHS in the 1980s.
Shares of Toshiba hit 828 yen in morning trade, their highest since late December. Sony shares hit 4,980 yen but shares of Matsushita Electric Industrial, a key Blu-ray supporter, shed 0.7 percent. The benchmark Nikkei average was up 1.3 percent.
The defection of Time Warner Inc's Warner Brothers to Blu-ray from HD DVD in January was a heavy blow to Toshiba's plans.
It took Hollywood's biggest film library into the Sony consortium's camp and meant 70 percent of Hollywood movies would be in the Blu-ray format.
When the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, said on Friday it would quit stocking HD DVD movies in its 4,000 U.S. stores, both consumers and pundits said the war was over.
The decision matched earlier ones by consumer electronics chain Best Buy Co Inc and online video rental company Netflix Inc
"Blu-ray won. It's fantastic and I trust Sony," said one customer who was browsing the DVD player aisles at the Best Buy Co Inc store on New York's Fifth Avenue.
Tania Bonetti, who works in the home theatre section of the store, where DVD players cost from $399 to almost $1,000, said, "Blu-rays are flying off the shelves, but we have to order if you want HD."
Wal-Mart's own movie and gaming blogger put the future of HD DVD in stark terms.
"If you bought the HD player like me, I'd retire it to the bedroom, kid's playroom, or give it to your parents to play their John Wayne standard def movies, and make space for a BD (Blu-ray disc) player for your awesome Hi Def experience," Wal-Mart blogger Susan Chronister wrote in a posting.
Stephanie Prange, editor in chief of Home Media Magazine, said the war's end should boost high-definition DVD adoption.
"It would definitely help. The two formats, though both were good, have confused consumers and prevented them from moving into the high-def future," she said.
($1=107.83 Yen)
(Editing by Rodney Joyce)
By Nathan Layne
1 hour, 7 minutes ago
TOKYO (Reuters) - Investors cheered an impending end to a format war for next-generation DVDs on Monday, pushing up shares of both Toshiba, on the verge of abandoning its HD DVD discs, and Sony, the leader of the rival Blu-ray camp.
Toshiba Corp shares jumped 5.1 percent as analysts praised its decision to cut its losses, while Sony Corp, whose technology is set to become the industry standard for the next generation of high-definition home movie DVDs, rose 2.7 percent.
"It doesn't make sense for Toshiba to continue putting effort into this," said Koichi Ogawa, a chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments. "It needs to cut its losses and focus its resources on promising businesses."
A source at Toshiba told Reuters on Saturday that the electronics conglomerate was planning to give up on the HD DVD format after losing the support of key retailers and several movie studios including Warner Brothers.
Toshiba, which led a consortium promoting HD DVD, would suffer losses of hundreds of millions of dollars to scrap production of its equipment and other steps to withdraw from the business, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.
But analysts gave high marks to Toshiba's seemingly quick decision to pull the plug on HD DVD because of the heavy costs involved in promoting the format.
Nikko Citigroup raised its rating on Toshiba to "buy/high risk" from "hold/high risk." JP Morgan maintained its "overweight" rating while predicting the elimination of sales promotion costs would add 30 billion yen ($280 million) to Toshiba's operating profit in the next business year from April.
"Since the business has no growth potential without video software, we think the company will probably withdraw completely rather than just partially," JP Morgan analysts Yoshiharu Izumi and Masashi Hayami wrote in a note to clients.
PRESSURE FOR WINNER
While keen on a new format DVD that can hold more content and produce higher-quality pictures, movie studios and retailers want a single format that would avoid the cost of producing and stocking two different types of DVD.
Shoppers, faced with two formats and movies that might only play on one or the other, have tended to buy neither at a time when the entertainment industry was hoping the new generation discs would revive the $24 billion home DVD sector.
An end to the war means consumers can now be sure they won't be stuck with a 21st century equivalent of Betamax -- Sony's videotape technology that lost out to VHS in the 1980s.
Shares of Toshiba hit 828 yen in morning trade, their highest since late December. Sony shares hit 4,980 yen but shares of Matsushita Electric Industrial, a key Blu-ray supporter, shed 0.7 percent. The benchmark Nikkei average was up 1.3 percent.
The defection of Time Warner Inc's Warner Brothers to Blu-ray from HD DVD in January was a heavy blow to Toshiba's plans.
It took Hollywood's biggest film library into the Sony consortium's camp and meant 70 percent of Hollywood movies would be in the Blu-ray format.
When the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, said on Friday it would quit stocking HD DVD movies in its 4,000 U.S. stores, both consumers and pundits said the war was over.
The decision matched earlier ones by consumer electronics chain Best Buy Co Inc and online video rental company Netflix Inc
"Blu-ray won. It's fantastic and I trust Sony," said one customer who was browsing the DVD player aisles at the Best Buy Co Inc store on New York's Fifth Avenue.
Tania Bonetti, who works in the home theatre section of the store, where DVD players cost from $399 to almost $1,000, said, "Blu-rays are flying off the shelves, but we have to order if you want HD."
Wal-Mart's own movie and gaming blogger put the future of HD DVD in stark terms.
"If you bought the HD player like me, I'd retire it to the bedroom, kid's playroom, or give it to your parents to play their John Wayne standard def movies, and make space for a BD (Blu-ray disc) player for your awesome Hi Def experience," Wal-Mart blogger Susan Chronister wrote in a posting.
Stephanie Prange, editor in chief of Home Media Magazine, said the war's end should boost high-definition DVD adoption.
"It would definitely help. The two formats, though both were good, have confused consumers and prevented them from moving into the high-def future," she said.
($1=107.83 Yen)
(Editing by Rodney Joyce)
I'm taking my HD DVD player back to the store today. It was a good experiment. I did like the added features and benefits of the format, however I will just wait for blu ray to come down a bit more in price. I suppose I should be careful which DVDs I buy going forward. Ahh technology.
QUOTE
Toshiba to announce HD DVD pullout on Tuesday: (report 22 minutes ago)
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Toshiba Corp (6502.T) will announce plans to cease production and sales of HD DVD players on Tuesday, the Nikkei business daily said.
Toshiba, the world's No.2 maker of NAND flash memory, will also announce plans to build new NAND factories in a bid to overtake South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS), the paper said.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Toshiba Corp (6502.T) will announce plans to cease production and sales of HD DVD players on Tuesday, the Nikkei business daily said.
Toshiba, the world's No.2 maker of NAND flash memory, will also announce plans to build new NAND factories in a bid to overtake South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS), the paper said.
I read something in a trade publication today about a new format. Its not quite into Beta testing, and probably would be used for broadcasting purposes, and not commercial. We'll see if it flies though - most broadcasters are pretty much married to server based programming nowadays.
Anyways, just thought I would share my geeky, insider knowledge.
Anyways, just thought I would share my geeky, insider knowledge.
QUOTE (Aaron @ Feb 18 2008, 09:34 PM)
I read something in a trade publication today about a new format. Its not quite into Beta testing, and probably would be used for broadcasting purposes, and not commercial. We'll see if it flies though - most broadcasters are pretty much married to server based programming nowadays.
Anyways, just thought I would share my geeky, insider knowledge.
Anyways, just thought I would share my geeky, insider knowledge.
personally, i think that we're a year, maybe two, maybe five from reloadable SD type chips being the norm. a possible "universal" format (maybe even a real "universal" format for all platforms like games, music, movies, photographs, documents, etc?). it could work everywhere, portable devices like i-pod/i-phones, cell phones, pda's, computers, car stereos, tv/monitors, everything. and it could work wirelessly/seamlessly between the "player" to the tv, if not to multiple tv's.
terms would be totally flexible, one price if you want to "rent" it for 24 hrs, another if you wanted it for a week, or you could "rent" it by the # of views, one price for one, another for five views. and of course, they would self-erase, no returns necessary or late fees due. unless, of course, you wanted to "buy it" for yet another price (and they would have a digital laser printer to print the cover art w/your purchase). totally, completely flexible, for the consumer and the provider. zero cost of goods and distribution costs. and most importantly from the customer's perspective, never an "out of stock" issue.
these could be downloaded from a kiosk no larger than the kodak photo kiosks you see everywhere: specialty stores, grocery stores, drug stores, fast food. or you could simply download online.
wait and see, you heard it here first...
QUOTE (bivester @ Feb 18 2008, 10:28 PM)
wait and see, you heard it here first...
Bill, I think this is coming just not as soon as 1-5 years, and I'm curious to know what you think it would take to get the big corporations to let go of their money making proprietary formats and copyrights? Full industry wide adoption with governmental mandates for equal market shares? If so, wouldn't it have to go global--as in one market, one currency?
I hope Bill is right, but I have a feeling, as Dusty implied, proprietary formats and corporate BS will make any technological innovation take longer than 1-5 years, methinks. As for SD chips, I don't know if there's any that could hold enough memory for a full movie in HD, but I could be wrong. I really don't think any kind of physical media like that is the future though. If Comcast, in all it's barely-functional glory, can stream HD movies on demand to my living room (okay, my parents' living room...I'll get HDTV around, i don't know, 2025?), what's stopping them from similarly streaming entire libraries of films on demand? No need for cards or kiosks or whatnot, it'll just...be there. It's only a matter of time, I think.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.