“The format war has turned into a format death watch,” Thomas K. Arnold and Erik Gruenwedel report for The Hollywood Reporter. “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 announcement in early January that it would support only 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,” Arnold and Gruenwedel report. “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.'”
Arnold and Gruenwedel report, “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 revealed Blu-ray took in 93% of all hardware sales for that week.”
“Microsoft is the other big player in the HD DVD equation. Last fall when Paramount Home Entertainment 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,” Arnold and Gruenwedel report. “Several phone calls to Kevin Collins, Microsoft’s normally accessible ‘HD DVD evangelist,’ were not returned.”
Full article here.
Our Take from September 02, 2005: “HD-DVD must die.” From September 27, 2005: “Imagine, Apple… on the side of the better technology while Microsoft chooses to go with the cheap, second-rate ‘solution.’ How typical is that?”
Again, word is that you can get XBox HD DVD players really, really cheap nowadays. 
We are amazed at recent developments in the the general public’s newfound ability to choose superior technology regardless of perceived price. Along with Blu-ray’s triumph (however short-lived it may be; get an Apple TV, that’s the real future), look at iPod+iTunes, iPhone, and the Macintosh resurgence as other examples of Joe and Jane Sixpack rapidly becoming more tech-literate with each passing day.
This ain’t VHS vs. Beta, folks. Now, in what can only be described as a pleasant surprise, the best formats and technologies are winning!
YESSSSSSSSSSSS!
NOOOOOOOOOOO!
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
No HD-DVD burners. 1/2 the capacity. It was a matter of time.
Yes! Here’s a toast to more gigabytes.
UuuggghhhAaaah! There can be only one!!
GUESS THE MOVIE
… a decapitated body lying on the floor, next to it’s own severed head. So far no one knows his name….
<bagpipes chiming>
I know his name!
When will companies figure out that “partnering” with (aka volunteering to be ass-raped) Microsoft is the equivalent of taking all the money they invest in the venture and burning it?
You hear that BetaMax…We’re going to be okaaaaay! Steve Jobs says we’re all going to make it!
MDN is slooooow today!
Blu-ray had a cooler name. That is why it one out, plain and simple. And don’t forget the millions of PS3 with Blu-ray built in. And the better storage capacity. But really, the name is what sealed the deal.
To Jostiman: “Highlander”
No one seems to remember that it was Toshiba who sold (gave?) our silent (Submarine) screw technology to the Russians back in the cold war days. This cost the U.S. over 30 Billion $ to find new ways to track Russian subs. It warms the cockels of my heart to see Toshiba eat shit on anything. I have never bought anything that said Toshiba on it since.
We are amazed at recent developments in the the general public’s newfound ability to choose superior technology regardless of perceived price.
The general public gets it right when they are well informed, the problem is the quality of information not the public. Misinformation is the currency of the vested interests and permeated by the news media that they fund via advertising and ownership/stock holding. The vested interests also determine who you can vote for by funding candidates who support their positions – of both parties.
They’ve been at if for a few centuries and are quite good at it
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
The bad part about this is that the bluray disks are likely to stay expensive and ive noticed a LOT fewer sales and deals through amazon since Warner jumped onto Bluray exclusively.
“No one seems to remember that it was Toshiba who sold (gave?) our silent (Submarine) screw technology to the Russians back in the cold war days. “
From what I remember this wasn’t the only case of them selling secrets to a communist nation.
The weight of MS support….buried it.
Monkey boy lost again!!!!
Yep. Pretty scummy bunch.
“In 1987, Toshiba Machine, the subsidiary of Toshiba, was accused of illegally selling CNC milling machines used to produce very quiet submarine propellers to the Soviet Union in violation of the CoCom agreement, an international embargo on Western exports to East Bloc countries. The Toshiba-Kongsberg scandal involved a subsidiary of Toshiba and the Norwegian company Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk. The incident strained relations between the United States and Japan, and resulted in the arrest and prosecution of two senior executives, as well as the imposition of sanctions on the company by both countries. The US had always relied on the fact that the Soviets had noisy boats, so technology that would make the USSR’s submarines harder to detect created a significant threat to America’s security. Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania said “What Toshiba and Kongsberg did was ransom the security of the United States for $517 million.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba
Does that mean we’ll get Blu-Ray in our Macs?
.. consumers lose. Enjoy buying a new player when the next BR revision comes out suckers as it adds features HD DVD already had.
First Yahoo appears to want to deal with anyone but Microsoft, now the studios don’t want to have anything to do with Microsoft’s magnificent HD DVD technology. Fools. Spurning the fine folks at Microsoft will be your folly.
I can’t wait for the first HD DVDs to come out with WMV files for use on Zunes. You get the superior HD experience on your TV as well as the portability you desire for content on your Zune. Microsoft and Toshiba make the whole widget. Suck it, MAC dorks. The studios will come crawling back. Buh-bye Apple and your crappy I-Tunes and I-Pods.
95% of the world’s computer users can’t be wrong.
Your potential. Our passion.™
Kahuna: Don’t worry, a few of us remember. The only way I end up with anything Toshiba is an OEM part.
Sorry MDN, HD downloads (or any movie download for that matter) are not going to displace physical media anytime soon. Most people still don’t have the bandwidth available to them to download GB’s of data in a reasonable time. Many, many people don’t even have broadband connections. We are already starting to hear the ISPs rethinking their pricing schemes based on the potential increased bandwidth (i.e. RoadRunner). The increased bandwidth usage is not going to be free. Physical discs will be around and will be the primary distribution method for many more years. It doesn’t really matter how good AppleTV is, it doesn’t fix the availability or size of the pipe through which the content is currently distributed.
When I come across the sad troll comments by You Know Who® above I move along.
Nothing worth reading.
Now to the news:
I’m glad that BluRay has been picked – only because it was the format NOT chosen by Micros**t.
BlueRay, we are here for you! And yes, we will be getting BlueRay in our Macs. Apple, is on the BlueRay board.
Parker – MacSoftwareList.com
If Apple starts making use of Blu-Ray, which iit will, I expect M$ to not be far behind with some half-arsed, inverted copy of Apple’s application of it. We’ll probably even see a sad attempt to add external Blu-Ray drives to the XBOX 360.
Finally, the war is over. As I said elsewhere, let the troops go home. We can now expect people to massively begin buying players, which will also mean that studios can finally focus on delivering just one format. They all now have plenty of time to compete against each other for the consumers dollars and we will be the winners in the end. The movies will cost as much as we are willing to pay for them. Don’t forget, DVD movies were $35 just seven years ago!
For all those for whom broadband isn’t an option (i.e. 98% of the world market), optical HD will be sweet food for their never-utilised HD TVs.
Holiday season 2008 will be owned by HD (and Apple, of course).
@Ignore the Troll
I’m glad you enjoy reading my posts and thank you for pointing out my comments to other MDN readers.
Keep posting!
Your potential. Our passion.™
“We are amazed at recent developments in the the general public’s newfound ability to choose superior technology regardless of perceived price”
Totally and completely wrong. They’re choosing the superior technology because the death of HD DVD is no longer a rumble amongst the tech geeks, it’s on prime time news and CNN, and everyone is informed. Average Joe doesn’t give a crap about the better technology or format wars behind it, they just want the movies they like. At least now true Geeks and non-Geeks alike aren’t going to choose a “sure death” format no matter the cost; though I’m sure the pond scum pricing of the dying HD DVD products right now will still drag down a few oblivious consumers with them.
awesome!
i hope i can pick up a player for 10 bucks and the matrix for 0.99 in hd-dvd now. i would be set until the next format wars.
peace out
“It’s dead, Jim.”
I’m suing…before anyone else so I get all that money from the class action settlement. Just wait…my name will be plastered all over those litigation papers. Plantiff…Register or Login. Damn I’m gonna be loaded.
Shouldn’t this article be above the next one talking about Wal Mart dropping HD-DVD?
@Ampar…
not me buddy, but seriously funny none the less.
You gotta admit that HD-DVD sounded better than Blu-Ray. It would also be easier for the average person to understand the transition to HD with HD-DVD.
BS, HD DVD sucked
The video quality was no where near as high as blu-ray, I agree, finally a better technology wins
“We are amazed at recent developments in the general public’s newfound ability to choose superior technology regardless of perceived price. “
This is simply NOT TRUE. The only reason Blu ray is the “winner” is because movie studios have jumped on board exclusively…..If I can only buy HD movies on the “fictitious holographic storage cube” then the Holographic storage cube format would “win” This has nothing to do with consumer choice, or decisions.
90% of people who go into Best buy to buy an HD optical disc player ever think about the disk capacity, DRM features, expanded technology functions etc….They just want to know where they can get their HD movies.
Don’t make this out to be more then it is. If the movie studios equally put out movies on both optical formats this “war” would be far from over.
Personally I have stayed out of this battle and will stick to HD content via the internet/VOD/iTunes.
To Jim – TIV:
@ Ampar
You forgot that Fred Thompson sent Jack Ryan to steal that sub from the Russians because it sounded like a volcano.
Or something.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
DIE HD DVD
C1: I thought Fred Thompson let Bruce Willis storm the Toshiba executive jet to arrest a Russian terrorist?
@ Cubert
“It would also be easier for the average person to understand the transition to HD with HD-DVD.”
???
I don’t get it. If I have to buy Fight Club again, then I have to buy Fight Club again. How is one format any ‘easier’, other than including ‘DVD’ in its name? We’ve had several format changes in our lives. Baby boomers have gone from vinyl records all the way to digital downloads, are there people who still don’t grasp the process?
This victory can largely be attributed to the PS3. I haven’t been that fond of Sony since the mid-90’s, but now I have to say, “thanks.”
@ Ampar
I thought that was Alan Rickman… and alas, your Mr. Okamura did not see it that way… so he won’t be joining us for the rest of his life.
“Baby boomers have gone from vinyl records all the way to digital downloads . . .”
And yet, I’m sure there are a few stubborn codgers who still refuse to give up their wax cylinders and kerosene lamps, dagnabbit.
” . . . so he won’t be joining us for the rest of his life.”
Too much sugar, enriched flour, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, polysorbate 60 and yellow dye number 5.
@ Ampar
“And yet, I’m sure there are a few stubborn codgers who still refuse to give up their wax cylinders and kerosene lamps, dagnabbit.”
Ah, I see you’ve met my father.
RIP!
Ah yes, and he’s a wily coot. I will never get my Frisbee back.
@ anaknipedro
yeah 2 syllables is a whole lot easier on the tongue than 5. and it just rolls off the tongue so nicely…. bluuu-ray.
The important issue of the large file backups that can be handled by BluRay is an especially important one to me. Because of the possibility of losing such large backups, more than one disk combined with alternate methods of backup would be needed, but BR disks are an important part of a redundant backup plan. And I agree with NewtonsApple’s comments, too.
Steve, can we please have Blu-Ray drives in the upcoming MacBook Pro’s now. At least as a BTO option. Thanks in advance.
Mac | Life
@ChrissyOne,
I just meant that for the average, non-computer/electronic product-literate person, a transition to HD-DVD would make more sense (purely from a name standpoint) than to Blu-Ray.
Like Kleenex to Kleenex Plus.
For whatever it’s worth, I am King of First Posts on The Second Page.
An Apple TV with built-in Blu-Ray would rock the world as much as the iPhone.
It would be wise to listen to NewtonsApple.
Where the TV (among other devices) shines is in the convenience of instant gratification of it brings to consumers.
However… convenience is not everything.
fuck you microsoft
@ Cubert
Point taken. And I’ll admit I thought if it just won on the name, it would be HD because of it’s low demand for cognizance. My friend said that he thought Blu-Ray would appeal to the consumer because it sounded spacier, and in retrospect I think he was right.
But I think this whole thing was really over when MS made it an option on the 360. That just showed tepidness for the format on their part, so how could consumers really commit?
Ah well. Enjoy it while it lasts, Sony. It’ll be the last plastic disc battle ever fought.
“It’ll be the last plastic disc battle ever fought.”
So, you DID find my Frisbee?
” . . . so how could consumers really commit?”
As crazy as it sounds, you don’t have to commit in order to be committed.
@ Ampar
“So, you DID find my Frisbee?”
Yes, but I don’t have access to the evidence locker.
C1:
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
Ahhhh HD-DVD we hardly knew ye. He was a good lad, a little short on the memory but a good lad nonetheless. The cause of his death was hanging around with a bad crowd. They were a little small, and a little soft but bad nonetheless.
He leaves behind his only relative….Ray which leaves the rest of us a little blu.
Oh well that is the way the disc turns.