“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!
@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:
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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.