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[Xbox-Scene]

Toshiba to drop HD DVD, sources say Posted by XanTium | February 14 21:52 EST | News Category: Xbox360

From hollywoodreporter.com: "An announcement is coming soon," said one source close to the HD DVD camp. "It could be a matter of weeks." 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. Full Story: hollywoodreporter.com

[majik655]

might as well.   I for one still will not buy a blu ray player until the price dramatically drops.

[randywatson]

Even though I thought it was a capable format, and even though a few months ago I bought the xbox attachement when they had the initial 8 dvd deals at amazon.. I'm happy if this news is true.  I'm hopeful that the rise of one format, either format, can more quickly usher in a time of more releases, and ideally cheaper releases.  There are a lot of reasons that HD DVD could have been better for that, namely the cheaper cost to upgrade existing DVD manufacturing plants, but really the physical cost of either disk in the end is still going to be pretty damn low fairly quickly.  Hopefully the studios will respond and keep prices low.  That may have happened faster with HD DVD, but it is sure to happen faster with a single format either way.  With quicker uptake by consumers for players since there is less risk of a betamax situation, and more competition to produce better players at cheaper prices, it should be a great year for home based high def.

So I'm a little sad that I picked the wrong format, but I still got a pretty good deal for what I did get, and in the long run, we'll all be better off that this is just decided.

Or maybe I'm just still trying to convince myself of that.  (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[gatorayde]

soo hd-dvd finally throwing in the towel yet?

[pholly]

I'm just glad one format will finally win so I can finally get a HD format

[avatar1976]

My first reaction to this article was "Pah! this is a rubbish article based off nothing more then a completely unsubstantiated rumour, why was this even posted".  But then the fact that Toshiba and MS won't deny it surprises me a little, I guess we'll see in a few weeks time...
I think Toshiba may have vastly underestimated the standing which the sony brand has amongst consumers for CD/DVD players and sony has built on that with their bluray format.  I don't know anyone that has ever said to me hey you know I really want that toshiba CD/DVD player.  They may have got MS on side but that was more due to MS having an outlet for their HDi menuing system.

[DVDA1]

Even though I chose HD DVD I still have no regrets what so ever, so eventually I will have two players no big deal to me.  I seen both HD DVD and Blu ray side by side and there is no difference in quality it's just Sony had more to lose so it made a stronger push compared to the HD DVD camp.   For the people who went with HD DVD...get ready for some major price drops so get your money right  

[Flagg3]

The link actually points to the second page of the article.  

Page 1 has a bit more information:

http://www.hollywood...9b10defb59?pn=1

QUOTE

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 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. "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 revealed Blu-ray took in 93% of all hardware sales for that week.
 

Toshiba subsequently fired back, 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 has driven the company to at last concede defeat.

[88 Ecko Unltd 88]

I'm not buying anything until the format war is over with by then everything is going to be cheap just like the dvds  

[mduga]

Wow, I thought HD-DVD would have put up a bigger fight then that.  I guess I don't want to go with a company that's just gonna throw in the towel in that little time without trying to fight.  Although I hate Sony, now I guess I have to buy a bluray player if I want high def movies.

Good news is, hd-dvd's should really drop in price to clear stock.  I'm buying all the good ones before their gone.

[eduardor2k]

i'm not buying anything until i have a burner for 40 bucks!

[geniusjc]

Not only did the link point to the articles 2nd page only, but there is a lot of misinformation and spin in that article.

Article Spin: They still tried citing NPD sales numbers for the You-Pay Blu-Ray players as 93% for a given week.

Real World Fact:  It has been made clear in other articles by NPD themselves that the figures were grossly off of normal from You-Pay players being given free with TV purchases that week.

Article Spin:Then they tried to say that "This week, two key retailers, Best Buy and Netflix Inc., both got off the fence and threw their support behind Blu-ray exclusively,..."  

Real World Fact:  Only Netflix is backing You-Pay exclusively.  Best Buy will still sell HD DVD players and movies, but decided to recommend You-Pay players to customers when asked about the HD technologies.

In short, this article is nothing more than You-Pay Blu-Ray supporters writing about news that already came out days before just so they can try to convince others to buy into You-Pay.

 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pop.gif)

[Flagg3]

QUOTE(geniusjc @ Feb 15 2008, 01:27 AM)

In short, this article is nothing more than You-Pay Blu-Ray supporters writing about news that already came out days before just so they can try to convince others to buy into You-Pay.

 

Actually, this article is about a source saying that Toshiba will officially drop support for HD-DVD.  The rest is just given for reference.

Look, you can hate blu-ray all you want, but that's no reason to ignore the reality of the situation, and that is that HD-DVD will stop being sold in the very near future.  The upshot is that you will be able to get hundreds of great HD movies at bargain basement prices, but people who cling to the hope that somehow HD-DVD will miraculously come back are really just burying their heads in the sand.

[HughDaHand]

I hope this news is for real.  I'm no big bluray fan but i just want this format war to be over.  This is probibly the only way it will ever end.  Sony is known for never droping there format, even after the oposing format is the clear winner.  Sony didnt stop making batamax player untill the mid 90's.  Even tho VHS was the standard since the 80's.  

Once the standard it finalised i will finally pick up a high def player.  Its not gona be a Sony made player tho.  I have found there ODD tohave weak laser. *thinks back to his ps1 that had to be upside done to play, and the 3 ps2's that got disk read errors*.   Well i might end up with the sony made bluray plarer that happens to play gaes,  errmmm.. i mean a ps3.

[avatar1976]

QUOTE(Flagg3 @ Feb 15 2008, 08:02 AM)

Look, you can hate blu-ray all you want, but that's no reason to ignore the reality of the situation, and that is that HD-DVD will stop being sold in the very near future.  The upshot is that you will be able to get hundreds of great HD movies at bargain basement prices, but people who cling to the hope that somehow HD-DVD will miraculously come back are really just burying their heads in the sand.

Well said, I too would have liked HD-DVD to succeed but you just can't beat good marketting and there's the standard fallback, but bluray holds more.  I can't even decide between Plasma and LCD so I'm far off from bluray and HDDVD.  Any reduction in choice at the moment for me is a bonus
I wish Sony would take up the cool HDi interactive menus thing though.