And Then There Was One....

[Guest bkelm18]

For the technology lovers out there and for those who might be interested, Toshiba has bowed out of the Hi-Def race saying it will stop manufacturing HD-DVDs and HD-DVD players. Blu-Ray wins the Hi-Def battle. I could have told ya that a year ago.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/02/19/toshiba.hdd/index.html

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Toshiba said Tuesday it will no longer manufacture HD DVDs, effectively ending the long-running battle with the rival Blu-ray for a dominant high-definition format.

Toshiba said it made the decision to cease developing, manufacturing, and marketing HD DVDs after "recent major changes in the market." It promised to continue offering support and service for all existing Toshiba HD DVD products.

"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," Toshiba President and Chief Executive Atsutoshi Nishida said in a news release.

Toshiba's HD DVD business has been suffering recently with a string of major retailers and rental companies announcing their preference for Blu-ray, developed by Sony. Watch video on the battle of the formats »

Last week alone, Wal-Mart and online rental company Netflix said they would abandon HD in favor of Blu-ray. Last month, Warner Brothers Home Entertainment -- which had been the largest media company releasing videos in both formats -- announced it would offer DVDs solely in Blu-ray.

The DVD battle has been reminiscent of the VHS vs. Beta fight in the early 1980s. It has left many consumers confused and waiting to see which technology will emerge as the industry standard.

Sony's Blu-ray is backed by Disney, 20th Century Fox, MGM, Dell, Panasonic, and Philips. Toshiba's HD DVD is backed by Paramount, Universal Pictures, Microsoft, Sanyo, and NEC.

Toshiba said it would continue to work with those companies and study ways to collaborate with them in the future.

Tens of billions of dollars have been at stake as major movie studios battled for a dominant format. But rival game consoles have been part of the struggle, too -- Sony's Playstation 3 plays Blu-ray discs, while the Microsoft X-Box plays HD DVDs.

Both Blu-ray and HD are high-definition DVDs, the successor to ordinary DVDs which show pictures only in standard definition. But Blu-ray and HD involve different hardware and are not compatible with each other, meaning consumers have had to decide which system to invest in.

Both formats have an excellent picture quality with a large storage space. But Toshiba has lost the battle because it lacks a retail presence in many markets, said Carl Gressum, a senior analyst at Ovum, a London technology consultancy.

"They didn't manage to bring on board some of the China vendors, they didn't bring (on board) the retailers, they've failed to develop in the European and Asian markets," Gressum told CNN.

Warner Brothers announced its decision to drop HD DVD right before last month's International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a significant event for corporate buyers. Gressum said that led to an immediate drop in retail support for Toshiba's format.

Gressum said manufacturers of both formats have made things more difficult for retailers by forcing consumers to make a choice between the gradually-dominant Blu-ray and the much-cheaper HD.

"They're losing money in many cases because of the price war between the two formats as Toshiba -- and also Microsoft, to a certain extent -- has been playing the price card for HD DVD players," he said.

Toshiba said the company would continue to market standard DVD players and recorders.

[Guest db99wj]

Will my DVD keep on working with these blu ray discs?

Will my expensive as crap, dual screen portable car dvd that I don't get to use, but I do have to set up everytime we go on a trip for longer than an hour and have to turn down the radio because those kids of mine can't here work with the new stuff?

[Fallguy]

You can not play Blu-Ray DVDs on a regular DVD player.

However I would imagine that movies will be offered on Blu-Ray and Regular DVD for some time to come. Remember how long you could still get records after cassettes came out and can still get cassettes now after CDs have been out over 20 years.

[Guest TargetShooter84]

I did ask the salesperson about the Blu-Ray DVD player, and asked if it would play regular DVD's into it, he said that it does work with regular DVD and Blu-Ray, but not HD DVD. I think thats pretty good though since I have TONS of DVDs and would be pissed if they couldnt play on the Blu-Ray but I was glad to know they can now. Not in a hurry to buy one yet because I'm ballparking that by end of summer, prices will drop to maybe 200 or lil lower for christmas...since I have seen some Blu-Ray DVD prices drop or been slashed by discounts. JMHO.

[Guest bkelm18]

Not all Blu-Ray players are DVD compatible, just so you know. I know my PS3 can't play DVDs.

[Guest TargetShooter84]

The one I asked about wasnt PS3 kind, it was the Sony version of Blu Ray. I know that PS3 doesnt play reg. dvds

[Mike.357]

so unless you have a HD TV none of this matters anyway does it?

Don't see myself buying one of them anytime soon, not as long as the big screen still works!

[Fallguy]

so unless you have a HD TV none of this matters anyway does it?

More or less true.....it would be like having HD service from your cable or satellite provider and not having a HD television....you wouldn't be able to see the improvement in quality you are paying for.

Just another reason I think you will still be able to get regular DVDs for a long time.

[Guest TargetShooter84]

I do have no plans to buy the Blu-Ray DVD Players anytime soon....I've seen those demos and they look pretty good quality pictures, but I'm going to wait around for a while because after the economies of scale of blu-ray dvd players hits the market, the prices will drop.

[jeepster106]

Did the older PS3s not play standard definition DVDs? My PS3 plays them and up-converts them quite nicely.

[highshot]

The PS2 played the standard DVDs.