Hi-def battle ends as Toshiba quits HD DVD

TOKYO - Toshiba said Tuesday it will no longer develop, make or market HD DVD players and recorders, handing a victory to rival Blu-ray disc technology in the format battle for next-generation video.

“We concluded that a swift decision would be best,” Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida told reporters at his company’s Tokyo offices.

The move would make Blu-ray — backed by Sony Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic brand products, and five major Hollywood movie studios — the winner in the battle over high-definition DVD formatting that began several years ago.

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Not that I have plans on buying one anytime soon, but I’m glad it’s over.  The longer it took to decide the worse the aftermath was going to be.  IMO, at least.

Damnit.
I joined yougov.co.uk (interestingly after I saw it here).
It asked me which I thought would win out, and since I had no idea, I guessed at random.
Wrongly, it seems…

Gah!
Sony *spits*

I knew HD DVD was going to win.  When I saw Disney was part of the Blu-ray group...I knew it would just be a matter of time.  The same thing happened when DVDs were first releasing to the public.  Sony & Disney did something to their DVDs that made them unplayable in certain DVD players...so people had to get a different brand player.  Not the cheapo one from Walmart or whatever.  We refunded a lot of DVD rentals when I was at the video store.

Maegan - 20 February 2008 07:10 AM

I knew HD DVD was going to win. 

So much for your psychic powers, then.

but.....HD DVD didn’t win. Blu-ray did.

Oh poop.  You know what I meant.  I just screwed up the first part. 

The news last night pretty much gave ALL the credit for Blu-Ray winning out to the PS3. They said that 10 million PS3 units had been sold so far. According to The Financial Times they’d only sold 3.7 million by September. Given the price I find it impossible to believe that they sold 7 million units since then.

Given that of everyone I’ve ever spoken to, I’ve never heard of anyone owning one (at £400 a pop and very few good games for it, isn’t surprising).

I remember the day it launched. I have a picture on my phone of a sign at HMV: “PS3 OUT TODAY, WIIS IN STOCK SOON NOW TAKING PRE-ORDERS”

Huuuuge pile of PS3s (untouched) and a queue of people ordering Wiis. It was bizarre.

I think the manufacturers are thinking, “Oooh, of course people are going to spend tons of money on the newest & latest thing...even if it is basically the same as the old thing.” And really, I think people have gotten a little stingier with their money b/c of local hardships (gas & housing costs for one).  Why upgrade, when the product is still nearly the same?

Wiis cost £250 less and have more games (and are far more fun. Trust me. They’re awesome).

X-Box 360s have an incredible catalogue of games and are still over £100 less than the PS3. As one of my friends said at Christmas:

“Everyone who wanted a next-gen console has got one already. And if they don’t they’re parents buying them for their kids. And parents know f*** all about consoles most of the time. They’ll see the three of them and pick the cheapest. And that ain’t the Playstation.”

What makes me mad in all the new technology stuff is everyone being forced to go to HDTV in the States here soon.  Some people cannot afford the extra stuff even with the money they may get off.  I don’t mind the video game players as long as we get them as we can afford them.  My hubby is the huge fan and my kids like to play too.  None of them play really to excess and I monitor what my kids play.  I have a great hubby and kids.  If some video games help them blow off steam, go for it.

On the plus side: HD DVD burners will now become *cheap*… this means that one can get one, and pull the laser module out to make a laser pointer capable of burning holes in things.