R.I.P. HD DVD: Toshiba reportedly ends the war

[The Joker]

We have a winner.

Well, that's it. Toshiba appears to be pulling the plug on HD DVD. Toshiba has not commented publicly, but a report on Japan's NHK says Toshiba has made the decision to withdraw from next generation high-definition DVD production.

This news certainly doesn't come as surprise to anyone remotely following HD DVD's format war with rival Blu-ray. HD DVD had suffered a string of defections, with Warner, Netflix, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart all recently pledging their alliance to Blu-ray.

The NHK report says existing HD DVD products will remain in the market for a while, but Toshiba will stop further development of HD DVD. The report also estimates that Toshiba will take a hit to the tune of "hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars" and will close factories in northern Japan.

Elsewhere this weekend, Sony and its Blu-ray buddies are going to make like VHS and party like it's 1989.

UPDATE: Reuters now points to an unnamed company source who says, yep, we're done. An official announcement from Toshiba could come next week.

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-987...ag=recentPosts

[Inferno.]

Good job they pulled out before it was too late, Sega should have done this with the Dreamcast. Remaking it with a DVD-ROM drive.

[Deach]

So now we have to pay ridiculous prices for HD stuff. Great.

[The Joker]

fuck that. rent them, then rip them down to dual layers. Hehe. :O WAREZ!

[Tassadar]

So now we have to pay ridiculous prices for HD stuff. Great.

[fanboy]Didn't people criticise the PS3 at the beginning for having Blu-ray built in?[/fanboy]

[Deach]

[fanboy]Didn't people criticise the PS3 at the beginning for having Blu-ray built in?[/fanboy]

PS3 is still shit.

[Cookie Monster]

[fanboy]PS3 is still shit.[/fanboy]

Fixed.

[Deach]

Fixed.

I'm not a fan boy. T_T

Really though, I didn't want Blu-ray to win just because it's so much more expensive for the gear compared to HD-DVD. Looks like I don't have a choice now though if I want quality.

[gussdx]

"Blue Ray"...
What a ugly name...

[Evans]

I'm not a fan boy. T_T

Really though, I didn't want Blu-ray to win just because it's so much more expensive for the gear compared to HD-DVD. Looks like I don't have a choice now though if I want quality.

Not only that, but reigning over the market, the consumer having no other option to choose from, they'll have it even easier if they want to crank up the prices on Blu-Ray disc/players.

[The Joker]

lol that new jla cartoon was still released on HD, lol.

[Ragnar]

Awesome, you can find the 360 HD-DVD player around for as low as $40 now (plus free movies)

[Josh]

Not only that, but reigning over the market, the consumer having no other option to choose from, they'll have it even easier if they want to crank up the prices on Blu-ray disc/players.

There are several companies that make Blu-ray players as it already had support from most of the industry. This means that there will start to be more competition for making Blu-ray players as the market starts to grow. This will drop prices. Blu-ray will also try to start competing directly with DVD, lowering prices even more.

Using your logic, DVD players should still cost $500 and DVD movies at least $35 because for many years, DVD was the only consumer choice.

"Blue Ray"...
What a ugly name...

It's Blu-ray, not Blue Ray. They are completely different.