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HD-DVD is officially Dead

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Started 4 years ago by Daz
Latest reply from myliftkk

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Daz
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Looks like Blu-Ray wins the battle:
http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/02/19/hd-dvd-is-officially-dead/
HD DVD is officially dead
Posted Feb 19th 2008 11:19AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: TV on DVD, HDTV, PVR Wire, Hardware
Do you hear that? That's the sound of "Taps" being played for HDTV players and recorders. Toshiba has announced that, "it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders." Yes, it's true. Just like Beta was phased out in favor of VHS, HDTV has lost in its head to head battle with Blu-ray. As of March 2008, the manufacture of the hardware will cease, and production of HD DVD disk drives for PCs and games as well. The only exception, said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation are laptops. "[Toshiba] continues to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives."
Where does that leave those lucky consumers who've invested in HD DVD and its recorders? Up a tree, in many ways. Toshiba spokesmen say the company will continue to sell recording media on line, but don't expect a slew of HD DVD software in the future. Blu-ray will be king, you can bet on that. For those of us who haven't gone HD, Toshiba reiterates in their corporate release that they will continue to market conventional DVD players and recorders.

Posted 4 years ago #
BetsyB
Westgate
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Funny how in the same issue (todays) that the front page of the entertainment section they also ran a big thing VHS being dead... Do they have any original headlines out there?

Posted 4 years ago #
Ndcent
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I feel sorry for the HD-DVD owning folks.

Posted 4 years ago #
bayrea
Dublin, Oh
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I almost purchased an HDDVD player for my XBOX.... good thing I didn't.

Posted 4 years ago #
osulew
My house...in the middle of my street
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bayrea wrote I almost purchased an HDDVD player for my XBOX.... good thing I didn't.
There is only one viable answer now...
Clearly you must run out and buy a PS3. It's unavoidable. :wink:

Posted 4 years ago #
Daz
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osulew wrote
bayrea wrote I almost purchased an HDDVD player for my XBOX.... good thing I didn't.
There is only one viable answer now...
Clearly you must run out and buy a PS3. It's unavoidable. :wink:
This is what I'm saying!
Also, i've heard that MS might just put a blu-ray player in their 360.

Posted 4 years ago #
Ltrgman
Columbus
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So how soon will everyone go buy a Blu-ray player now? Anyone going to start replacing their old DVDs with Blu-ray ones?
For me I think the first Blu-ray player I will buy is a PS3, that is as soon as Metal Gear Solid 4 comes out.

Posted 4 years ago #
SteinbergForCongress
Sugar Land, TX (For Now)
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Still waiting for the next Price Break on the PS3. Why buy just a player when you can get a video game system for almost the same price?

Posted 4 years ago #
Ndcent
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Posted 4 years ago #
honavery
Arizona
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I have an HD-DVD player....luckily I only paid $100 for it. I'm not too upset, as I only own a few movies and it does a great job at upconverting regular DVD's. I probably won't go blu-ray until the price is under $100. I might buy a PS3 at some point though. Next price drop maybe.

Posted 4 years ago #
ejolsz
Victorian Village
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I bought an HD-DVD for $130 so not too sad really (I wanted to get an upcovert DVD and figured why not get the HD DVD one just in case it didn't die for just a few bucks more) Don't plan on going for bluray til it drops a lot as I can live w/ the DVDs, although gotta say the Planet Earth (the BBC version that is) is amazing in HD but they can't take that away from me (its the only HD I bought - got those 5 free movies but aside from seabiscuit and casablanca they were mostly crap i seem to recall).

Posted 4 years ago #
gramarye
In Exile
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I've sat out the format wars thus far and I'm still going to wait until the coroner's report is in and the cremation ceremony held for HD-DVD before I commit to one or the other.

Posted 4 years ago #
ejolsz
Victorian Village
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well you won't be able to commit to HD-DVD as they aren't being sold (unless you rush to the stores before the end of the month). That said the next format war is blu ray vs. dvd and soon blu ray vs downloaded content.
Even with blu ray having a better picture etc. apparently most consumers (those consumers being the subset w/ hdtv that is) don't seem to think that the hd image is so much better that its worth buying a $300 player and expensive discs so it may still be quite some time before blu ray really 'wins' and Sony can start reaping their rewards (of course by then iTunes and others may already be getting a big piece of the pie by selling downloads).

Posted 4 years ago #
Ltrgman
Columbus
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I don't think downloadable content will be the next in line to do battle with Blu-ray. For one, movies are still pretty big files compared to music and thus not as portable. Add in the fact that I think most people would still rather buy a DVD than a digital version of a movie for keepsake reasons. Also, watching digital files of movies is still not as accessible as popping in a DVD from your movie collection. Downloadable movies will only be big for the rental market.

Posted 4 years ago #
ejolsz
Victorian Village
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I wonder if you felt the same way about music 5 years ago? Not sure if you've seen the appleTV but its away for people to rent digitally (no computer required) and watch in HD, Netflix already can do it on your computer, soon will have LG with a standalone TV and Amazon.com is likely to be soon to follow. microsoft who already have their xbox 360 doing a bit of this now but needs content. I agree it will be awhile before physical discs are gone, but it may be too soon for Sony to recoup the hundreds of millions sunk into winning this format war.

Posted 4 years ago #
gramarye
In Exile
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I think Blu-ray will remain the industry standard long enough to both make a tidy profit for Sony and leave a lasting mark on the industry. Files that size are still difficult to send over the Internet. That said, I admit that online media's dethroning of Blu-ray is not a question of if, but when. The digital entertainment industry today moves fast enough that if Blu-ray lasts a mere six years, it should consider its run a success. (By contrast, think of how long VHS lasted after its victory over Betamax.)

Posted 4 years ago #
mellotron
Arena District
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Ltrgman wrote So how soon will everyone go buy a Blu-ray player now? Anyone going to start replacing their old DVDs with Blu-ray ones?
Netflix has completely changed the way I accumulate videos. Purchasing is now reserved only for the Star Wars/Band of Brothers/Big Lebowski ilk.
I do look forward to upgrading to BluRay for further Netflix rentals.
Question about the next battle: BlueRay vs. Digital. I know Netflix makes online viewing available. Just how prevalent is this? Are people really watching movies on their laptops? Do these files contain 5.1 Audio to be played thru a surround setup?

Posted 4 years ago #
SteinbergForCongress
Sugar Land, TX (For Now)
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Still waiting for Wal-Mart to clearance all their HD stuff.... then maybe I can swoop in and build a huge HD collection for cheep.
Keep in mind, I also have 300 Beta movies which I picked up for about $10 total.

Posted 4 years ago #
UncommonSense
Hilliard
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mellotron wrote
Ltrgman wrote So how soon will everyone go buy a Blu-ray player now? Anyone going to start replacing their old DVDs with Blu-ray ones?
Netflix has completely changed the way I accumulate videos. Purchasing is now reserved only for the Star Wars/Band of Brothers/Big Lebowski ilk.
I do look forward to upgrading to BluRay for further Netflix rentals.
Question about the next battle: BlueRay vs. Digital. I know Netflix makes online viewing available. Just how prevalent is this? Are people really watching movies on their laptops? Do these files contain 5.1 Audio to be played thru a surround setup?
You can listen in 7.1 surround actually...

Posted 4 years ago #
Ltrgman
Columbus
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ejolsz wrote I wonder if you felt the same way about music 5 years ago? Not sure if you've seen the appleTV but its away for people to rent digitally (no computer required) and watch in HD, Netflix already can do it on your computer, soon will have LG with a standalone TV and Amazon.com is likely to be soon to follow. microsoft who already have their xbox 360 doing a bit of this now but needs content. I agree it will be awhile before physical discs are gone, but it may be too soon for Sony to recoup the hundreds of millions sunk into winning this format war.
Actually no, because again MP3 files were small enough to begin with that it wasn't a major problem for transferring and portability.
Yeah, I've seen the appleTV thing and the other applications you mentioned, but I don't think that's going to affect Blu-ray sales in any way.
Not only do you need a fast internet connection for the downloads, you also need tons of HD space on your computer to archive the files. When you run out of real estate do you delete one of your favorite movies from your collection? What about the extra DVD features? Some people like me like those kind of things, but I don't think that'll be available for download. Also, how often do people even take movies on the road with them? Watching a movie on a tiny portable screen is def not as enjoyable as listening to music on your iPod. I just think it's going to be a while before downloadable movies become as prevalent as downloadable music.

Posted 4 years ago #