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HD-DVD Dies! Blu-Ray Smiles...

Toshiba Announces Discontinuation of HD DVD Businesses

19 February, 2008

Company Remains Focused on Championing Consumer Access to High Definition Content

TOKYO--Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.

HD DVD was developed to offer consumers access at an affordable price to high-quality, high definition content and prepare them for the digital convergence of tomorrow where the fusion of consumer electronics and IT will continue to progress.

"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," said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality."

Toshiba will continue to lead innovation, in a wide range of technologies that will drive mass market access to high definition content. These include high capacity NAND flash memory, small form factor hard disk drives, next generation CPUs, visual processing, and wireless and encryption technologies. The company expects to make forthcoming announcements around strategic progress in these convergence technologies.

Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements. The company will continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives within the overall PC business relative to future market demand.

This decision will not impact on Toshiba's commitment to standard DVD, and the company will continue to market conventional DVD players and recorders. Toshiba intends to continue to contribute to the development of the DVD industry, as a member of the DVD Forum, an international organization with some 200 member companies, committed to the discussion and defining of optimum optical disc formats for the consumer and the related industries.

Toshiba also intends to maintain collaborative relations with the companies who joined with Toshiba in working to build up the HD DVD market, including Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, and DreamWorks Animation and major Japanese and European content providers on the entertainment side, as well as leaders in the IT industry, including Microsoft, Intel, and HP. Toshiba will study possible collaboration with these companies for future business opportunities, utilizing the many assets generated through the development of HD DVD.
Information in the press releases, including product prices and specifications, content of services and contact information, is current on the date of the press announcement,but is subject to change without prior notice.

I knew it.

Where's the blu-ray HD thread at?

Blah blah blah...

didnt care and still dont for either format although they each have/had their own pluses and minuses. physical discs will be gone soon once the US fully gets wired anyway... e.g., Netflix/Apple store

quote:

Originally posted by rizo didnt care and still dont for either format although they each have/had their own pluses and minuses. physical discs will be gone soon once the US fully gets wired anyway... e.g., Netflix/Apple store

wrong dude... have u ever watch BLue Ray??? can't compare physical disc to the quality of Netflix and apple store downloadable movies...

This is actually terrible for "consumers".

Sony is once again up to its dirty tactics.

Remember that this company took the Secure Digital memory cards... changed the pinouts, and the form factor, and called it "Sony Memory Stick"

Also anyone remember BETA vs VHS? Beta was far superior, but Sony killed it because they wanted to keep it closed, and proprietary. They sought heavily to restrict the format with licensing fees, and exclusionary licenses. Looks like they didn't learn that time, and they are starting down the same path again.

They obviously want whats best for technology.

Poor little Toshiba didn't win this one, but hopefully will come out with something better next time.

you forgot to mention minidiscs

quote:

Originally posted by HotDogWater you forgot to mention minidiscs

Wow I totally forgot about those. But during that time, I knew what was happening, and didn't want to support them during that bullshit "war" either. No wonder I completely forgot, I blocked it entirely from my mind.

But you're right. Yet another notch on Sony's belt of endless anti-consumer products.

quote:

Originally posted by Mecca82 wrong dude... have u ever watch BLue Ray??? can't compare physical disc to the quality of Netflix and apple store downloadable movies...

ya i have and im not spending $4k plus on a tv. not like theres a lot of good tv shows or movies anyway... and im not comparing current netflix/apple store releases but just wait a few years or even worse a decade when the US is fully wired and youll be streaming 1080/4K quaility video (i think japan has this already or at least under development) and that blu-ray collection is pointless much like vhs/dvd collections... then again im not that materialistic

quote:

Originally posted by rizo ya i have and im not spending $4k plus on a tv.

$4k??? Good god man, what kind of TVs are you looking at?

quote:

Originally posted by rizo ya i have and im not spending $4k plus on a tv. not like theres a lot of good tv shows or movies anyway... and im not comparing current netflix/apple store releases but just wait a few years or even worse a decade when the US is fully wired and youll be streaming 1080/4K quaility video (i think japan has this already or at least under development) and that blu-ray collection is pointless much like vhs/dvd collections... then again im not that materialistic

Agreed.


Movies these days suck hardcore. They are just "movies". What happened to all the "films"?

Also, the US needs to, and will catch up to Japan on residential internet bandwidth. Our current internet infrastructure needs to be upgraded before we can think about bringing fiber into our homes on a mass scale. But once that happens... video will become streaming @ 1080p and even beyond. Physical discs will become a historic artifact (like vinyls) left for those who like to collect the tangible item for no other reason than preserving the "look and feel" of using the disc. At some point the pro's out weigh the con's.

DJ's love to use vinyl (superior analog sound), but hate to travel with them. So they use CDs purely for convenience.

People love to consume the hollywood garbage on a physical disc (but are too lazy to goto the store, so they netflix), but once its just a click away at the same basic quality, it becomes easier, and widely used in that method. So yes, this bluray BS is just another product along the way that makes someone waste their money on what they think is important, but on the short term.

quote:

Originally posted by fury $4k??? Good god man, what kind of TVs are you looking at?

haha the one i really want is 10k.... i told my friend to get it and ill buy the PS3

Fiber optics needs to be more widely available for digital HD downloads to become a contander. Cable speeds right now are decent.

quote:

Originally posted by junkproject Fiber optics needs to be more widely available for digital HD downloads to become a contander. Cable speeds right now are decent.

yep... only a few places have 15Mbps+ DSL and 20Mbps+ cable.. I'm only at 10M/1M cable but sitll beats the hell out of 6M/512K dsl in my area was told that it should be upgraded later this summer to 12-16M

Little off topic, but...

Cable companies' traditional business model is to control what you watch, and how you watch it, thru their cable boxes, and DOCSIS standards. This is again bad for us consumers who use the internet, because they are doing the same things to our internets now as they did to our cable tv's back in the day. Limiting services such as bittorrent, or prioritizing other services such as http traffic ("powerboost" anyone?) Its not actually faster, its slower, but the traffic is prioritized in such a way that it appears faster to the average user. These techniques also hinder speed tests from working correctly.

Don't support Comcast in their goal of taking over the world, and telling you what you can do with an internet connection.

Go get a real connection provided by a local ISP, and you'll see some sharp differences... It may not be faster, but they aren't messing with the content flowing between you and them.

quote:

Originally posted by toolman667 Little off topic, but... Cable companies' traditional business model is to control what you watch, and how you watch it, thru their cable boxes, and DOCSIS standards. This is again bad for us consumers who use the internet, because they are doing the same things to our internets now as they did to our cable tv's back in the day. Limiting services such as bittorrent, or prioritizing other services such as http traffic ("powerboost" anyone?) Its not actually faster, its slower, but the traffic is prioritized in such a way that it appears faster to the average user. These techniques also hinder speed tests from working correctly. Don't support Comcast in their goal of taking over the world, and telling you what you can do with an internet connection. Go get a real connection provided by a local ISP, and you'll see some sharp differences... It may not be faster, but they aren't messing with the content flowing between you and them.

that is why you use encryption but ya i understand that aspect and its not just Comcast/cable companies but a lot of media/telecom companies. Also powerboost is really nice. You can be downloading at 26Mbps for about a minute then gradually slows down to your normal speeds. Great for quick downloads. Same thing for uploads. I honestly see zero problems with it.

quote:

Originally posted by rizo that is why you use encryption but ya i understand that aspect and its not just Comcast/cable companies but a lot of media/telecom companies. Also powerboost is really nice. You can be downloading at 26Mbps for about a minute then gradually slows down to your normal speeds. Great for quick downloads. Same thing for uploads. I honestly see zero problems with it.

From a network engineer perspective, its a terrible thing. Now "certain" packets are prioritized in a closed manner (no documentation on what or when). So you don't know if you have a problem or not and have to look even further into the equation.

From a user's perspective... if I am downloading something that I have been downloading for a long time (DVDR), and my neighbor comes home from work and gets into one of his heavy porn viewing sessions... my download now is hindered, even tho my connection (the download) has been running longer than any of his sessions. How is this fair? Instead of remaining neutral to all parties involved, we now prioritize the ones who demand the least from the internet... this seems backwards to me.

Powerboost is terrible for the internet and the existing neutrality of it.

So If im chilling at a bar all night, and a seat finally opens up at the bar (location for most efficient drink refills), and then someone just cuts in because they requested a drink... he gets filled first instead of the person who waited the longest and who was there first... seems like no problem to me

Comcast took an existing technology that was used for prioritizing actual "time critical" packets (ie, VOIP) and used it in the worst way possible, to actually prioritize NON time critical packets. So in effect they have made their own standards that are not internet standards, and are part of no existing protocol, all to make a buck. This is not how or why the internet was created, nor will it be the way it will be sustained. Too bad most people have no idea of the internal workings of the internet (I don't blame them), and therefore wouldn't even care if Comcast kept doing what they are doing, until its too late and the internet wont at all allow your porn thru anymore unless you give someone money.

Hopefully more people will wake up to what comcast is actually doing, and cancel their accounts and sign up for local, honorable ISPs only interested in providing you with a connection to it, and not whats going down (or up) that connection. (This is the idea of a "Free Market")

edit: BTW, encryption is actually the answer, but the "internet" as a whole has not hopped on the https bandwagon yet, unfortunately.

Ya, it sucks that the prioritization is closed (although I assume p2p protocols are the very bottom of the list while normal http/ftp usage is at the top). Still, I've honestly have not had a problem with powerboost. As for sharing the bandwidth onces your neighbor comes home has always been a problem with cable yet ive never experienced it at my current residence or previous one but have read about it.

quote:

Originally posted by rizo Ya, it sucks that the prioritization is closed (although I assume p2p protocols are the very bottom of the list while normal http/ftp usage is at the top)

I assume the same. But thats like having Apple tell you what type of music you can listen to on their "iPods", and how much of it.

If they pulled that shit, the fanbois will have a field day claiming that it was the right thing to do because so many people abuse the iPods by putting their own music on it, instead of only what comes from iTunes.

Except people generally understand how a mp3 player works, and don't understand whats involved every time you type "www.google.com".

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