HD DVD officially dead

[Rex Harrison]

Toshiba pulls the plug. I'm glad I waited.

http://www.pr-inside.com/toshiba-announces-discontinuation-of-r443917.htm

 

[MacDaddy]

 

[Rex Harrison]

Indeed. I wonder if there will be some kind of swap/exchange program or if all the people who bought HD DVD players and discs are just flat-out ****ed?

 

[slappy4428]

Indeed. I wonder if there will be some kind of swap/exchange program or if all the people who bought HD DVD players and discs are just flat-out ****ed?

We're a commerce based society... the correct answer is "****ed"

 

[Kid Bro Sweets]

Glad I didn't get that HD-DVD player for my 360.

Great line from the press release linked above:

"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.

How altruistic of him. He just wanted all of us to enjoy a better-developed HD market.

 

[TigerVols]

Most people who bought HDDVDs did them around Christmas; if you did, and you got yours at a big box, take it back TODAY!

Best Buy and CC and Costco told my firm that they'll take returns for store credits.

 

[Football_Bat]

Do they make Blu-Ray DVD-R's and burners? I'm a little slow on the technology front.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Glad I didn't get that HD-DVD player for my 360.

Great line from the press release linked above:

"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.

How altruistic of him. He just wanted all of us to enjoy a better-developed HD market.

You got it. It had nothing to do with the fact that all of the movie studios are now releasing things on Blu-Ray, but not HD-DVD.

I recently bought a new TV. I held off on the hi-def DVD because of this. Glad I waited.

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

Do they make Blu-Ray DVD-R's and burners? I'm a little slow on the technology front.

I believe you can.

 

[FootballScribe]

Do they make Blu-Ray DVD-R's and burners? I'm a little slow on the technology front.

I believe you can.

You can but it's still in the ridiculously expensive phase. Those costs will probably start falling soon, but I'm not sure how far and how soon. Just getting a Blu Ray drive on your computer to watch Blu Ray movies is still outrageously expensive.

 

[Pastor]

I also waited on this. The only shock to me was in the winner... didn't the porn industry endorese HD DVD? I would have thought they would be able to pull this one out.

 

[StormSurge]

I picked up my 360 HD-DVD add-on cheap. I'm not too upset because I'll be able to pick up HD-DVDs cheap (DeepDiscountDVD is having a nice sale already) and they'll still look quite nice.

Now I just have to wait for the Blu Ray add-on.

A quick note for anyone considering picking up a Blu Ray player. If you're not going with the PS3 (which can have it's firmware updated easily), wait until Profile 2.0 machines are released later this year. I have no idea what that means other than if you buy a stand-alone player now, you could have some issues later in the year.

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

I also waited on this. The only shock to me was in the winner... didn't the porn industry endorese HD DVD? I would have thought they would be able to pull this one out.

Yes. The big buzz was that whatever the porn industry chose, the rest would follow suit. Like when porn chose VHS over Beta.

 

[Pancamo]

Wal-Mart chose to only offer Blu-Ray.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Wal-Mart chose to only offer Blu-Ray.

I think Blockbuster and Net Flicks also went Blu-Ray.

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

Wal-Mart chose to only offer Blu-Ray.

I think Blockbuster and Net Flicks also went Blu-Ray.

I know Net Flicks did for sure. In fact, I believe they were the first.

And, as an aside, this really forces the hand of production companies because some chose HiDef DVD and some chose Blue-Ray, not choosing to release their movies in both.

 

[fishwrapper]

No. No. No. Netflix offers HDDVD. Trust me.

 

[Ace]

I also waited on this. The only shock to me was in the winner... didn't the porn industry endorese HD DVD? I would have thought they would be able to pull this one out.

Yeah, like you really want your porn on HD.

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

No. No. No. Netflix offers HDDVD. Trust me.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2008/02/19/blu_ray_takes_the_lead_backed_by_retailers_and_movie_makers/

Meanwhile, the popular Netflix video rental service will go Blu-ray-only and phase out HD DVD rentals by year-end.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

No. No. No. Netflix offers HDDVD. Trust me.

Fair enough.

All the news coming out of CES this year was about Blu-Ray. The two formats were selling just about equally prior to the convention. Then afterwards it swung to Blu-Ray getting a large majority of the market.