New Chinese Involvement Could Trigger HD DVD Price Plunge
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A consortium of Chinese university engineers and government officials, in cooperation with a Chinese video standards group that includes globally recognized manufacturers, plus the DVD Forum, have come to an agreement on a standard specification for a blue-laser disc mechanism and format specifically for the Chinese market. It means China could be producing low-price HD DVD mechanisms by this next summer.
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While clearly a blow, retailers are divided on whether the move actually amounts to a death knell to the format, which is battling Blu-ray.
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HD DVD isn't dead, at least not quite. That leaves many options and potentially expensive mistakes for consumers.
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Group to push development of HD DVD hardware and content, plus try to drive commercial adoption.
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The beginning of the end for the high def format Paramount Studios could soon drop its support of HD-DVD following Warner's recent backing of Sony's Blu-ray technology, effectively killing off HD-DVD and bring the Format War to a definitive end.â¦
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Defunct format sell-off eBay said today it expects to an increase in listings for HD DVD products following Toshiba's announcement yesterday that it is going to ditch its optical disc format.â¦
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Toshiba announced plans to include an HD DVD-enabled DVD player in its laptops starting in December next year. The new drives will be limited to the high-end &quot;Qosmio&quot; brand, and will sell for around 200,000-300,000 yen (US$1,845-$2,770).
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Warner Bros.'s home video unit and  its Chinese partner on Thursday unveiled a new strategy to  fight DVD piracy in China by selling disks earlier, at lower  prices and in more stores than before with the backing of  government officials.
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The decision by Warner Bros. to drop HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray Disc for high-definition movies has set the ele...
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The high-definition DVD  format war has turned into a format death watch.
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A Gartner analyst today predicted that, based on the numbers of movies expected to be available for the two warring high-def disc formats, that HD DVD will once and for all lose out to Blu-ray by the end of this year.
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More than a week after  being dealt a potentially mortal blow by the defection of  Warner Home Video to the Blu-ray Disc camp, HD DVD developer  Toshiba is striking back.
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Toshiba Corp. on Monday announced an aggressive campaign to bolster its HD DVD movie disc format against Sony-backed Blu-ray technology, cutting prices on players to as low as $149.99.
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The system could mean that users will have to buy all-new DVD+RW gear.
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(InfoWorld) - Vendors supporting HD DVD are cutting prices to boost their products, which are vying with Blu-ray disc technology to replace current DVD movie discs. Next month, consumers can expect to find a range of entry-level players priced at around â¬300 ($409), the HD DVD Promotional Group announced Friday at theÂ IFA international consumer electronics show in Berlin. The price is nearly half of what many entry models in Europe currently cost, said Oliver Van Wynendaele, a manager in Toshiba's HD DVD group. Canada's Venturer Electronics plans to launch its SHD-7000 player at around â¬300 next month, while Toshiba will offer its HD-EP30 model for around â¬350, Van Wynendaele said. Toshiba will also give buyers five free discs. Toshiba will begin equipping its notebook PCs with HD DVD drives in the fourth quarter, according to Yoshihide Fujii, Toshiba corporate senior vice president and president and CEO of the company's digital media network unit.
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(InfoWorld) - The European Union's antitrust regulator has asked Hollywood studios to turn over information about their negotiations with the developers of high-definition DVD formats, giving them until the end of this week to respond. The European Commission is concerned that exclusive deals struck by some studios with the backers of either the HD DVD or Blu-ray Disc formats may be a sign of anticompetitive activity in the industry. HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc are competing for the attention of movie studios, which are increasingly releasing their films in high-definition format alongside the regular DVDs carrying standard-definition versions of the films. The Commission began looking for evidence of a possible infringement of E.U. antitrust regulations on its own initiative: there have been no complaints from companies in the industry, said Audrey Lemonnier, press officer for the cabinet of European Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes. The Commission wrote to a number of major studios in the first half of June, asking them for information about their dealings with the technology developers, Lemonnier said Tuesday. She would not say which studios received the letters, or how many were sent. The studios have until Friday to respond, she said. If the studios' answers give the Commission cause for doubt, it may launch a full investigation, she said. Film studios Twentieth Century Fox and Walt Disney release their high-definition content exclusively on Blu-ray Disc, although another member of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), Warner Bros. Entertainment, has a foot in both camps: It also releases films on HD DVD. Blu-ray Disc also has the backing of Sony, which uses a Blu-ray Disc player in its PlayStation 3 game console, and computer makers such as Apple, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard. HD DVD has won the backing of Universal Studios, which releases high-definition movies exclusively in HD DVD format, and Microsoft, which uses it in its Xbox 360 game console. Over a million Blu-ray Discs have been sold to date, and 70 percent of high-definition video discs sold in the first quarter were in the Blu-ray format, according to the BDA. Anticompetitive activity can ultimately harm consumers, Lemonnier said. But consumers might prefer to see one format dominate the market, as VHS swept away videotape rival Betamax in an earlier battle over formats. As long as the two compete, and film studios choose one or the other, movie buffs are condemned to buy two players, or be unable to watch some films at home. Representatives for Blu-ray Disc backer Sony and HD DVD supporter Toshiba, and for the DVD Forum, which promotes the HD DVD format, all declined to comment on the Commission's action, saying that it was a matter for the Hollywood studios alone. The studios could not immediately be reached.
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Open market set to close The DVD Forum, the organisation which oversees the DVD and HD DVD formats, looks set to introduce a region-coding system for the next-generation optical disc technology next year.â¦