Price, not format war fears, holding back Blu-ray, survey finds
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Toshiba more in tune with punters' plans than Sony? Toshiba appears to have judged its HD DVD strategy correctly, if consumer research from price comparison service Pricegrabber is anything to go by. What's stopping punters picking Blu-ray Disc is not so much the risk of backing the loser in the format war as the high price of players.â¦
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With dominance of the market for high-definition movie discs still up in the air, Sony Corp. said Monday it is including a small surprise with the new Blu-ray disc player it is shipping this week: a price tag $100 lower than previously announced.
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Microsoft Corp's  Xbox video  gaming unit still fully backs Toshiba Corp's (6502.T) HD-DVD  high-definition DVD format but could consider supporting Sony  Corp's (6758.T) rival Blu-ray technology should consumers want  it, an executive said on Tuesday.
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Electronics companies are at war over next-generation DVDs
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It may not be exactly possible for high-definition discs to pick up where their lofty goals of 2005 left off. Transmission technology has evolved very rapidly during that time, partly due to the format war's very existence.
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Sony rivals Toshiba, Sanyo and NEC are working on HD-DVD rather than Blu-ray. Both are designed to have much more storage capacity than the current generation of discs.
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The high-definition DVD format war has not been won, at least not in the minds of the retailers. Last week, Time Warner Inc's  Warner Bros studio said it would exclusively release high-definition DVDs in Blu-ray format instead of Toshiba Corp's  competing HD DVD technology.
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An impending end to a format war over next-generation DVDs boosted shares in both victorious Sony, in the Blu-ray corner, and Toshiba, in the losing HD DVD camp, on Monday as consumers cheered an end to confusion over which discs will carry high-definition movies.
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NEW YORK -- With dominance of the market for high-definition movie discs still up in the air, Sony Corp. said today that it is including a small surprise with the new Blu-ray disc player it is shipping this week: a price tag $100 lower than previously announced.
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In the ongoing format battle between Blu-ray and HD-DVD, the main focus has been on consumer applications, and in particular, the home movie market. This week, in fact, Blockbuster announced plans to increase the availability of Blu-ray discs in its stores. The video rental company said that customers were favoring the Sony-backed format over the Toshiba-sponsored HD-DVD, leaving many quick to suggest that this marks the beginning of the end of the latest format war.
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The battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD to define the next generation DVD format shows no signs of cooling off. While electronics and computer companies such as Sony, Dell and HP back the Blu-ray
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It's clearly a blow, but retailers were divided on whether the move actually amounted to a death knell to the format, which is battling Blu-Ray.
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So Toshiba finally threw in the towel on its HD DVD format today, making Blu-ray  the winner in the hi-def war. Consumers, however, could be the losers because without competition, there's no incentive for cheaper Blu-ray players.
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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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Hollywood is hoping high-definition   DVDs will reignite a slowing market for movies at home, but   they have drawn mixed reviews from retailers and analysts due   to technical issues and a bitter format war.
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Despite the disappointing news this morning for over 1.3 million HD DVD customers, they have little to worry about. Here's why.
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With the news early Tuesday that Toshiba is ending the next generation optical disc war by pulling the plug on HD DVD, the manufacturer said it has no plans to support or manufacture Blu-ray players. Likewise, Microsoft said it has no plans to announce.