CES: Toshiba says HD DVD format isn't dead yet
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Toshiba remains defiant about the future of its HD DVD format at CES saying it's a long way from dead despite Time Warner's backing of rival Blu-Ray.
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Toshiba will discontinue its HD DVD products, it said Tuesday, handing victory to rival high definition disc format Blu-ray Disc.The company will no longer develop, manufacture, and market HD DVD players and recorders.It will reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail markets and aims to cease the businesses altogether by the end of March.But the Japanese electronics giant pledged to provide full product support and after-sales service for owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.Recent changes in the market prompted the decision, Toshiba said. Early this year,&#160;Warner Bros. said it would stop issuing movies on HD DVD&#160;in the coming months and rely exclusively on Blu-ray Disc. The Hollywood studio was one of three major studios remaining in the HD DVD camp, and its defection created widespread belief that the battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc was now over.More recently, major U.S. retail chain&#160;Wal-Mart announced it would phase out the sale of HD DVD products, moving to exclusivity with Blu-ray Disc. Electronics retailer Best Buy also said it would back Blu-ray Disc, but it did not say it would stop offering HD DVD.Warner made its decision based on consumer confusion and indifference to high definition movies, an indifference that cost Hollywood in lost revenue, it said. Wal-Mart said U.S. customers preferred Blu-ray Disc movies and hardware. Blu-ray Disc is the high definition disc format championed by Sony.&quot;This once again shows why incompatible and mutually exclusive formats should be avoided at all cost by the industry,&quot; said Carl Gressum, a senior analyst at Ovum. &quot;It reduces profitability and delays customer adoption.&quot;&quot;The big question is, however, the impacts on Toshiba as an electronics company,&quot; he added. &quot;It has after all bet its disc media business on HD DVD, as well as gone for HD DVD integration into some of its laptop PCs. The channel has inventory to clear, and demands from owners of HD DVD players.&quot;Toshiba said its decision came after careful analysis of the long-term impact of continuing the format war, and said a swift decision was called for to help the high definition market develop.The company also pledged to remain a player in the high definition market. Developing HD DVD created many assets for Toshiba and its partners, which include Microsoft, Intel, HP, and Universal Studios, the company said. Toshiba plans to work with these companies to seek future business opportunities.&#160;&#160;
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Japanese electronics maker Toshiba might withdraw its HD DVD next-generation video format, Kyodo News agency reported Saturday.
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Toshiba Corp. said on Monday it had won  support for the HD DVD optical disc standard from Warner Bros.  Studios, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures and New Line  Cinema, advancing its cause in the battle for the  next-generation DVD.
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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 (6502.T) competing HD DVD  technology.
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What's next for Toshiba and for HD DVD consumers? The answers may be hidden in Toshiba's own words.
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Toshiba Corp  said on Sunday its HD DVD high-definition video format is not dead despite being dealt a big setback by Warner Bros studio's decision to exclusively back Sony Corp's  rival Blu-ray technology.
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NEW YORK -- 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 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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Japan's Toshiba Corp (6502.T) said on  Tuesday it would stop promoting its HD DVD format for the  next-generation DVD after losing the support of key studios and  retailers to the Blu-ray technology backed by Sony Corp  (6758.T).
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Toshiba Corp  is planning to give  up on its HD DVD format for high-definition video, conceding  defeat to the competing Blu-Ray technology backed by Sony Corp  , a company source said on Saturday.
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Reuters confirms Toshiba will cease manufacturing HD-DVD equipment, which leaves Blu-Ray as the presumptive victor in the irrelevant optical disk format war. Rob Beschizza reports in his Gadget Lab blog.
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Toshiba has announced a dual layered disc that will playback both HD-DVD and DVD formats strengthing its offering in the battle of the next generation DVD formats.
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Japan's Toshiba is considering abandoning its HD DVD format for high definition DVDs, as it is losing the battle for market dominance against rival Sony's Blu-ray format, an industry source said Monday.
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(InfoWorld) - The first laptop computer to feature an HD DVD-R drive, Toshiba's Qosmio Q30, went on sale in Japan over the weekend. HD DVD-R is the read-only version of the HD DVD format and a single-sided disc can hold up to 15GB of data. The format, which is principally backed by Toshiba, is in competition with Blu-ray Disc, which is backed by Sony. The Qosmio G30/97A is an upgraded model of the existing Qosmio laptop computer that is already on sale in several markets worldwide. It is based on an Intel 2GHz Core 2 Duo processor and has a 17-inch widescreen display with 1,920 pixel by 1,280 pixel resolution, which means it can show high-definition images from HD DVD movie discs. The 4.8-kg machine also features a 320GB hard-disk drive, digital TV tuner and HDMI (high definition multimedia interface) output. ToshibaÂ announced the laptopÂ in mid-January also displayed at the recentÂ International Consumer Electronics ShowÂ (CES) in Las Vegas in January. It's on sale for around Â¥373,365 ($3,085) in Japan at present. Toshiba hasn't announced international launch plans or prices but says it will go on sale overseas. To coincide with the launch of the new laptop, Hitachi MaxellÂ is putting blank HD DVD-R media on the market for around Â¥1,500 per disc. Â
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TechWeb - Microsoft's video gaming unit still fully backs Toshiba HD-DVD high-definition DVD format.
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Toshiba still says it will fight on in the high definition disc race. But campaign sources tell the Hollywood Reporter that it is preparing to accept that HD DVD simply canât win.