Toshiba quits HD DVD business

Tribune-Star ^ | Feb. 19,2008 | By Yuri Kageyama

[Military family member]

TOKYO — Toshiba's decision to no longer develop, make or market high-definition HD DVD players and recorders will mean consumers can start feeling more confident about buying the victorious rival technology — a Blu-ray disc player.

Analysts say competition is expected to heat up among the manufacturers of Blu-ray players and recorders, which include Japanese makers Sony Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Sharp Corp. as well as Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea.

In making the announcement, Toshiba Corp. President Atsutoshi Nishida said he wanted to avoid confusion among consumers.

[Military family member]

This is a victory for my hometown, which is home to the largest CD/Blu-Ray factory in the world. Word is SOny is planning on hiring hundreds of new employees.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

I’m off the hook. I didn’t select the “Betamax” this time.

[goodwithagun]

I was waiting for the issue to be cleared up. I did not want to make the betamax mistake.

[NavVet]

Women and minorities hardest hit.

[Military family member]

Me too. Locally, we’re glad this bit of technology took off. Last month, we lost 660 jobs because Pfizer’s new inhaled insulin form, Exhubera, failed to sell.

[mmichaels1970]

Good news for this future PS3 owner.

[Hazcat]

Can somebady ‘slaine this to me?

I understand the two format battle but what exactly is going to be affected?

I have a dvd player and dvd extrnal drives for my pc.

Does this affect them or is this only for when I go buy a new dvd palyer for HD format?

[DoughtyOne]

Bought a Blue-Ray player around October of 2007. It seemd things were headed this way by then.

I want a Blue-Ray recorder NOW! LOL

[Phantom Lord]

By the nature of your question I can say this will not affect you.

Seriously though, this is only in regardes to those with HD TVs and wanting a high def video player. Blu Ray is the champ.

And as another noted, great news for a future PS3 owner.

[Digital Sniper]

I've been sidelining our high-definition DVD purchases until the whole Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD brouhaha was settled. Now time will tell whether we're stuck with a VHS or Beta winner.

[Bommer]

Its only for high definition DVD’s. The only impact will be in the future for starage since Blu-Ray can store much more data!

[Pontiac]

PING

[Hazcat]

Thanks guys.

Nope, don’t have a high def TV so no problem for me.

[GLDNGUN]

Does this affect them or is this only for when I go buy a new dvd palyer for HD format?

Correct. Blu-ray is the way.

[mmichaels1970]

have a dvd player and dvd extrnal drives for my pc.

Does this affect them or is this only for when I go buy a new dvd palyer for HD format?

Your existing dvd players and drives are unaffected, at least for now. Just like VHS tapes, as time goes by, you're going to start seeing a larger and larger selection of blu-ray movies on the store shelves. You'll start having the option of adding a bluray reader/writer drive on your computers. Eventually, it's believed that your standard dvd will become less and less available.

[Hazcat]

Thanks

[Prokopton]

Now time will tell whether we're stuck with a VHS or Beta winner.

Beta was technically superior to VHS but lost out.

Blu Ray is technically superior to HD and it won out.

[Richard Kimball]

Cue Jackson Browne "Make room for my 45s along beside your 78s"

I'll still hold off a little longer for the price to drop more, and may not jump at all if they don't come off that $40 per movie for a Blu-Ray. I'm sure it will come down, though.

[Digital Sniper]

Blu Ray is technically superior to HD and it won out.

I'm gratified to hear that and will certainly be looking forward to enjoying the high-def experience on my 50" HD TV! :-)

[Lady Heron]

LOL! We made that choice also.

[Spktyr]

VHS won out in the consumer marketplace, but Beta was technically superior and won in the pro marketplace. SuperVHS came along to try to make up the tech difference, but it never was as good as Beta.

This time around, the technically superior one won, partially because there was never going to be a way to record HD-DVD at home (even with a computer) and there already are BluRay burners on the market.

[untrained skeptic]

Congratulations to your hometown.

Blu-Ray is the superior technology, at least if they have been able to increase yields on disk manufacturing which I believe had been considerably lower than for HD DVD disks at one time.

I'm still a bit surprised that HD DVD is just going away. I would have expected players that played both formats would have become common first and then have the one format die out.

I guess that implementing both in the same player was more difficult than I thought it would be.

[Locomotive Breath]

Beta was technically superior to VHS but lost out.

The critical factor was that VHS could put an entire movie on a single tape.

[listenhillary]

What is your hometown?

[ExSoldier]

I don't get it. What's the difference?

My wife and I got a DVD recorder/player a few months ago (it's yet to be actually USED even once) so what does this mean for us? Should we dump it?

[swain_forkbeard]

“Blu Ray is technically superior...”

Do you mean the specification theorectically allows for higher audio and video resolutions, greater color depth, more audio channels, more info in general? Because my understanding is that they’ve done a pretty poor job of rolling out the early players (probably to respond to and head off HD-DVD). The standard is evolving, and some players are missing things. I understand that not all Blu-ray players play all Blu-ray discs.

[MediaMole]

I always pick the Betamax. Heck, I still have two Beta decks.

$179 for the HD DVD add-on for my Xbox360 didn’t hurt all that much, and the remaining disks should be really cheap. It’s not like they become trash in two months.

I’d still warn people to avoid standalone Blu-Ray players until the profile 2.0 players hit stores in the fall. The only current player that is assured of being updated to the 2.0 spec is the PS3.

[Spunky]

"Eventually, it's believed that your standard dvd will become less and less available."

I still don't understand the whole thing. I thought I heard that NetZero, Best Buy, Walmart, (I may be mistaken on some of these) will only be carrying blu-ray DVD's. If this is case then I wouldn't be able to play them on my regular DVD player would I?

I absolutely do not understand hi-tech stuff.

[Prokopton]

I'm gratified to hear that and will certainly be looking forward to enjoying the high-def experience on my 50" HD TV! :-)

You'll love it. I just had a 65" Plasma delivered Friday. Now I'm waiting for Panasonic to come out with their Blu Ray 2.0 player.

[Phantom Lord]

The critical factor was that VHS could put an entire movie on a single tape.

That, and it was the choice of the porn industry.

[Phantom Lord]

I still don't understand the whole thing. I thought I heard that NetZero, Best Buy, Walmart, (I may be mistaken on some of these) will only be carrying blu-ray DVD's. If this is case then I wouldn't be able to play them on my regular DVD player would I?

A Blu Ray disc will not play on a regular DVD player. Regular DVDs will play on a Blu Ray player.

And with regardes to "only carrying", that is in reference to the Blu Ray vs. HD DVD battle. You will still be able to buy all the regular DVDs you could ever want.

There are only like 435 movies out on Blu Ray, while the DVD Movie catalog is in excess of 60,000. They will not be going away for a long long time.

[Phantom Lord]

Just get a PS3.

[Prokopton]

Do you mean the specification theorectically allows for higher audio and video resolutions, greater color depth, more audio channels, more info in general?

Blu Ray discs hold 50 GB vs. 30 GB for HD. Blu Ray bandwith is 48Mbit/sec vs. 30 Mbit/sec for HD. Blu Ray discs also have a protective hard coating.

You are correct in that Blu Ray players have gone through the three versions of Blu Ray 1, 1.1 and now 2.0. 2.0 is the last spec for full use of all of the potential in the Blu Ray discs. From now on most Blu Ray players will be full 2.0 specs and will be able to perform all Blu Ray functions.

[Phantom Lord]

My mistake in previous posts. DVD titles are in excess of 90,000.

And on getting a Blu Ray Player, here is an interesting piece from Crave. They strongly suggest the PS3 as your Blu Ray player. Five reasons you shouldn't buy a Blu-ray player yet

[Sig Sauer P220]

Blue-Ray? Izzat some kind of salt water creature?

[comebacknewt]

Final nail in the coffin I would think.

[mmichaels1970]

I thought I heard that NetZero, Best Buy, Walmart, (I may be mistaken on some of these) will only be carrying blu-ray DVD's. If this is case then I wouldn't be able to play them on my regular DVD player would I?

If this WERE true, you'd be correct that your regular DVD player would become nothing more than an end table. However, I think they mean that Walmart etc. won't be carrying BluRay's main competitor: the HD-DVD. These moves by the large resellers are a big part of HD-DVD's imminent death. I'm sure your standard DVD's will be carried at your local Wal Mart for a long time to come since standard DVD's will still be in high demand for at least several years.

I absolutely do not understand hi-tech stuff.

Think about what it was like in Blockbuster during the transition from VHS to DVD. The shelves were full of VHS tapes with a small DVD section in the beginning. Soon, it was 50-50. Now, you can't find a VHS tape anywhere. There was very little if any outrage to VHS offerings disappearing because adequate time elapsed to allow just about everybody to naturally transition over to a DVD Player. I'd project the same type of future for BluRay.

[Military family member]

Terre Haute Indiana

Maybe now we'll be know for something other than the home of the Federal Death Chamber

[Prokopton]

Just get a PS3

Current PS3s probably cannot be made 2.0 compliant. Also, the upconversion quality of the PS3 is not the greatest.

[mmichaels1970]

Current PS3s probably cannot be made 2.0 compliant. Also, the upconversion quality of the PS3 is not the greatest.

Thanks for p***ing on my Cheerios. Just when I thought I had this all figured out.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

That, and it was the choice of the porn industry.

On the other hand, that didn't help HD-DVD.

[Prokopton]

Thanks for p***ing on my Cheerios. Just when I thought I had this all figured out.

The speed at which technology is changing, there is no figuring things out. The PS3 will more than likely do everything you want it to do and it is a good Blu Ray player. However, new versions of the PS3 will be out probably in a couple weeks. Production has already ended on the old 80GB version with stores like BB only selling there remaining inventory.

Isn't technology fun?

[MeanWestTexan]

I just got a PS3 (and 80), Wii, and a HDTV widescreen and surround sounds for my present to myself for my birth day.

Mounted them to the center of the wall what used to be a spare room upstairs. No furniture, just a big ugly green rug.

My wife comes upstairs and laughs at my daughters and me, blasting away.

Vicious competition and good family fun.

[TNoldman]

Can I play Blu-ray on my HD-DVD player. ... with a software update?

HD-DVD’s and Directv HD programming look great on my 120 inch Screen from my Front Projection 1080 Projector.

[mmichaels1970]

Isn't technology fun?

lol...it's my job and I STILL can't keep up. Thanks for the low down on the PS3. I'm considering getting one with the good ole economic stimulus check. Sounds like the PS3 will be upgraded a bit by then.

[listenhillary]

“Can I play Blu-ray on my HD-DVD player. ... with a software update?”

Nope

[Prokopton]

Can I play Blu-ray on my HD-DVD player. ... with a software update?

No.

[Prokopton]

The critical factor was that VHS could put an entire movie on a single tape.

But to do so they had to slow the speed down, seriously degrading PQ.

[listenhillary]

Any benefit to waiting for the next generation PS3?

Just buy a 40gb PS3 if I’m not into gaming and hook up an external HD to it for digital movies? I would basically only be upconverting standard DVD and eventually playing Blu ray DVDs.

Interactve DVD experience, PIP don’t interest me.

[Locomotive Breath]

Absolutely. But most people can't tell the difference in PQ, but they can tell the difference when they have to get up in the middle of the movie to swap tapes. And that they have to store both tapes together to keep the movie in one place. And when they can't set their VCR to record the entire game and miss the final five minutes. And so forth.