CNN Headline story: Toshiba may end its HD DVD...

Stew4HD · 02-18-2008, 09:40 AM

Linky

And quote:

Quote:

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Sony's Blu-ray technology is emerging as the likely winner in the format battle for the next generation of DVD players after Toshiba appeared ready to ditch its HD DVD business.

Such a move would help consumers know which system to invest in and would likely boost sales in Blu-ray gadgets, analysts say. But it will disappoint the 1 million people around the world estimated by Toshiba who have already bought HD DVD players.

Toshiba said Monday no decision has been made but acknowledged it had started a review of its HD DVD strategy. The comments follow a flurry of weekend Japanese media reports that the company was close to pulling the plug on the business.

A company official, speaking on condition of anonymity because she isn't authorized to speak on the matter, said a board meeting could be held as soon as Tuesday, where a decision is likely.

HD DVD has been competing against Blu-ray disc technology, backed by Sony, Matsushita, which makes Panasonic brand products, five major Hollywood movie studios and others.

Both formats deliver crisp, clear high-definition pictures and sound, but they are incompatible with each other, and neither plays on older DVD players. HD DVD was touted as being cheaper because it was more similar to previous video technology, while Blu-ray boasted bigger recording capacity. Both formats play on high-definition TVs.

Only one video format has been expected to emerge as the victor, much like VHS trumped Sony's Betamax in the video format battle of the 1980s.

This time, however, it appears Sony will end up on the winning side.

"If true, this will be good news for the next-generation DVD industry in clearing up the confusion for consumers because of the format competition that had curbed buying," said Koya Tabata, electronics analyst at Credit Suisse in Tokyo. "This will work toward a profit boost for Sony."

The reasons behind Blu-ray's apparent triumph over HD DVD are complex, analysts said, as marketing, management maneuvers and other factors are believed to have played into the shift to Blu-ray's favor that became more decisive during the critical holiday shopping season.

Recently, the Blu-ray disc format has been gaining market share, especially in Japan. A study on fourth quarter sales last year by market researcher BCN Inc. found that by unit volume, Blu-ray made up 96 percent of Japanese sales.

American movie studios also were increasingly lining up behind the Blu-ray standard.

Last month, Warner Brothers Entertainment decided to release movie discs only in the Blu-ray format, joining Sony Pictures, Walt Disney and News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox. That left only Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures and General Electric Co.'s Universal Pictures as exclusive supporters of HD DVD.

On Friday, Wal-Mart, the largest U.S. retailer, said it will sell only Blu-ray DVDs and hardware. That announcement came five days after Netflix Inc. said it will cease carrying rentals in HD DVD.

Several major American retailers have made similar decisions, including Target Corp. and Blockbuster Inc.

Despite the reports, Toshiba's stock soared 5.7 percent to 829 yen ($7.69) in Tokyo as investors cheered the likely decision as lessening the potential damage in losses in the HD DVD operations, despite the blow to Toshiba's prestige.

Sony shares rose 1.0 percent to 4,900 yen ($45.45). The Tokyo-based manufacturer declined comment on the reports about HD DVD. Sony also said it did not have numbers on how many Blu-ray players had been sold globally, or a number for Sony brand Blu-ray machines sold.

Adding to Blu-ray's momentum was the gradual increase in sales of Sony's PlayStation 3 home video-game console, which also works as a Blu-ray player. Sony has sold 10.5 million PS3 machines worldwide since the machine went on sale late 2006.

But PS3 sales have trailed the blockbuster Wii machine from Nintendo, and the game machine wasn't widely seen as that critical to the video format battle.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 game machine can play HD DVD movies, but the drive had to be bought separately, and its proliferation is believed to be limited. Toshiba said such players are included in the overall tally of 1 million HD DVD players sold so far.

Kazuharu Miura, an analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo, said the final holdout for HD DVD may come in personal computers, if Microsoft decides to continue to push HD DVD. But once the balance tilts in favor of one format, then the domination tends to become final, he said.

"You've seen this happen before, as in Macintosh vs. Windows," he said. "The content makers are going to choose one format, and the stores are going to want to stack their shelves with the dominant format, too."

Toshiba is expected to focus its resources on its other businesses, including computer chip production, such as flash-memory, which are used in digital cameras and cell phones.

The Nikkei, Japan's top business newspaper, reported in its Monday's editions that Toshiba plans to invest as much as 1.8 trillion yen ($16.7 billion) in two plants in Japan for its flash memory business for fiscal 2008, starting April 1. Toshiba said no decision has been made.

Dare · 02-18-2008, 09:51 AM

The media echo chamber is going at full blast, with the speculation that Toshiba *may* be dumping HD-DVD.

Has anybody seen an official announcement from anybody yet? Toshiba, Universal, or Paramount?

jp's Bears · 02-18-2008, 09:57 AM

on YAHOO

**bruceames** · 02-18-2008, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dare

The media echo chamber is going at full blast, with the speculation that Toshiba *may* be dumping HD-DVD.

Has anybody seen an official announcement from anybody yet? Toshiba, Universal, or Paramount?

It won't come before tomorrow, since that's the earliest they could have a board meeting. Surely Paramount and Universal will at least wait for Toshiba to pull the plug, so I don't think we'll hear any big news today.

Quote:

A company official, speaking on condition of anonymity because she isn't authorized to speak on the matter, said a board meeting could be held as soon as Tuesday, where a decision is likely.

Dare · 02-18-2008, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bruceames

It won't come before tomorrow, since that's the earliest they could have a board meeting. Surely Paramount and Universal will at least wait for Toshiba to pull the plug, so I don't think we'll hear any big news today.

Well, for what it's worth, they apparently did announce that nothing has been decided yet. So, it's still all speculation and wishful thinking until it actually happens.

ah802 · 02-18-2008, 10:19 AM

Rumours are thick with this kind of news... which makes me question why would anyone announce their non-market intentions... what's to gain? They have stockpiles of hardware they need to move out the door and by announcing it as dead hardware will not help the move... Then again most of the articles are saying Toshiba is getting out.... not Blu-Ray won, this hesitancy has inquiring minds wondering motivation. The announcement recently of recordable media for HD-DVD is a bit curious and it's timing begs questions.

Could the industry be bullying Toshiba into throwing in the towel, when they have a better sunset approach?

There is a plan.

Stew4HD · 02-18-2008, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ah802

Rumours are thick with this kind of news... which makes me question why would anyone announce their non-market intentions... what's to gain? They have stockpiles of hardware they need to move out the door and by announcing it as dead hardware will not help the move... Then again most of the articles are saying Toshiba is getting out.... not Blu-Ray won, this hesitancy has inquiring minds wondering motivation. The announcement recently of recordable media for HD-DVD is a bit curious and it's timing begs questions.

Could the industry be bullying Toshiba into throwing in the towel, when they have a better sunset approach?

There is a plan.

IMO, the market HAS bullied Toshiba. The recent announcements bely that. Why would BestBuy announce preference when they clearly "showed" preference all along? The NetFlix announcement made little sense. NetFlix is in the business of renting whatever the public wants to rent. WalMart never was an HDM proponent. Each one of those companies released a statement that the "consumer has chosen" in nearly a canned response.

So, yes, I believe HD DVD has been bullied into this position, right, wrong or otherwise.

MikeRox · 02-18-2008, 11:10 AM

Either that, or all 3 of them got wind of Toshiba assessing HD DVDs future and decided to pile on the pressure seeing a potential quick end and effectively making their decision for them.

Stew4HD · 02-18-2008, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeRox

Either that, or all 3 of them got wind of Toshiba assessing HD DVDs future and decided to pile on the pressure seeing a potential quick end and effectively making their decision for them.

I guess what baffles me the most is why would they care when a sale is a sale? Maybe I am just thinking too much in the now and they are foward looking.. except Netflix.

The conspiracy theorist in me wants to think that there is more to it.

MikeRox · 02-18-2008, 11:14 AM

I think there probably is more to it. I've never really known retailers drop growing formats before. Only when they've peaked and are in decline.

Is there any precedent at all for a growing format to be discontinued?

Super XP · 02-18-2008, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stew4HD

IMO, the market HAS bullied Toshiba. The recent announcements bely that. Why would BestBuy announce preference when they clearly "showed" preference all along? The NetFlix announcement made little sense. NetFlix is in the business of renting whatever the public wants to rent. WalMart never was an HDM proponent. Each one of those companies released a statement that the "consumer has chosen" in nearly a canned response.

So, yes, I believe HD DVD has been bullied into this position, right, wrong or otherwise.

What kills me is the statement Best Buy, Netflix & Wal-Mart uses "The Consumers Clearly Chosen Blu-Ray over HD DVD". This is false information. Because the consumer did not clearly choose Blu-Ray over HD DVD.
They need to state the truth and that is “The PlayStation 3 owners have clearly chosen Blu-Ray over HD DVD” along with massive amounts of money payoffs.

So yes the industry (Not the Consumer) has bullies HD DVD out of the race. The better, cheaper priced format may now lose this format war and this is not good overall news for HDM.

MikeRox · 02-18-2008, 11:22 AM

once 2.0 firmware update is issued, just how (other than combo/TWIN) was HD DVD better than Blu-ray from a consumer standpoint?

HD Goofnut · 02-18-2008, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeRox

once 2.0 firmware update is issued, just how (other than combo/TWIN) was HD DVD better than Blu-ray from a consumer standpoint?

I know I have said this so many times (sometimes I feel like a red Chris Gerhard), but there are STILL no 2.0 players for the public. On top of that Sony is now behind a month on the 2.0 update to the PS3 (1/22/08). So now we have had 2.0 spec discs on the market for over 2 months with absolutely no way to take advantage of them. Of course I will remind you all that HD DVD has had all of this since its inception.

kamspy · 02-18-2008, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeRox

once 2.0 firmware update is issued, just how (other than combo/TWIN) was HD DVD better than Blu-ray from a consumer standpoint?

Not to mention that the web enabled features on HD DVDs will go silent into the night with the servers if and when Toshiba does officially close shop. Bringing HD DVDs and players down to the dreaded 1.1 profile.

So there are no "2.0" HD DVD players on the market now.

Stew4HD · 02-18-2008, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kamspy

Not to mention that the web enabled features on HD DVDs will go silent into the night with the servers if and when Toshiba does officially close shop. Bringing HD DVDs and players down to the dreaded 1.1 profile.

So there are no "2.0" HD DVD players on the market now.

And you know THIS BECAUSE??? Puh-lease stop with stating opinion as fact.

02-18-2008, 09:51 AM	#2
Dare I moon you. Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Phoenix, Arizona Posts: 4,523	The media echo chamber is going at full blast, with the speculation that Toshiba may be dumping HD-DVD. Has anybody seen an official announcement from anybody yet? Toshiba, Universal, or Paramount? __________________ LG GGC-H20L Super Multi Blue Blu-ray & HD DVD ROM Drive 58 Lost count

02-18-2008, 09:57 AM	#3
jp's Bears High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 45	Toshiba appears ready to drop HD DVD business on YAHOO

02-18-2008, 10:19 AM	#6
ah802 Visual Arts Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,243	Something is amiss.... Rumours are thick with this kind of news... which makes me question why would anyone announce their non-market intentions... what's to gain? They have stockpiles of hardware they need to move out the door and by announcing it as dead hardware will not help the move... Then again most of the articles are saying Toshiba is getting out.... not Blu-Ray won, this hesitancy has inquiring minds wondering motivation. The announcement recently of recordable media for HD-DVD is a bit curious and it's timing begs questions. Could the industry be bullying Toshiba into throwing in the towel, when they have a better sunset approach? There is a plan.

02-18-2008, 11:10 AM	#8
MikeRox Connoisseur of Fine Games Join Date: May 2007 Location: Huddersfield, United Kingdom Posts: 15,756	Either that, or all 3 of them got wind of Toshiba assessing HD DVDs future and decided to pile on the pressure seeing a potential quick end and effectively making their decision for them. __________________ Currently Playing: Xenoblade Chronicles, Ridge Racer 3D, DIRT 3

02-18-2008, 11:14 AM	#10
MikeRox Connoisseur of Fine Games Join Date: May 2007 Location: Huddersfield, United Kingdom Posts: 15,756	I think there probably is more to it. I've never really known retailers drop growing formats before. Only when they've peaked and are in decline. Is there any precedent at all for a growing format to be discontinued? __________________ Currently Playing: Xenoblade Chronicles, Ridge Racer 3D, DIRT 3

02-18-2008, 11:22 AM	#12
MikeRox Connoisseur of Fine Games Join Date: May 2007 Location: Huddersfield, United Kingdom Posts: 15,756	once 2.0 firmware update is issued, just how (other than combo/TWIN) was HD DVD better than Blu-ray from a consumer standpoint? __________________ Currently Playing: Xenoblade Chronicles, Ridge Racer 3D, DIRT 3

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