It’s Finally Over, HD DVD Stops Twitching
That’s right people… Move along, nothing to see here. The long drawn-out ordeal that has been the Salem HD DVD Trials has officially come to an end. Toshiba has finally given in to the pitchfork-wielding lynch mob and tied HD DVD to a tree out back. A shame perhaps, as HD DVD had some real potential. When the tech blogosphere clamps down though, even the Jaws of Life might not save you. From Toshiba’s official press release this morning:
“We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called ‘next-generation format war’ and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop,” said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality.”
That leaves high-capacity, high definition physical media seekers with one real option: Blu-ray. Sweet, Blu-ray is great… or… it will be some day maybe. For the time being, Blu-ray is a spec nightmare that changes faster than an OJ alibi. If you do currently have a Blu-ray player, unless it is a PlayStation 3 it’s likely already obsolete and probably not even upgradeable to the current spec. Work it out Blu-ray, you got lucky with HD DVD’s demise.
[Via Gadget Lab]
I heard this officially announced on NPR two hours ago, after I checked BGR and there was no news of it.
Wow… it is over now… Now hopefully we can see the prices drop a bit and I can grab me up a blue-ray player!
Geez, sounds like sour grapes Zach, What you got stock in Toshiba or something?
@SammyQ:
Since when does elimination of a competitor mean prices go down? Blu-ray prices have actually been going up since the Warner announcement at CES, and there’s no real indication they’re headed back south, at least not until cheap third-tier manufacturers jump in the ring. And it’s not sour grapes for me – I own a BR player.
Blu-ray is now officially in the boat MS is in. The biggest competitor for Vista is XP, not Apple. Sony beat Toshiba, but they can’t even see the top of the mountain where DVD sits from where they are.
Don’t know if I am at all happy with Blu-ray, I was hoping for HD-DVD to have some kind of a last stand, it was definitly a solid alternative (cheaper to porduce, stable, more content features). Oh well, let’s hope that Toshiba jumps in quickly, and blu-ray get stable and offers more content on their blu-ray DVD’s
The best part of this is laughing at MS and all those HD-DVD add on drives for the X-Box 360 they have laying around! Whats that I hear? Blu-Ray add on coming soon? LOL… anyway, I have a Samsung Blu-Ray player and besides having to update firmware once for Rattatui, its been great. Its not that hard to update the firmware either! So yes it is upgradeable! No issues at all and I dont see how its already outdated. And if you’ve dropped over 2K on a new HDTV whats another $399? Come on!
Patiently waiting for the 120 or 160gig ps3. Kill two birds with one stone.
Kevin, you might want to do a search on BlueRay profiles. You’re mistaken. Every current Bluray player (PS3 not withstanding) will not fully support the discs that are now beginning to come to market, with features like dual PIP video and audio tracks, as well as IP connectivity. It won’t impact movie playback, but it will make existing players outdated.
See, see!!! I told you all that Blu-Ray was going to kick HD DVD’s ass. Now you all that yelled owe me an apology.
Thank goodness for hybrid players. Let the HD-DVD
movie price drop begin!!