Toshiba To Stop HD DVD Player Production

[FX120]

I never get the people who say HD-DVD = Microsoft.

Microsoft was never behind the format all that firmly. They provided a codec VC-1 which was one out of 3 available for disk mastering, but VC-1 is also used on some Blu-Ray disks too.

And they released a HD-DVD ad on for the 360, which was a wise thing for their consumers considering the ongoing format war was very uncertain at the time.

 

[zedsdead]

I never get the people who say HD-DVD = Microsoft.

Microsoft was never behind the format all that firmly. They provided a codec VC-1 which was one out of 3 available for disk mastering, but VC-1 is also used on some Blu-Ray disks too.

And they released a HD-DVD ad on for the 360, which was a wise thing for their consumers considering the ongoing format war was very uncertain at the time.

HD DVD was primarily Universal and Toshiba. Microsoft was a major player too, that is for sure, but not the only backer. If Microsoft was agnostic in the war they would have offered a Blu-Ray add on too.

The VC-1 codec is on both, but Universal and Paramount are the two primary users of it which are HD DVD. Most of the Blu-Ray crowd uses MPEG-4 now. I originally went HD DVD because Blu-Ray was stupidly using MPEG-2 at first. HD DVD offered MPEG-4 first.

 

[megfilmworks]

I think the format war was decided a little too late.
I doubt Bluray will get a foothold and if it does it will be left in the dust by downloadable content.
That being said I love Bluray and I still love HD-DVD.
But I think I like my HD downloads from iTunes the most!!

 

[Curtis72]

Huh?

well lets not go too overboard here. I think that there is still a market for HD-DVD's/Players because they're a lot cheaper; i.e. consumer computers. Although BD's will have the Netflix and Blockbuster on lock down I think HD-DVD's might be able to make a market in the computer hardware business.

BD-R and BD-RE hold more data than their HD-DVD counterparts. BD-R and BD-RE also have higher write/read speeds than HD DVD-R and HD DVD-RW.

HD-DVD has a movie delivery format is near death. By 2009, it will be dead. I foresee the same fate for HD DVD-R/RW by 2010.

 

[zedsdead]

I think the format war was decided a little too late.
I doubt Bluray will get a foothold and if it does it will be left in the dust by downloadable content.
That being said I love Bluray and I still love HD-DVD.
But I think I like my HD downloads from iTunes the most!!

While I want that to happen, the fact is most owners of HDTV's do not, nor will not buy an Apple TV. Blu-Ray is not going to just fall off the face of the earth now that the the Apple TV has HD on it. Remember, there still is no way to purchase HD at all, not TV HD Shows, and none on iTunes. The Apple TV only has it (they're locked on the unit), and they are only rentals.

 

[FX120]

HD DVD was primarily Universal and Toshiba. Microsoft was a major player too, that is for sure, but not the only backer. If Microsoft was agnostic in the war they would have offered a Blu-Ray add on too.

The VC-1 codec is on both, but Universal and Paramount are the two primary users of it which are HD DVD. Most of the Blu-Ray crowd uses MPEG-4 now. I originally went HD DVD because Blu-Ray was stupidly using MPEG-2 at first. HD DVD offered MPEG-4 first.

Read more about it here:
http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/microsoft-hd-dvd.ars

Microsoft in the long run only "backed" HD-DVD because of it's usage policies and at the time it looked like a better format, while at the same time also being a member of the Blu-Ray forum and providing a codec for the BD standard. So it's not like they just played one side of the camp, and with HD-DVD's failing, it's not exactly a major blow to Microsoft in any way besides the silly HD-DVD add on (which I suspect was pushed by Toshiba). I wouldn't be surprised at all to see a Blu-Ray add on coming in the next few months.

------------

And digital downloads / OTA / Cable / Sattelite HD is still no where near good enough when compared to what BD offers. Compression artifacts and a loss of depth might not bother people with cheap 32" Olivia Best Buy specials, but they look like **** on my 52" XBR4...

 

[mondesi43]

Uhm, the PS3 had a cell processor that had never been developed for. By definition, it would take longer for developers to learn to program the chip. This year, lots of titles announced, many of which will take advantage of the common hardware platform that is the PS3.

Advantage early to the Xbox 360, even with its high failure rate, which was a very conventional computer platform to develop for. Its probable that the PS3 will hit its stride this year, what with many announced titles coming out, cost reductions on the hardware and rumors of a $299 machine.

If that happens, Xbox sales rates will thereafter place Microsoft in at best a respectable third place.

I agree, but MS has the online side of it light years ahead of Sony. That's what most people spend their time doing, online play. Sony really needs to step up online in order to kill MS in all facets. All of my friends who have the PS3 use it as a BR player, rarely a gaming system.

MS was a year ahead getting the 360 to market, they will have something new with better hardware than the PS3 within the next 2 years. MS will still have the leg up in the gaming market, and Sony will have the market in HD discs.

Sony bet on Betamax and lost, MS bet on HD-DVD and lost. Live and learn

 

[clayj]

Sony bet on Betamax and lost, MS bet on HD-DVD and lost. Live and learn

Microsoft bet virtually nothing on HD-DVD... it wasn't their format in the same way that Blu-ray is Sony's format. Microsoft mostly supported HD-DVD as a counterbalance to Sony. If there's a loser here (aside from us customers, of course), it's Toshiba and Universal.

I've got two of the HD-DVD addons for my Xbox 360s, and about 30 movies on HD-DVD. They'll still work, and I'll still be able to watch them. But my next HD purchase will have to be a Blu-ray player, and from here on out I'll only be buying Blu-ray movies. I'll slowly replace the HD-DVDs that I have with Blu-ray movies, until the day comes that I can sell my HD-DVDs and players on Craigslist or eBay.

As far as Apple goes, I think it's time for them to put out a Blu-ray option for Mac Pros which will allow us to burn 50 GB data discs and play movies back in full 1080p with HDCP-compliant monitors (like ACDs). I would rather buy an "official" solution from Apple than some third-party thing that's going to be kludgy in any way.

 

[djellison]

I doubt Bluray will get a foothold and if it does it will be left in the dust by downloadable content.

I think you're very wrong. iTunes doesn't offer anywhere near the quality of a BR movie at the moment. ADSL in this country ( UK ) certainly can't handle the downloading of regular multiple-gig movies by consumers. There is the simple fact that a disk is better quality, better reliability (put it in even if the network's down) It's a physical medium, you can take it round to a friends house, you don't have to download it again if your HDD crashes.

Hell - the act of posting a BR disk from a warehouse to a home in the UK offers a faster 'bandwidth' than trying to download it.

Doug

 

[Stope]

let me guess, you live in a country where all the big movies are produced and always at low prices. let me guess. you pay no more than usd 20$ or so for a dvd. let me guess, all the same will be true for blu ray when prices come down a bit. for the rest of the world (even canada) prices are dire. 30-50 usd for a dvd. so with bloody region coding, hardware b cannot play disk a and consumer is forced to pay double to watch the same film a half year after it comes to the usa.

region is rubbish

Let me guess, you live in a country whose currency is actually worth something

 

[theheadguy]

i for one welcome our new Blu Ray overlords

i knew that sounded familiar... http://www.digg.com/business_financ...k_renting_an_HD_DVD_soon?t=12779001#c12779001

HD-DVD wasn't well thought out to start with... a sizable investment and alliances were the only thing that kept it going this far...

 

[n1ght]

I think we'll be seeing a Blu-ray option on Mac Pros in the next few months, and eventually iMacs and MBPs.

I hope adding Blu-ray drive options to higher-end models will force them to add SuperDrives standard across the board. Seriously, that combo drive is ancient...

 

[mrpither]

well, as soon as apex makes a blu-ray player, i'll be all over it. and hopefully it will hackable like many of their past units. region, shmegion!

 

[Bastich]

Will all the record labels get together now and release one new HD audio format now? Will the RIAA be in charge of the releasing of such music? <snip>

No, because they too have no clue on the technology side. It took Apple and iTunes to get them to finally accept music downloading as a plausible income source.

A technology company will need to come along first with a viable HD audio format/medium, then the RIAA will cripple it with DRM to protect their content monopoly and diminish your rights.

The interesting thing about the HD movie side is that Sony also IS a huge media company. I wonder if anyone considered that they've just been handed the keys to Hollywood?

 

[chuckles:)]

wow.. A Sony format actually won a round... Who knew?

 

[bmb012]

I don't really know why anyone would consider HD DVD to be an inferior format, both could hold more than an entire movie in 1080p, and HD DVD was cheaper. I've yet to really see blu-ray's scratch resistant surface in action, so who knows...

I really don't see either format being the 'main' format, because of DVD, not because of digital download.

I guess in the end I'm just glad that there's still a physical medium for HD movies, I love the quality, and I'll pay extra for the quality, but I'll at least admit that most of the world will not...

 

[phalewhale]

Blu-ray

Good to know my PS3 will be playing high quality movies for a long while yet. My PS2 introduced me to DVD when I got that, and my PS3 has done the same for Blu-ray.

The quality is simply superb and the price is comparable to that of DVD when it was first released. I seem to remember paying £17.99 for new release films on DVD way back when...

 

[MacGeek7]

I can't wait for built-in Blu-Ray players in our  products

 

[Bastich]

Apple will probably be forced to offer BR players, even though I don't think they really want to.

Nobody is forcing them to do anything. Apple will "offer" BR drives when there is enough consumer demand, and someone makes one for a reasonable price.

 

[TheNightPhoenix]

I've yet to really see blu-ray's scratch resistant surface in action, so who knows...
<snipped>

I have to say it really is scratch resistant. I have had 3 x box discs repaired because of scratches, they weren't even big scratches just general use/abuse hair line type stuff, but my over sensative xbox wouldn't play them.

Not a single scratch on any of my PS3 games or Bluray movies. If they get finger marks I just rub em on my jeans, and they all still look virgin.

 

[yg17]

Digital downloads aren't going to be replacing any disc format anytime soon.

1. Not everyone's broadband connection is fast enough. For me, I can drive to Blockbuster, rent the movie, watch it, drive back to return it and back home before a high def movie would even be close to downloading.

2. None of the online ones that I know of are 1080p. If I have a 1080p TV, I'm not wasting my time and money on anything less than 1080p when it comes to movies.

3. Ditto for DTS-HD and the other high def, 7.1 channel audio tracks. Online movies don't have those either.

4. If I want to buy movies and built up a collection, I'm certainly not doing it with downloadable video. The files are still way too large and will eat up space on my hard drive. And if my hard drive dies? There goes my entire collection that I paid good money for and can't get back.

5. Ease of use. None of the online stores are intuitive for computer illiterate people. Take my parents for example. They'd never figure out how to use iTunes to rent a movie. But they're capable of using a DVD player.

 

[TheNightPhoenix]

2. None of the online ones that I know of are 1080p. If I have a 1080p TV, I'm not wasting my time and money on anything less than 1080p when it comes to movies.

3. Ditto for DTS-HD and the other high def, 7.1 channel audio tracks. Online movies don't have those either.

You also forgot that the data rate for these 720p stereo downloads is far far less then their disc orientated brothers, I downloaded the matrix on the xbox and was bummed to get stereo sound and I could notice a serious drop in picture quality during the fast motion scenes.

They are in general High Def in their number of pixals and that it.

 

[Bastich]

This format-war hurt both parties AND the consumers. Elimination of that market-confusion HELPS the consumers! And we still have competition: we have several companies making players, several studios releasing content and several retailers selling both. Having the market split in to two incompatible halves is NOT a good thing! It forces the consumer to buy both technologies and it reduces the economies of scale.

Yes, just like they force us to buy a PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii to be able to play all games.

And let's not forget who started this format war, breaking away from the logical successor to DVD in order to create their own incompatible format.

 

[combatcolin]

Today is a good day for laughing at all the Sony haters.

Today HD DVD has fallen. Next year it will be the turn of the Xbox 360.

Prat.

 

[Prof.]

I've been saying Blu-Ray will win the format war for a year now and most ppl didn't believe. Now I don't mind spending $700 on my PS3 when it first came out.

Now for the Mac vs. PC war

There is one more thing.

The guy that helped me at Best Buy today told me that XBox 360 sales are falling and PS3 sales are rising rapidly.

ALL HAIL THE PS3!!!