Toshiba offically confirms death of HD-DVD

[qdave]

thats unfortunate in a way...such huge losses for Toshiba :(

[BGM]

ok.. well guess it's time to start shopping for BD players. i'll start looking at those movies that are on sale now in BD that i've always wanted :D Time to start my collection again!!

Hmm.. other than the PS3, what's the other cheapest BD player? Since today is my birthday i think it will be a fitting gift :D

just get a ps3, its the best one out at the moment

You're Kidding...Right?

nope

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

I would probably be happy about this if anyone other than Sony was behind the format. It never ceases to amaze me how short the public attention span is for such vile corporations.

These "vile corporations" you talk about make our lives 10x better through the technology they provide.

I'll be damned if people would actually want Sony to never exist. Honestly, I don't care how much of an Apple/MS/Other Company here supporter you are, to actually want any one of these giants not to exist is just :no:

It's not the corporations that "promote" corruption, it's the business world itself - It's competitive, RUNS on money and is hard to stay at the top in (you're under scrutiny/public view 24/7 - the smallest of PR mistake will be spun to the high heavens and back). The whole scene these corporations are part of is "corrupt". If you consider pay offs, cut-throat tactics and the likes to be corrupt.

As a consumer though, how about you stop wasting your time thinking about this perfect world where every rival corporation shakes hands, grows daisies in plots of lands infront of their buildings and don't mind losing out on market share/money to others and just buy products that are rated well and work for you.

I suppose exploding batteries and rookits mean everything Sony do is worthless, eh? Who cares about the well reviewed Bravia TVs, they all suck. Who cares about any cameras they make, none of them are good... Who cares about the PS brand, it's never gave anything to anyone? Am I correct :laugh: ?

I don't hate MS/Nintendo/Apple/Sony or anyone really, I don't agree with everything they do, but they also do a lot of good. No one is perfect, even the president of a country makes mistakes, doesn't he/she? :whistle:

I respect your stance on disliking Sony, that's your decision, but "vile" corporations? Cmon.

I also have my window wipers on, I see through shallow marketing, and the tricks of the trades in the business world (1080p is essential!!111), but that doesn't mean I dislike the product being offered - I just don't buy into the over the top/persuasive PR/Marketing.

[zerolimit]

I am so glad I bought a PS3 instead of getting the HD addon for the 360! I was in between both of them! close call!!!

[Nightz]

I would probably be happy about this if anyone other than Sony was behind the format. It never ceases to amaze me how short the public attention span is for such vile corporations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc_Association

it's not just sony you should be mad at ;) :p

[Cyber Dog]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc_Association

it's not just sony you should be mad at ;) :p

To be clear, I'm not mad at Sony because of Blu-Ray, I'm mad at Blu-Ray because of Sony. In the consumer electronics industry, you'd be hard pressed to find a company with a worse track record of abusing their own customers in any way possible that would benefit their bottom line. Rootkits, DRM, useless proprietary formats, the list goes on. No company has a spotless record, but Sony has taken negative PR from an isolated incident to a trend. Sadly, as soon as you dangle a shiny new object in front of the masses, the past tends to fade awfully quickly, at least until it repeats itself. And now they'll no doubt be handed loads of cash via the PS3... a video game system they utterly failed to sell competitively except for the fact that it also happens to play Blu-Ray media.

@Audioboxer, your high-horse is lovely, but your argument doesn't hold much water. Saying that the public is better off having Sony around, despite all their abuses, just because they offer a few good products is silly. If they didn't produce the technology, someone else would, and very possibly in a more consumer-friendly fashion. But hey, thank goodness we have the RIAA around too, the world would be a sad place if nobody was able to play music.

[PiracyX]

Uh, the studios and retailers switched because they were selling more content on Blu-ray.

Wrong.

The Studios switched/backed Blu-ray because of the added level of copy protection layers it had over HD-DVD, such as AACS, BD+, BD-ROM Watermark etc while HD-DVD only had AACS which they wanted to protect their content.

This in turn switched the studios, and retailers followed because of better studio support. Blockbuster UK back in April 2007 already backed Blu-ray only because "they" thought it was the better format, yet there was hardly any hardware out, nor titles to bak this up. It was THEIR choice. Whether they were paid under the table to do this maye sound possible.

I couldn't really care what who won, but the fact is Blu-ray did NOT win this format war based on people buying Blu-ray content. It was the Consumers And Retailers decided this, coupled with the massive amount of money thrown about to get "exclusive support" over the other *cough* Warner and it was far more promoted around than HD-DVD ever was.

Still, we finally have a winner at the end of it.

[Xerxes]

Seriously. If Toshiba had actually put out some sort of competent marketing campaign for HD DVD, it probably would have won. It had a good price, excellent features, a consumer-friendly name, just no marketing.

Perhaps you are right, but I am unsure. Lack of marketing was a serious blow to HD-DVD but it wasn't really what killed it I think. The thing is the studios didn't really like HD-DVD, it offered less protection for their films, had no region protection at all and most importantly HD-DVD was cracked and Blu-Ray is not (or is it? I'm fairly sure Blu hasn't been cracked yet, but I could be wrong) and the fact that more studios aligned with Blu-Ray from word go was a sign of things to come. HD-DVD might of been more consumer friendly, but it's the studios who you really need to win over to come out on top. If HD-DVD had more of the features Blu-Ray offered and had better marketing, I think the winner would not of been as clear cut and the war would of possibly gone on for alot longer! of cause this is my opinion so take with a grain of salt.

[TDQuiksilver]

I couldn't really care what who won, but the fact is Blu-ray did NOT win this format war based on people buying Blu-ray content. It was the Consumers And Retailers decided this, coupled with the massive amount of money thrown about to get "exclusive support" over the other *cough* Warner and it was far more promoted around than HD-DVD ever was.

Still, we finally have a winner at the end of it.

Sales numbers during every week of 2007 beg to differ. One who denies the fact that sales number were also a huge factor is a blind fool.

[Cormier6083]

For all of the pansies here, there is no right or wrong in business. No one is your friend, and money is your ultimate goal.

[Tech Star]

Finally! Its over! :D

[Joel]

Lets celebrate VHD Day (Victory in High Definition Day)

the HDDVD fans can bleat on about being the 'consumer' oreinted format, but people voted with their wallets!

long live BD!

You'd better hope you don't continue to vote as much as you did before.

it has to, as its now poised to take over dvd, if they don't then dvd will continue to sell and people will skip bd as their HD source.

HD content is not poised to do anything. I don't care who makes it, DVD outnumbers HD content by a ridiculous factor, and until you see a $100 BD player (because the masses are spoiled by Wal-Mart's $29 DVD player), it's not gonna happen.

[rajputwarrior]

+1 sony is pretty evil, they have done some BAD things in the past

[PiracyX]

Sales numbers during every week of 2007 beg to differ. One who denies the fact that sales number were also a huge factor is a blind fool.

And why do you think it sold more than HD-DVD? More Studios supported it than HD-DVD (based on better copy protection) ---> Hence more titles than HD-DVD to choose from --> Plus PS3 was HUGE deciding factor aswell since it had a Blu-ray player built in.

Blind fool in thinking that Blu-ray won it just based on sales? The studios and hell many Retailers already decided what format they rather back which was Blu-ray even before Warner jumped ship. In retailers it had more space on the shop floor, promoted better or in a way making out like HD-DVD doesn't even exist. If HD-DVD was treated fairly both by he studios and retailers, this war would if still gone on and mayeb prehaps HD-DVD would of come on top based on cheaper costs, but its not like the Consumer even had a choice anyway.

I think a alot of PS3 owners are actually relieved Blu-ray came up on top because that's all it still good for right now (I said right now, not the future because it will hopefully be a great console for games)

Edited February 20, 2008 by PiracyX

[xendrome]

No offense but you must be the blind fool in thinking that Blu-ray won it just based on sales.

They pretty much did... in business, you can talk about this and that, and how and why.. but it all comes down to how many widgets you sell.....

If you think it was because of any other reason, I would consider you a fool...

[Coldgunner]

You'd better hope you don't continue to vote as much as you did before.

HD content is not poised to do anything. I don't care who makes it, DVD outnumbers HD content by a ridiculous factor, and until you see a $100 BD player (because the masses are spoiled by Wal-Mart's $29 DVD player), it's not gonna happen.

why not, when dvd was released, there was far more vhs content, and vhs stayed dominant for 2/3 years while dvd was being introduced, its only history repeating itself.

[PiracyX]

They pretty much did... in business, you can talk about this and that, and how and why.. but it all comes down to how many widgets you sell.....

If you think it was because of any other reason, I would consider you a fool...

That may be true but i think we all know how this game was played. The Studios and retailers muscled out HD-DVD before it even had a chance.

[TDQuiksilver]

And why do you think it sold more than HD-DVD? More Studios supported it than HD-DVD (based on better copy protection) ---> Hence more titles than HD-DVD to choose from --> Plus PS3 was HUGE deciding factor aswell since it had a Blu-ray player built in.

Blind fool in thinking that Blu-ray won it just based on sales? The studios and hell many Retailers already decided what format they rather back which was Blu-ray even before Warner jumped ship. In retailers it had more space on the shop floor, promoted better or in a way making out like HD-DVD doesn't even exist. If HD-DVD was treated fairly both by he studios and retailers, this war would if still gone on and mayeb prehaps HD-DVD would of come on top based on cheaper costs, but its not like the Consumer even had a choice anyway.

I think a alot of PS3 owners are actually relieved Blu-ray came up on top because that's all it still good for right now (I said right now, not the future because it will hopefully be a great console for games)

You've pretty much been spewing the same nonsense we've all heard over and over... care to share anything new? It's all over with ... what more could you possibly argue about? Is there some actual need to pick it apart for self satisfaction? "If's" and "but's" won't cut it here when debating HD-DVD... it's as good as gone. Somebody is bitter about dumping funds into a dead format it seems.

[Scaldari Anitoba]

Yes, the same people that Gave us 2 Bush's and American Idol being a top show. The average consumer is a moron. Long live the hackers that will make thier lives <Sony and thier ilk> Hell >)

Lets celebrate VHD Day (Victory in High Definition Day)

the HDDVD fans can bleat on about being the 'consumer' oreinted format, but people voted with their wallets!

long live BD!

[christracy]

I love this engadget article (my faves in bold):

Top ten things to do with your now-defunct HD DVD player:

1. Mail it to the office of Howard Stringer in protest of Blu-ray's victory.

2. Plug it into your clothes dryer's 240-volt outlet. Woops, honey! My bad, guess we have to buy a Blu-ray player now.

3. Finally, replace your Betamax player.

4. Buy the Blu-ray player of your choice, put it in the box, attempt to return it as "defective."

5. Channel it through Whoopi Goldberg and make some pottery with it.

6. Put a Blu-ray disc in the tray and then call up Toshiba when it doesn't work. Repeatedly.

7. Put it in a time capsule, just to confuse future generations.

8. Buy a few dozen of 'em and build a little hut for your Blu-ray player.

9. Lock it alone in a room with a few lethal weapons... let it die honorably.

10. Use it to upscale DVDs, which is all you ever used it for anyways.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/19/top-ten...-hd-dvd-player/

[gigapixels Veteran]

You've pretty much been spewing the same nonsense we've all heard over and over... care to share anything new? It's all over with ... what more could you possibly argue about? Is there some actual need to pick it apart for self satisfaction? "If's" and "but's" won't cut it here when debating HD-DVD... it's as good as gone. Somebody is bitter about dumping funds into a dead format it seems.

Um, what? Wow, get off your high horse buddy. He's simply saying why he believes HD DVD lost, and in my opinion he has some valid points. Blu-ray was being promoted more, it was given more space and it was more visible to the consumers. Sales are because of this, but they were not the primary factor in Blu-ray winning simply because HD DVD wasn't given much of a chance by all the organizations who decided to jump the gun and support Blu-ray before there was a clear winner.

[TDQuiksilver]

Hahaha... nice find! :yes:

[Mathachew Veteran]

I love this engadget article (my faves in bold):

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/19/top-ten...-hd-dvd-player/

Nice list :D

[TDQuiksilver]

Um, what? Wow, get off your high horse buddy. He's simply saying why he believes HD DVD lost, and in my opinion he has some valid points. Blu-ray was being promoted more, it was given more space and it was more visible to the consumers. Sales are because of this, but they were not the primary factor in Blu-ray winning simply because HD DVD wasn't given much of a chance by all the organizations who decided to jump the gun and support Blu-ray before there was a clear winner.

Get off yours before you jump to conclusions... or are you bitter too? I agree with everything Blu-ray did right to achieve all of this - or are you not focusing those glasses again? Fact of the matter is, he is beating a dead horse. Get it? The arguements have become such a waste of time as there is no turning back what has been done... Blu-ray is now the future format. Remember, I've been linked to heading the evil Sony corporation in Gamers Hangout... so why would I be against the truth? ...but am I glad I have my Playstation 3? You betcha. :)

[gigapixels Veteran]

Get off yours before you jump to conclusions... or are you bitter too? I agree with everything Blu-ray did right to achieve all of this - or are you not focusing those glasses again? Fact of the matter is, he is beating a dead horse. Get it? The arguements have become such a waste of time as there is no turning back what has been done... Blu-ray is now the future format. Remember, I've been linked to heading the evil Sony corporation in Gamers Hangout... so why would I be against the truth? ...but am I glad I have my Playstation 3? You betcha. :)

See, you're the one that seems to have a problem with those that supported HD DVD, and you're the one creating the arguments. Up until your reply to his post, I saw no sort of arguing in this thread; it was rather a nice discussion. I'm not bitter, and neither is he. He's simply commenting on why he thought HD DVD lost. I don't see how that makes him seem bitter about anything. Just because it's over doesn't mean we can't speculate or comment on what we think went wrong with HD DVD's campaign or anything else that happened.

Seriously, you're the one calling people bitter and blind fools for not agreeing with you or for being supporters of HD DVD. That negative energy is completely unnecessary and is a big part of the problem around here right now.