Toshiba has announced that it will be joining the BDA (Blu-ray Disc Association) which is the final chapter to the format war of HD-DVD vs Blu-ray. Toshiba who was the largest heavy-hitter backing the HD-DVD format was in a fierce battle against Blu-ray which was largely in part developed by Sony. When Sony bundled a Blu-ray drive in its PS3 console it gave the format its entrance into millions of homes for which HD-DVD was unable to compete.
"In light of recent growth in digital devices supporting the Blu-ray format, combined with market demand from consumers and retailers alike, Toshiba has decided to join the BDA. Toshiba aims to introduce digital products that support the Blu-ray format, including BD players and notebook PCs integrating BD drives, in the course of this year. Details of the products, including the timing of regional launches, are now under consideration. We will make announcements in due course"
The announcement which shows Toshiba's final commitment to the death of the HD-DVD format is important for the company as it moves forward to embrace and back the Blu-ray format. With all major producers of electronics now selling Blu-ray drives the price of entry should continue to drop even further as more consumers adopt the technology.
While Blu-ray has won the media format war the fight is far from over for Sony and the BDA. Streaming content is starting to take a firm grasp among consumers with Netflix leading the way with its streaming services. Will Blu-ray be the last hard media format that we are accustomed too? No one knows the answer to that but as broadband continues to spread to the farthest reaches and download speeds are being improved it is only a matter of time before traditional media formats disappear.
25 Comments - Add comment