[PS3]Toshiba Throwing in the HD-DVD Towel?

[F9zDark]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6186141.html?action=convert&om_clk=latestnews&tag=latestnews;title;1


HD DVD dropped by Wal-Mart, Toshiba?
Megaretailer goes Blu-ray-exclusive as competing format's creator is reportedly ready to throw in the towel.

HD DVD dropped by Wal-Mart, Toshiba? Megaretailer goes Blu-ray exclusive as competing format's creator is reportedly ready to throw in the towel.

It's been a rough year for Toshiba's HD DVD format. After spending 2006 and 2007 locked in a heated battle with the Sony-backed Blu-ray for high-definition, high-capacity disc format dominance, HD DVD has suffered a series of devastating setbacks in the first two months of the year.

Warner Bros. kicked 2008 off by going Blu-ray exclusive in the first week of January. An apparently panicked HD DVD camp canceled its Consumer Electronics Show conference in response, and reports quickly surfaced that HD DVD holdouts Paramount and Universal were looking to switch to Blu-ray.

Bad news for HD DVD fans is continuing to snowball this week, as Best Buy and movie rental service Netflix both said they would back the Sony-supported format going forward. (Best Buy will still stock HD DVD, but its salespeople will advise prospective customers to go Blu-ray).

Two more big names came up as abandoning HD DVD today. This morning the official Wal-Mart blog confirmed that the massive retail chain is going Blu-ray exclusive by June, and the Hollywood Reporter is citing "reliable industry sources" for the news that Toshiba itself is ready to drop its own format.

A Toshiba representative denied the news to the film-focused trade newspaper, but left plenty of room for people to infer there is some truth to the report.

"Given the market developments in the past month," the rep is quoted as saying, "Toshiba will continue to study the market impact and the value proposition for consumers, particularly in light of our recent price reductions on all HD DVD players."

A source "close to the HD-DVD camp" told the paper that an announcement could be made in a matter of weeks, but that it is definitely coming soon.

[Mister Klownes]

Just saw this a bit ago. I suppose it's been a while in the making. Everyone seems to be racing to hammer nails into the metaphorical HD-DVD coffin. Oh well...

[F9zDark]

Just saw this a bit ago. I suppose it's been a while in the making. Everyone seems to be racing to hammer nails into the metaphorical HD-DVD coffin. Oh well...

Well no doubt, many of the decisions for these big name retailers was based on actual sales evidence. Blockbuster did a test market for both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray to see which format sold better and Blu-Ray won; thats why they went Blu-ray exclusive in the majority of their stores.

Bestbuy, Wal-Mart, Target, FYE, etc all could have easily done the same or just go back into their sale's records and see which format needed to be restocked the most frequently or which format generated them the most revenue.

But if the point of Toshiba dropping HD-DVD is true and does happen soon, I suspect no store or studio will be able to justify sticking to HD-DVD or stocking those movies and players on their shelves.

Sad too, I had figured we'd have at least another year of HD-DVD prior to Warner going Blu. Now all this makes me wonder if we'll have HD-DVD at the end of Spring...

Snowballing was the right word for it, nothing has gone in favor of HD-DVD since Paramount was bribed to go exclusive; and what little good that actually did...

[Nicko01]

At the beginning of this, I was expecting HD-DVD to win, just because it's Microsoft vs Sony, and HD-DVD sounds easier for the standard consumer to understand, plus HD-DVD has been out longer. But, I am very glad that Blu-ray won because I've been using that and have not invested a cent into HD-DVD.

I have been checking store's stock of HD-DVDs lately, and have seen the capacity of them diminish to most, if not all, Blue-ray.

And lately Blu-ray drives have been dropping. A reader will cost around $190, while a burner will cost you $400.

[quzar]

This is a sensationalist title for an article that doesn't reflect it in any way. There is nothing new there to support the claim that Toshiba is going to dump HD DVD other than the title.

More of the news outlets trying to create the environment for the story they want.

[jamotto]

If true, HD-DVD has lost a good way to reach the masses.