Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 19th Feb 2008 13:24 UTC, submitted by wakeupneo
Toshiba said Tuesday it will no longer manufacture HD-DVDs, effectively ending the long-running battle with the rival Blu-ray for a dominant high-definition format. Toshiba said it made the decision to cease developing, manufacturing, and marketing HD-DVDs after 'recent major changes in the market'. It promised to continue offering support and service for all 1.3+ million Toshiba HD-DVDs sold so far.
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Member since:
2005-07-13
Sure, but the revisions remain downward compatible, at least from my understanding. So someone with a 1st gen player may not get some of the additional features, but it will still play movies. That's a trade-off I think to setting the format in stone and expecting it to remain futureproof for the next decade or so.
Where people will get shafted is with changes to the DRM encryption BS layer that can change from time to time. At least HD-DVD required ethernet connectivity as part of the standard for dealing with updates, but that's simply slapping lipstick on a pig of a bad idea to begin with.
Heh heh. I admire the optimism, but keep in mind they didn't lower prices even when HD-DVD was a viable competitor and Toshiba was slashing prices to try and buy marketshare.
Sure, prices will eventually come down as they did with DVD, but right now I suspect the potential market are still among the early adopters, and there's always a premium charged simply because they're generally willing to pay it.
The struggle HiDef video will have in general is simply convincing the mass market that the benefits, perceived or tangible, are worth adopting, and frankly I'd question whether they are at this point. So it is with any new consumer technology. The format war was a distraction, but the real battle for the consumer mindshare remains.
Maybe I'm just getting old, but I'm quite content with HD movies delivered on demand at $6 a pop from my cable provider. Sure, one could argue about the technical deficiencies of compressed HD delivered over a cable network, but it still looks pretty damned good on our flat panel, and for me and many others, that's the type of inertia Sony and the manufacturers will have to overcome. Frankly, I don't even remember that last time I rented a standard DVD, let alone watched any of the 300 or so I've acquired over the last near-decade. I simply find it easier to point and shoot with the remote, it's much more conducive to impulse purchasing (maybe not a good thing, but certainly convenient).
To Sony's credit, though, the PS3 is probably among the best options for a BlueRay player right now, with the ability to play video games simply a value-add feature...