Toshiba to exit HD DVD, end format war-NHK
Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:50am EST
TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp is planning to stop production of equipment compatible with the HD DVD format for high-definition video, allowing the competing Blu-Ray camp a free run, public broadcaster NHK reported on Saturday.
Toshiba is expected to suffer losses amounting to tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars) to scrap production of HD DVD players and recorders and other steps to exit the business, Japan's NHK said on its website.
No one at Toshiba could be reached for comment.
The format war between the Toshiba-backed HD DVD and Sony Corp's Blu-Ray, often compared to the Betamax-VHS battle in the 1980s, has slowed the development of what is expected to be a multibillion dollar high-definition DVD industry.
Toshiba was dealt a blow on Friday when Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it would abandon the HD DVD format, becoming the latest in a series of top retailers and movie studios to rally behind Blu-ray technology for high definition DVDs.
Toshiba plans to continue selling HD DVD equipment at stores for the time being but will not put resources into developing new devices, NHK said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUSL1627196120080216
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[Rant]
Did you really need to start yet another HD-DVD is dead thread? Don't the half-dozen or so that are already running say it enough? Is it really necessary to post a link to every "me-too" article that gets published on the web?
[/Rant]"Shut up Wesley!" -- Captain Jean-Luc Picard
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Originally Posted by gadgetguy
"I think HD DVD is dead because netflix/walmart/...[insert the name here] switched to BR DVD" is not the same as "Toshiba announces quitting further development of HD-DVD".
From now on it is not a rumour, but a fact.
Watch the stock on Monday morning -
There's nothing in the article about an official announcement from Toshiba, in fact it says no-one at Toshiba could be reached for comment, so it's just another "Me-Too" article.
But my point is that you didn't need to start yet another thread. Posting the "confirmation" in any of the existing threads would have accomplished the same thing without cluttering up the forum."Shut up Wesley!" -- Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Buy My Books -
Agree with DereX888. Unofficial rumours are different than directly from the Horses mouth as they say.
bmiller,ont.canada -
OK gadgetguy, just skip this thread like most of us do with the threads not interested in, what is your problem?
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I'm annoyed that there are 5 active threads on the front page discussing the future of HD-DVD. It's idiotic.
"Shut up Wesley!" -- Captain Jean-Luc Picard
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Originally Posted by gadgetguy
BTW:
From what I just check, only 2 threads are basically the same (about walmart ditching HD DVD) just with different subject headers.
The other threads were started regarding different news as they were developing. -
Originally Posted by DereX888
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And I'll still be annoyed. You asked what my problem is, so I answered. There was a time when people would look at the current threads to see if the subject is being discussed and just post in an existing thread with new information rather than starting another thread. I guess I just miss those days.
"Shut up Wesley!" -- Captain Jean-Luc Picard
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Originally Posted by gadgetguy
Where do you think the announcement about Toshiba ceasing development of HD-DVD fits better: in a "walmart goes blueray" thread, or in a "NetFlix Drops HD DVD" or maybe in a "Considering blue poo is supposed be winning whats going on?" thread?
Dude...
and BTW, you picked on a wrong guy. I'm not a "post whore" here, you can count my posts in the news section on your fingers probably, because rarely anything is important enough to report about it (to me). I couldn't care less what junk walmart wants to stock on their shelves, but corporation throwing a towel in the heat of the format war IMHO *is THE news* to post in this section. -
How about the "HD DVD Finished" thread that was started Jan 30th? The title says it all and all of the Walmart/NetFlix/Whoever announcements would have added to the thread nicely (and if fact did). All of these other superfluous threads just fragment the information and make the subject harder to follow.
Edit: BTW, I'm not picking on you, per se. Your thread just happened to be the one that tipped me over. I could care less about how many posts you make. Make as many (or few) posts as you like, about whatever subject you like. I'd just like that if it's already a subject being discussed, that you use the existing thread. Having said that, I realize it's not my forum and people will do whatever they want, but doesn't mean I have to like it or keep quiet about it."Shut up Wesley!" -- Captain Jean-Luc Picard
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Originally Posted by gadgetguy
Now post something ON THE SUBJECT or ... (you know the rest, right? ) -
Ok. The report you linked to is not news at all. It does not, in fact, quote Toshiba as having announced that it has thrown in the towel. It is a report about someone else (NHK) reporting that Toshiba will throw it in, but so far it's unsubstantiated. That's what "No-one from Toshiba could be reached for comment" means. This is sloppy reporting at best. Toshiba may very well be planning to call it quits and it wouldn't surprise me, but this "news report" neither confirms nor denies it. It's still just speculation at this point.
"Shut up Wesley!" -- Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Buy My Books -
Originally Posted by gadgetguy
The "No-one from Toshiba could be reached for comment" is from Reuters, not from NHK, do you understand the difference?
Also you could just check reuters.com and see follow-up instead of making a fool of yourself here:
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Toshiba to give up on HD DVD, end format war: source
Sat Feb 16, 2008 8:59am EST
TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp is planning to give up on its HD DVD format for high-definition video, conceding defeat to the competing Blu-Ray technology backed by Sony Corp, a company source said on Saturday.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK had earlier reported that Toshiba would suffer losses in the tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars) as it scrapped production of HD DVD players and recorders and took other steps to exit the business.
The company source told Reuters that Toshiba is in the final stages of planning to exit the HD DVD business and that an official decision would be made soon.
(Reporting by Mayumi Negishi, Kentaro Hamada and Nathan Layne)
/edit/
correct link:
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSL1637974620080216
now you have it confirmed by "the Reuters' source" too
/edit again/:
and there is more to it:
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSL1643184420080216
apologies for mess with links, but seems as reuters is updating the story and there is more links every time I check it and more updates; just go to the first link and check "related news" -
How is pointing out the faults of the original report making a fool of myself? The subsequent report emphasizes what I said about the original report. This time they got the reporting right. Doesn't change my original opinion of this thread being superfluous, but at least this time the reporting is better.
"Shut up Wesley!" -- Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Buy My Books -
Originally Posted by gadgetguy
EOoT -
I would have to agree with DereX888. This deserves a thread of its own. I hope this will be the last thread though. It will be strange not hearing BD vs HD DVD debates anymore
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Originally Posted by videopoo
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I farted
"The eyes are the first thing that you have to destroy ... because they have seen too many bad things" - Lucio Fulci
EXPLORE THE FILMS OF LUCIO FULCI - THE MAESTRO OF GORE
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Originally Posted by videopoo
There were less important subjects we discussed here much longer than that
Originally Posted by FulciLives
* * *
from the last article:
/.../ Sony has spent large sums of money to promote Blu-ray in tandem with its flat screen TVs and its PlayStation 3 game console, which can play Blu-ray movies.
The Toshiba source said the experience would not be a total loss for the sprawling conglomerate, whose products range from refrigerators to power plants, which would learn valuable lessons.
"Marketing was a weak point for Toshiba. We learned a lot from HD DVD. Strengthening marketing will continue to be an issue for us going forward," the source said. /.../
Well, d'oh!
They should ask Apple to do the marketing for them next time LOL
If you compete against 1000 times bigger corporation, obviously you should have hired top marketing dogs, otherwise it was pointless from beginning. What were their CEOs thinking? ROTFL -
I've said it before -when HD-DVD 1st came out actually- and i'll say it again, there was naver a format war. HD-DVD was never Betamax, it really wasn't even Video 2000. People actually BOUGHT and USED Video 2000 recorders, as proven i can, after 30 years still find them easely (got 3 of em actually, and more beta's). Let's see how many HD-DVD players will be around in 10 years. My bet is on zero.
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Raffie! This is a DereX888 and gadgetguy centric thread!
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This does deserve its own thread.. as to it stopping any discussions, I dont think so! for starters ...Why did HD-dvd fail? Blu-ray vs Downloading ? Blu-ray vs HVD? What next for Blu-ray? Blu-ray ate my babies!
raffie as to video2000 Yes I used to have one these, and loved it, however a video recorder still has its uses.. (good luck on getting the tapes though). I bet there will be at least three Hd-dvd players around in ten years .@.Derex888.. the Toshiba reception..and the Science museum.
I suppose they failed because they failed to get machines on the market and they also failed to get other mfrs interested.
HD-DVD is dead... long live ...
Super Hi-Vision - or Ultra High-Definition TV as it is sometimes known -
It has a screen resolution of 7680x4320 pixels, 16 times greater than current HD. as well as 22.2 multi-channel surround sound system, which the format also supports.Corned beef is now made to a higher standard than at any time in history.
The electronic components of the power part adopted a lot of Rubycons. -
Originally Posted by Browncoat"Shut up Wesley!" -- Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Buy My Books -
Well maybe the war isn't over yet. Wasn't there a thread the other week about another competiting high def format? I can't remember the name but it was supposed to be something that would come out. I know people in that thread wanted them to come out with affordable burners and authoring software.
Although I don't think it has corporate backing like toshiba did with hddvd it might be enough to be a fringe outlet like svcd was - not mainstream but a useable alternative. Who knows? It might happen. Though probably not with mainstay hollywood films - me thinks that Sony finally conqured that area.....Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw? -
Originally Posted by jagabo
Sony is dealing with their own "losses" (on overly high sales speculation), including PS3 sales, which stagnate compared to the Wii. People STILL line up at the store waiting for a Wii, while PS3 is easy to find, often with dust collecting on the boxes.
Both Toshiba and Sony do many products, so failure or success at any one product will have only small affects to the overall bottom line.
To say that Toshiba will lose "hundreds of millions of dollars" is not actual money, but modern bullshit stock market talk. Toshiba may loses hundreds of thousands of dollars on HD-DVD product equipment, maybe even a few millions, a lot of the "hundreds of millions" is money Toshiba won't be making that was originally speculated. I'm always speechless when "loss" is used by Wall Street, as a way to discuss money desired (planned) but not made. If I said "I want to make an extra $1,000 mowing lawns this year" as a New Year's resolution, and only managed to bank $900, Wall Street would say I had a 10% loss for the year. How the hell does that work?
The other issues is this: Sony may have "won" a war, but remember it's a war nobody asked for. The victory may be minor at best. People still have to actually go and buy Blu-Ray, and they're not doing it. They weren't buying HD-DVD either. This is a pissing match between the studios to date, with the consumer mostly not caring. Of all the people I know, I'm a minority in the area of DVD players/recorders. Most folks seem to be using on-demand and DVRs now, with no need for fragile discs. That trend is likely to continue, and the next big format is still likely to be using solid-state (which continues to both fall in price AND get bigger than a disc, up to 64GB at the moment).Want my help? Ask here! (not via PM!)
FAQs: Best Blank Discs • Best TBCs • Best VCRs for capture • Restore VHS -
Originally Posted by lordsmurf
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Toshiba's stock jumped 5% because of the news:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7250068.stm
Finally we can say HD-DVD is dead.
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