It's official: The Format War is Over! Toshiba pulls the plug on HD DVD

[yourbeliefs]

Thank GOD this war is finally over. There should not have even been a war in my opinion. Deep down I had a feeling that Sony was going to win eventually. At least now I have more incentive to finally get a PS3.

Still.. as long as companies keep releasing stuff on DVD, I'm in no rush to bring Blu Ray into my home.

 

[ONUOsFan]

Kind of makes all of those "rumors of HD-DVD's death are premature" comments after the Warner announcement look like the real FUD, huh?

Nishida said last month's decision by Warner Bros. Entertainment to release movie discs only in the Blu-ray format made the move inevitable.
"That had tremendous impact," he said. "If we had continued, that would have created problems for consumers, and we simply had no chance to win."

Toshiba quits HD DVD business - Feb. 19, 2008

 

[TheForce]

I shed a tear for this loss. Just one tear! Now I move on.

Using both I have to say, we see once again that money rules! This time Sony buys the trophy and regardless of bang for the buck ( as HD DVD has had more features than BluRay Disk from the start), it wasn't always so bug free.

Either way, what really counts is programming and now may we all move on to more BD programs and faster releases. Soon we all will be singing to the mantra SD DVD is dead as is VHS!

 

[JohnL]

Sad. 2/19/08 HD DVD died and HDM in BD form is now on its path to DVHS status. Nothing but an obscure expensive niche product.

Vurbano,

The reason DVHS failed was because there was no content released for it, besides the incremental increase of PQ wasn't worth replacing VHS with DVHS for everybody except a very few.

True HD on Optical discs is Six times the resolution of DVD and about 8 times that of VHS, much more worth the change over to this new format.

Delude yourself all you want, you've been doing it for at least 6 months so it shouldn't be hard for you to twist this into something it is not.

Within the next 2 years 80 percent of the Video Market will likely be Blu-Ray, if not it will be close. Your disdain for Blu-Ray will not make any difference at all.

Your Predictions for the last 12 months about HD-DVD have been DEAD wrong, after each prediction you made went south you would predict another track because of "This or That" while your credibility kept taking hit after hit. At this point most in this forum realize your hatred for Sony and their technology has totally clouded your judgment, "The Sky is falling, the Sky is falling", or "Wolf, WOLF, WOLF", ok whatever you say, we'll collectively all be going now to enjoy all our current titles as well as all future releases in HD.

John

 

[ONUOsFan]

Within the next 2 years 80 percent of the Video Market will likely be Blu-Ray, if not it will be close.

I'm not defending Vurbano by any means, but dude - this is a little optimistic, don't you think?

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Ok, I will wave the white flag of surrender. I will continue to enjoy my HD DVDs for the next several years, but am in no rush for a BD player until prices come down. Sadly, Toshiba's pulling the plug might slow that process down a bit.

And no, it isn't FUD, when it is coming from actual verified news sources. Soon this W-Z will go away.

 

[vurbano]

Within the next 2 years 80 percent of the Video Market will likely be Blu-Ray............

:haha :haha :haha :haha :haha
Within the next 2 years BD may have 20 %

 

[Weezknight]

Within the next 2 years 80 percent of the Video Market will likely be Blu-Ray, if not it will be close. Your disdain for Blu-Ray will not make any difference at all.

I think all of us on these forums delude ourselves into thinking we are the norm for society. This is not the case.

If I walk up and down my neighborhood I'm sure I can still count the number of HDTV's on my fingers! On top of that, I know for a fact that a lot of those HDTV's are still only showing SD content. I cannot see 80% of the people getting an HDTV and actually going out and getting a BD player, when most don't even know they're not watching HD to begin with!

I honestly think BD still has the hardest road ahead of itself (if HD-DVD had won, I would still think the same for them, too). There is a small window of opportunity to try and grab consumers before the "next big thing" comes along (whatever that may be). During that time you have to inform a very ignorant public about what HD is and how it is used, as well as try and explain to them why they need a "new" home video format after they've put so much money into DVD.

 

[vurbano]

Its time for a DVD vs BD war zone!

 

[Ronnie-]

I'm not defending Vurbano by any means, but dude - this is a little optimistic, don't you think?

Maybe just a bit

 

[ONUOsFan]

Its time for a DVD vs BD war zone!

Wouldn't be much of a war.

DVD can't hold a candle to Blu-Ray on technology, and Blu-Ray can't touch DVD on sales - it will probably be a long while before it does.

I think there can be some constructive conversations about Blu-Ray trying to get market share from DVD, but they can probably happen in the Blu-Ray forum.

I move for a 14 day mourning period for the War Zone and then a nice burial ceremony.....

 

[Mike0616]

Within the next 2 years 80 percent of the Video Market will likely be Blu-Ray, if not it will be close. Your disdain for Blu-Ray will not make any difference at all.

That was a joke, right? A much more realistic prediction would be that in 2 years, 99% of the DVD market will still be SD DVD as people are not going to run out and buy expensive players and DVDs to replace the ones they already own.

 

[Peter Parker]

I started a thread earlier about whether this forum should close if the announcement came. The mods at the time indicated that there probably would be some kind of war zone. At the time I questioned this but i suspect that they may be right. Most of us will just move on now but a few BD people will feel the need to trumpet the win for awhile and it is clear that certain HD DVD partisans will want to attack BD. If we cannot eliminate the war zone like behavior hopefully it can at least be isolated to a war zone that might need to be renamed.

 

[Need]

I am surprised that the news is on just about every radio station this morning. Most people seems to be relieved that there is now 1 format. I am glad the war is over. I don't have either but if I have to choose, I will probably get a PS3 anyway.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I started a thread earlier about whether this forum should close if the announcement came. The mods at the time indicated that there probably would be some kind of war zone. At the time I questioned this but i suspect that they may be right. Most of us will just move on now but a few BD people will feel the need to trumpet the win for awhile and it is clear that certain HD DVD partisans will want to attack BD. If we cannot eliminate the war zone like behavior hopefully it can at least be isolated to a war zone that might need to be renamed.

I would suspect this forum would go away, but as long as people have HD DVD players and want to talk about them, there will still be a HD DVD forum.

BUT in both the BD and HD DVD forums, we would impose the normal rules of civility.

 

[jlhugh]

I guess this means the price on BR players will go up unless some more companies come out and make them.

 

[tds4182]

It's official: The Format War is Over! Toshiba pulls the plug on HD DVD

I guess this means the price on BR players will go up unless some more companies come out and make them.

I don't have a dog in this fight but I can make this observation:

I'm old enough to remember when VHS beat out BetaMax for the control of the market (mainly because of content availability).

Prices for VHS players did go up for a short period, but as more manufacturers begain to turn out VHS players, the prices started going down and have been going down ever since.

It's probably safe to predict that the same type thing will happen with the Blue Ray players in the not too distant future.

Time will tell, I guess.

 

[dnyce]

I guess this means the price on BR players will go up unless some more companies come out and make them.

Actually you will see the opposite. Prices on Blu Ray players will now come down.

The only reason to keep the prices high before was to generate the perception that they were that much better than HD DVD. The same reason a Cadillac Escalade costs $20k more than a Tahoe even though they are almost identical. Perception.

Now Blu can come down to earth and you can expect to see $200 players just in time for Christmas. And you will see tons of free blu ray players given with Sony HDTV's and others throughout the year.

 

[vurbano]

Sony will be in a profit taking mode for a year or two trying to recoup the billions lost on the PS3 and all the free movies given away. Prices will be high and there is nothing to drive them down now.

 

[Minsk1]

Sony won Toshiba, but it has a long way to win me, as a proud and satisfied owner of 1080p upconvert DVD player.
I can't see any reason to buy $500 eq. and then spent $30 for a movie? Why, it is really good now with upconvert.
So, it was not a matter for me before, and it doesn't matter for me now