Toshiba got into bed with Bill Gates and like every other company that has done this over the last 15 years -- they got tossed like a bad salad!! M$ has stated from the very beginning that they were not interested in a disc-based medium for HD movies and believe that downloading was the future for HD media. But Toshiba got into bed with them anyway.
Let's see how this benefited M$:
1) They have delayed acceptance of HD media on disc and after 18 months HD discs media is still a niche market.
2) They were able to improve VC-1 codecs and supporting software will using HD-DVD as a test bed.
3) They were able to flesh out their iHD (known to HD-DVD fans as HDi) on the HD-DVD medium and get paid while they worked out the bugs.
4) They were able to convince Universal to go along for the ride and it did not cost them one penny for Paramount/Dreamworks as Toshbia paid that bill.
Let's see what Toshiba got out of this:
1) They have not made one penny on their players-- so how long do you continue to sell at a loss when you know you have lost?
2) They paid out $150mil to Paramount/Dreamworks for two titles (Transformers and Shrek3) that did absolutely nothing to help their cause.
3) Stole the Black Friday thunder with the $98 HD-DVD player sale and after losing money on that -- it did not affect their cause.
4) Thought they had Warner sowed up (if you really believe all these rumors) but in reality lost the biggest supporter outside of Universal to HD-DVD - period!
5) Have a format that -- right now -- seems dead in the water. If news shows all over the country see it this way, if business writers see it this way, if they cancel their CES time -- oh wait this has all happened.
Maybe someone can show me where Toshiba jumping into bed with M$ did them any good? Hey, I will take any company jumping into bed with M$ making out like a bandit other then Bungie -- and I don't expect that miracle to last too long. But I will take whatever anyone can offer.
Let's see how this benefited M$:
1) They have delayed acceptance of HD media on disc and after 18 months HD discs media is still a niche market.
2) They were able to improve VC-1 codecs and supporting software will using HD-DVD as a test bed.
3) They were able to flesh out their iHD (known to HD-DVD fans as HDi) on the HD-DVD medium and get paid while they worked out the bugs.
4) They were able to convince Universal to go along for the ride and it did not cost them one penny for Paramount/Dreamworks as Toshbia paid that bill.
Let's see what Toshiba got out of this:
1) They have not made one penny on their players-- so how long do you continue to sell at a loss when you know you have lost?
2) They paid out $150mil to Paramount/Dreamworks for two titles (Transformers and Shrek3) that did absolutely nothing to help their cause.
3) Stole the Black Friday thunder with the $98 HD-DVD player sale and after losing money on that -- it did not affect their cause.
4) Thought they had Warner sowed up (if you really believe all these rumors) but in reality lost the biggest supporter outside of Universal to HD-DVD - period!
5) Have a format that -- right now -- seems dead in the water. If news shows all over the country see it this way, if business writers see it this way, if they cancel their CES time -- oh wait this has all happened.
Maybe someone can show me where Toshiba jumping into bed with M$ did them any good? Hey, I will take any company jumping into bed with M$ making out like a bandit other then Bungie -- and I don't expect that miracle to last too long. But I will take whatever anyone can offer.
