Toshiba to drop HD DVD

[AzBat]

This could explain why Paramount delayed on pulling out of HD-DVD earlier, and could also explain why they went HD-DVD exclusive from dual format earlier along at an odd time to do so, along with rumours of a payoff by Microsoft, and the spin about now that BD has won, BD is dead. Could Microsoft have been paying them off in an attempt to try to monopolize the movie download market?

The deal is only new for UK, Paramount already had a deal in place when Microsoft first announced the Video Marketplace in November 2006. I don't think there's any conspiracies going on here.

Tommy McClain

 

[Farid]

NY Times calls it over

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/16/technology/16toshiba.html

First lines of the article:

HD DVD, the beloved format of Toshiba and three Hollywood studios, died Friday after a brief illness. The cause of death was determined to be the decision by Wal-Mart to stock only high-definition DVDs and players using the Blu-ray format.

And it seems the NYT editor is either fan of dead-pan irony since he chose Rob Enderle of all the Analyst to quote from:

“The fat lady has sung,” said Rob Enderle, a technology industry analyst in Silicon Valley. “Wal-Mart is the biggest player in the DVD market. If it says HD DVD is done, you can take that as a fact.”

For those who are not aware of who is Rob Enderle, just read this two pieces: The first is from a days ago How Blu-Ray Won the Fight and Why It Probably Won’t Matter, the second dates back from April of last year, Wal-Mart Names HD DVD the Winner.

 

[SPM]

The deal is only new for UK, Paramount already had a deal in place when Microsoft first announced the Video Marketplace in November 2006. I don't think there's any conspiracies going on here.

Tommy McClain

What Microsoft involved and no conspiracy? Strange to see Toshiba dropping HD-DVD before Paramount don't you think, especially when they have a get out clause? The question is - what's in it for Paramount - well now we know.

 

[SPM]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/16/technology/16toshiba.html

First lines of the article:


And it seems the NYT editor is either fan of dead-pan irony since he chose Rob Enderle of all the Analyst to quote from:


For those who are not aware of who is Rob Enderle, just read this two pieces: The first is from a days ago How Blu-Ray Won the Fight and Why It Probably Won’t Matter, the second dates back from April of last year, Wal-Mart Names HD DVD the Winner.

It appears Mr. Enderle does a lot of PR/FUD work for Microsoft, and is presumably well paid for it. He was heavily involved in anti-Linux FUD relating to The SCO Group's dud lawsuits attacking Linux and attempting to charge license fees for use of Linux. These which have since been proven in court to be completely groundless. He even claimed to have seen code in Linux pirated from Unix, with his own eyes, this was never produced in court and the judge ruled that there was no evidence shown of illegal Unix code in Linux, and also that SCO did not own the Unix copyrights it was trying to claim copyright royalties for. The court cases continue, but they are now primarily about IBM's, Novell's, and Redhat's countersuits, and exactly how much money SCO has to pay Novell for licensing Unix SysV code to Microsoft and Sun for which Novell owns the copyrights, and how much SCO has to pay IBM, Redhat, and Novell for slander, libel, SCO's breach of copyrighted GPL code in Linux, and court costs.

So basically the NYT editor is right - if even the FUDster who is the most bent for HD-DVD (judging from his past articles), says that HD-DVD is dead, then it really must be dead. Of course the reason for the switch (besides obviousness that HD-DVD is finished) appears to be that Mr Enderle seems to be working on a new FUD line on behalf of Microsoft now - that BD is also dead because of online movie downloads courtesy of proprietary DRM built into Microsoft's media centers, consoles and operating systems, which Microsoft hopes will give it control of the movie market.

 

[Titanio]

Strange...

No PR as far as I know, yet, but NHK is reporting Toshiba is dropping HD-DVD. It doesn't seem to be simply relaying the HollywoodReporter article, but at the same time they don't refer to any official statements by Toshiba.

Here's the video report:

http://www.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/asx/21_200k.asx

Their english article with some more details:

http://www.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/

Toshiba Corporation has decided to withdraw from next generation high-definition DVD production.

The company said it will continue to sell HD-DVD products for a while but will stop further development of HD DVD. Meanwhile, it said its DVD factories in Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan, would be closed.

Market observers said that Toshiba could suffer a loss of hundreds of millions of US dollars.

But like I say, as far as I know, Toshiba hasn't issued anything official yet. I don't know if NHK are citing their own anonymous sources, or what..

 

[Titanio]

Reuters has corroborated with their own source:

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUSL1637974620080216

Hopefully we get a final official announcement out of Toshiba next week..

 

[Carl B]

I think it was clear that at the minimum, Toshiba had decided to hit the 'pause' button at/after CES, when they failed to announce new player models. Models that had no doubt been developed. And then after a week like last week... especially if they had any advance indication... it would just be hard to imagine them soldiering on in that environment.

 

[Sxotty]

I am amazed at how clueless journalists are.

I read multiple stories that said things like
"Microsoft will now be in trouble since their games are produced on HD DVD instead of bluray."

It is astounding the inaccuracies that are reported that any person on this forum would immediately know were incorrect.

 

[patsu]

2/19/2008 5:00pm (Tokyo time) Toshiba press conference.
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents

Japanese news site Nikkei.net has just announced that Toshiba's plan is to immediately stop manufacturing all HD-DVD products (both players and recorders), and to stop selling them at end of March.

 

[Farid]

A complete withdrawal from the market as soon as this Mars would big news. And obviously it would be a very raw deal for the HD-DVD early owners and other supporters.

It would be like Toshiba would act as if the format never existed as soon as possible instead of letting the format fade into obscurity progressively. That might be one of the conditions the BDA asked from Toshiba to let them in quickly. That's pure unfounded speculation, it goes without saying.

 

[SPM]

A complete withdrawal from the market as soon as this Mars would big news. And obviously it would be a very raw deal for the HD-DVD early owners and other supporters.

It would be like Toshiba would act as if the format never existed as soon as possible instead of letting the format fade into obscurity progressively. That might be one of the conditions the BDA asked from Toshiba to let them in quickly. That's pure unfounded speculation, it goes without saying.

Toshiba is suspending manufacture and development of HD-DVD players to save themselves (and presumably people who might be naive enough to buy HD-DVD players after this) money. They will continue to support the HD-DVD players they have sold, because apart from anything they have a legal obligation to do so, and they probably don't want to damage their reputation with customers. The Toshiba share price rose 5% on mere speculation that Toshiba would drop HD-DVD.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7250068.stm

 

[Deleted member 7537]

http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2008_02/pr1903.htm

Official. It's over.

 

[DJ12]

Paramount must be having a quiet chuckle to themselves. 200 million for basically doing absolutely nothing.

 

[AzBat]

Paramount must be having a quiet chuckle to themselves. 200 million for basically doing absolutely nothing.

Well, it did come at the expense of loss revenue from the lack of Bluray sales. So it wasn't totally free.

Tommy McClain

 

[Malo]

Well this forum section will get a little less traffic now eh?

Glad it's officially over, also happy I went Blu-ray, though it was fairly obvious.

 

[Titanio]

Universal has hopped over the fence faster than you can say...something..really fast..

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/news/html/breaking_article.cfm?article_id=12118

"While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray," said Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

"The path for widespread adoption of the next-generation platform has finally become clear. Universal will continue its aggressive efforts to broaden awareness for hi-def’s unparalleled offerings in interactivity and connectivity, at an increasingly affordable price. The emergence of a single, high-definition format is cause for consumers, as well as the entire entertainment industry, to celebrate."

Bring Battlestar Galactica...quick please, Universal!

 

[RobertR1]

Thanks god it's over. Props to Toshiba for not dragging it on.

 

[patsu]

To people waiting for Paramount... here's a cryptic answer from an insider on another AV forum:

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=637713&postcount=1312

For all the recent questions concerning a certain toPic, suffice to say that when money has changed hands and was in the pipeline to change hands at regular intervals, it takes a little while for lawyers to sort out who it belongs to now, "I want my money back", "I aint giving you no money back", etc.

 

[Mintmaster]

Paramount must be having a quiet chuckle to themselves. 200 million for basically doing absolutely nothing.

I don't think Paramount can hang onto all that unless they stay away from BluRay for at least a year and keep producing HD-DVD titles.

You're probably right, though, because it's unlikely that Paramount would lose that much profit from lack of BluRay anyway. BR owners that like Paramount movies would still buy their DVDs. Chances are that Paramount would only partially null the contract with Toshiba.

 

[patsu]

The aftermath in UK: http://www.t3.com/news/blu-ray-player-sales-up-seven-fold?=35296

Play.com big-boss-man tells T3 that new Blu-ray punters have sky-rocketed, since the end of the format war.