Feb 19 2008

It's official: Toshiba announces HD DVD surrender

(Credit: Crave UK)

The two-year war between HD DVD and Blu-ray officially ended Tuesday morning as Toshiba waved the white flag and declared it would stop producing HD DVD products.

The company, which began sales of HD DVD in March 2006 with the HD-A1 player, "decided it was not right for us to keep going with such a small presence," said chief executive Atsutoshi Nishida. The Blu-ray format is now the definitive winner in the war and stands unopposed as the optical media replacement for DVD.

Toshiba's news release goes into a bit more detail: "Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements. The company will continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives within the overall PC business relative to future market demand."

Three movie studios currently support HD DVD--Universal, Paramount, and DreamWorks Animation--but we expect them to follow suit and announce support of Blu-ray sooner rather than later. Update: All of these studios have indeed followed suit.

With Blu-ray support announced by industry heavyweights Netflix, Wal-mart and Best Buy, speculation ran rampant before the weekend that Toshiba would end the war, and the company deserves credit for pulling out as soon as it did. The two incompatible formats have led to plenty of confusion among prospective buyers of next-generation hardware and software, although some have opined that the war was a good thing--at least it led to price drops.

We've been advising readers against the purchase of HD DVD players since the announcement by Warner Brothers in January that it would exclusively support Blu-ray. That doesn't mean we're telling everyone to rush out and buy a Blu-ray player now; we still believe that most home theater fans would be better served to wait for prices on players to fall. Of course, with the exit of Blu-ray's major competition, those prices may fall later rather than sooner.

Posted in: Home video
Tags: HD DVD, Blu-ray, Toshiba
 

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Add a Comment (Log in or register) 126 comments (Page 1 of 9)
It's done.
by Rick Cavaretti February 19, 2008 7:35 AM PST
It's over, done, sealed. Don't aggravate yourself with a discussion of the 'whys' or 'what could have been.'
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ABOUT FRIGGIN TIME!!
by Lord-Vader-198 February 19, 2008 7:52 AM PST
This is the day that I have been waiting for since Jan 2007. It was only a matter of time until the they folded camp and it couldn't have come at a better time. Toshiba had a good run but it followed the same path that Beta did. They both were only manufactured by one company and both had the minority of studio support and both FAILED!!!
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No aggrevation here
by Ksal005 February 19, 2008 7:55 AM PST
I'm glad the war is over but Sony needs to drop their prices or the average family will not cross over. They'll just wait for the next big thing. I've been waiting and didn't buy either format. Now that I've waited this long, I'll continue to wait until Sony drops their ridiculous prices or I'll just buy an up-convertering DVD and be happy with 1080i.
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Prices need to drop
by Ksal005 February 19, 2008 8:01 AM PST
Sony now has no incentive to drop their prices. They need to drop them. They are too expensive and too overrated. I never bought BR or HD-DVD. I've waited but now I'm ready to wait even more until Sony drops their prices. I'm with the other guy. Either Sony drops their prices or I'll get an upconverting DVD player and watch 1080i instead.
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So when will I
by impulse2k1 February 19, 2008 8:02 AM PST
get my 40 year old virgin and Bourne series on Blu-Ray??
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Bring on the Clearance Sales
by sommer182 February 19, 2008 8:38 AM PST
Since I am willing to bet that it will be, oh, let's see, NEVER that Sony will have a $100 Blu-Ray machine, I'm going to buy an extra HD-DVD on clearance for a back up and stock up on combo format movies that will play on both HD and standard DVD machines. I'll also continue my purchases of standard def DVD discs. I am not a backer of HD or Blu-Ray, per say. I am a backer of reasonable priced electronics that work as advertised. Blu-Ray has NOT worked as advertised and is FAR to expensive for my (or my wife's) budget. So, I'll probably sit the rest of this format out on the sidelines--unless I can con her into a PS3...hmmmm, and an xBox? Eh, not likely!
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Its not just Sony folks!!
by ianim8 February 19, 2008 8:41 AM PST
I knew the gripes about pricing would be the next debate but lets all remember its not just Sony at fault. Its across the board. Its still an early format. I remember having to shell out 90 bucks for a VHS tape :P
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This is not good...
by HooHaa February 19, 2008 8:47 AM PST
I hate to see Sony win at anything, as they stopped making quality products years ago. Luckily, I can see BluRay being surpassed by digital downloads before it becomes as ubiquitous as DVD... :(
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No, it isn't just Sony, BUT...
by sommer182 February 19, 2008 8:50 AM PST
No, it is certainly more than Sony. Sharp, Samsung, Panasonic, a movie industry that continues to freak out on piracy issues without actually DOING anything about it (like putting China out of business)...these are all factors. Heck, the fact that Sharp was GIVING AWAY a Blu-Ray machine with every flat panel TV the week after the Warner announcement was a stroke of genius! That inflated the weekly numbers ten-fold! This and other moves were marketing magic that influenced the media into jumping on the bandwagon and putting even more pressure on Toshiba and retail outlets. Leaves me shaking my head. No, it was more than Sony, but they were the ringleaders, and they were NOT going to have another Beta, no matter the cost to us consumers.
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To those of you who think Sony won't drop prices..
by planblove February 19, 2008 8:57 AM PST
You guys need to come to your senses. Sony is about to make BILLIONS on licensing fees alone. you really think they'll keep prices where they are? They will make MORE money once the prices come down further and they know this. I fully expect to see Blu-Ray players at or below $300 by the holidays and continue to get cheaper as time goes on - the same as DVD did. The cheapest player is currently at $400, the standalone PC Blu-Ray drive(non recording) is $200 RIGHT NOW. The prices will fall.
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