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NEWS: Toshiba officially declares HD DVD dead

Clare Newsome Tuesday, February 19, 2008 09:10

After weeks of speculation, Toshiba has officially announced it's discontinuing its HD DVD business.

Here is the statement in full:

"Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.

HD DVD was developed to offer consumers access at an affordable price to high-quality, high definition content and prepare them for the digital convergence of tomorrow where the fusion of consumer electronics and IT will continue to progress.

“We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop,” said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality.”

Toshiba will continue to lead innovation, in a wide range of technologies that will drive mass market access to high definition content. These include high capacity NAND flash memory, small form factor hard disk drives, next generation CPUs, visual processing, and wireless and encryption technologies. The company expects to make forthcoming announcements around strategic progress in these convergence technologies.

Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players to retail channels, aiming for cessation by the end of March 2008.

This decision will not impact on Toshiba’s commitment to standard DVD, and the company will continue to market conventional DVD players and recorders. Toshiba intends to continue to contribute to the development of the DVD industry, as a member of the DVD Forum, an international organization with some 200 member companies, committed to the discussion and defining of optimum optical disc formats for the consumer and the related industries.

Toshiba also intends to maintain collaborative relations with the companies who joined with Toshiba in working to build up the HD DVD market, including Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, and DreamWorks Animation and major Japanese and European content providers on the entertainment side, as well as leaders in the IT industry, including Microsoft, Intel, and HP. Toshiba will study possible collaboration with these companies for future business opportunities, utilizing the many assets generated through the development of HD DVD."

More comment and analysis to follow.

Technorati Tags: Blu-ray, HD DVD, Toshiba

Comments

DFW February 19, 2008 09:36

HD DVD we hardly knew ye! I'd like to know what this means for future HD DVD releases. Also look forward to the price hikes as Sony recoups the financial outlays to win the war, all sony players have gone up in price recently and when disc manufacturing costs are normalized by Sony I'm sure software will go up as well. Hope it goes the other way and the demise of HD DVD means that the market is flooded with cheaper players and bluray discs replace DVD's in the supermarket shelves and bargain buckets, can't see it though.

DFW February 19, 2008 09:39

...maybe we'll see a complete Blu-ray player that can play all discs and interactive services and sound formats soon as well, or am I just living in a dream world?

rjbreslin February 19, 2008 10:25

We already have a BD player which reads all discs (region coded of course). The PS3 is Profile 1.1 and with firmware will be Profile 2.0. You do not need Profile 2.0 to enjoy the full content of your Blu Ray movies.

Andrew Everard February 19, 2008 10:29

If I can interrupt your internal monologue for a moment, DFW, our colleagues at Stuff.tv are already reporting the availability of a £185 Blu-ray machine from Sigmatek.

bicoralboy February 19, 2008 10:38

£185 machines are good for mass market adoption, £100 would be better IMO, however I and more than a few others will be looking toward the higher end of the market ie the Pio for features such as bitstreamed HD audio when we have just lost a format which had a machine more capable than any existing Blu Ray machine for less than £200. How long b4 we see this kind spec for that kind of money from the likes of Pio and Pana.

Clare Newsome February 19, 2008 10:51

Oh come on, the Toshibas were only under £200 because it was a fire-sale! (Sad, because they were excellent players, too).

I've seen mainstream machines from big companies (think Panasonic, Samsung, etc) that promise full-spec at great prices - and i'd expect production of those players to be ramped up pronto now the war is over.

What's also tempting is the high-end players - from Pioneer, Marantz, Denon etc - that'll be coming along during the year. I suspect we're only just seeing what Blu-ray is truly capable of.

rjbreslin February 19, 2008 10:52

Thats a pretty good price. I am sure we will soon be seeing more cheaper players as the format is adopted.

johnnyboyyo February 19, 2008 11:25

Granted, when the Toshiba EP-30 was slashed to £120 at the end of January, including 7 free HD DVDs, then it was a last act of desperation. I bought my machine online before Christmas for about £200. I don't believe that at that price point it was a fire sale. At that point Warners were still on board. This was a realistic price for the product.

I also adopted HD DVD instead of Blu Ray because of it being region free. Some films are not released in the UK therefore as someone who loves films why should I be penalised by region coding.

Two formats was always going to end in tears for someone. I don't believe that either was the 'better format'. To my eyes and ears both seemed very similar in their abilities. In time I will adopt Blu Ray but not in the foreseeable future. I still have a machine which is an outstanding upscaling DVD player, a pretty decent cd player, and enough HD content to last me until Christmas.

villagedeux February 19, 2008 14:08

Oh Come on!! johnnyboyyo, 70% of blu rays have no region coding and don't forget HDDVD had region coding studios just chose not to use it. How long do you think that would've lasted if that format had one with the likes of Fox and Disney releasing on HDDVD you would have seen the same as on blu ray.

Region coding has been the bane of all our lives since DVD and still is unless you go the route of players modded to be region free.

£200 for relatively new tech and you don't think that was a fire sale? in the states they were even cheaper it was a grab for sales over the christmas period..

I for one am glad this war is over so i can start looking forward to my favourite releases from Universal and Paramount and i know for damn sure i will picking up plenty of HD from now on in and enjoying my PS3 even more.

villagedeux February 19, 2008 14:10

Can I also say, with competition within the CE companies for market share of the blu ray pie we should see a reduction in stand alone prices and quality from now on in.

johnnyboyyo February 19, 2008 15:02

Some fair points, villagedeux. I'm sure that if HD DVD had been more popular some studios would have insisted on region coding their discs.

The number of blu-ray discs being released with region coding is increasing so that the majority of new discs being released will be locked. For most people this isn't an issue. For me, as a dual national, I like to be able to buy films which I can't buy in this country when I visit my family in the States.

I'm sure that there will be a scramble to release new Blu-Ray players and sub £200 will be the norm by Christmas. I will probably buy one then. But I will continue to enjoy my HD DVD player until then. If only I could get it to play R1 DVDs. C'est la vie.

villagedeux February 19, 2008 15:27

Johnny, trust me I have been hankering after an HDDVD player for ages now but this takes the decision out of my hands and for what it's worth I'm glad it's all sorted now.

Region coding is an issue I have hundreds of region one discs that I can't play in my PS3 and watch them upscaled, so I'm in the market for a cheap upscaling DVD player region free of course!

Now all i need is for universal to annouce 'Vertigo' on Blu Ray region free of course!

villagedeux February 19, 2008 15:49

Just one more thing, I've got a region free copy of '30 days of night' winging it's way to me as we speak on Blu Ray of course!

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About Clare Newsome

Clare Newsome has been a technology journalist for 17 years, the past 9 years as a consumer electronics specialist. As well as being editor-in-chief of What Hi-fi? Sound and Vision, whathifi.com and the Ultimate Guides series, Clare is a regular contributor to The Guardian and other national newspapers and magazines, and often comments on all aspects of home entertainment technology and trends on TV, radio and online.