Toshiba dumps HD DVD

Electronics giant Toshiba has ditched HD DVD, signalling that Blu-Ray has won the high definition format war.
But, announcing they would cease shipments of players by the end of next month, the company pledged to continue supporting customers who have already bought one of their HD DVD products.
The Japanese firm will continue to market conventional DVD players and recorders.
The move effectively makes Sony the victor in the high-definition war which mirrored the Betamax v VHS video tape batte of the 80s.
As predicted by Gadgits a year ago the superior quality Blu-Ray technology - with almost twice the storage space of HD DVD on a DVD-size disk and the closest frame-per-second rate to cinema film - emerged on top after winning the widest backing in the movie industry.
It also follows a series of defections to the Blu-ray camp by major US retailers, which came on the back of disappointing HD DVD sales.
In the US, Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Netflix recently announced they would cut their support for HD DVD and exclusively stock Blu-ray discs.
The decision by the retailers came closely behind January's announcement by Warner Brothers that it would drop HD DVD to focus solely on Blu-ray.
Paramount and Universal are now the only major studios still supporting HD DVD.
Sony's slick campaign included pushing out more Blu-Ray players in the shape of the PS3 gaming console and strategic popular Blu-Ray releases such as James Bond movie Casino Royale.
Now consumers no longer have to hold back to buy into the superior video technology, so we can expect even faster growth in Blu-Ray. The only downside might be that Blu-Ray releases could actually go up in price, or at least not be so heavily discounted, because of the lack of competition.

Comments

[Andrew Andrews]

Phew, glad I took your advice and went with Blu-Ray on a PS3. Reckon you saved me a few quid