The HD/Blu-Ray War Is Over

**Lemur** · 02-16-2008, 20:37

... and it looks like Blu-Ray won. Do we care? I can't imagine running out and buying a player anytime soon ...

Toshiba to exit HD DVD, end format war-NHK

Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:50am EST

TOKYO - Toshiba Corp is planning to stop production of equipment compatible with the HD DVD format for high-definition video, allowing the competing Blu-Ray camp a free run, public broadcaster NHK reported on Saturday.

Toshiba is expected to suffer losses amounting to tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars) to scrap production of HD DVD players and recorders and other steps to exit the business, Japan's NHK said on its website.

No one at Toshiba could be reached for comment.

The format war between the Toshiba-backed HD DVD and Sony Corp's Blu-Ray, often compared to the Betamax-VHS battle in the 1980s, has slowed the development of what is expected to be a multibillion dollar high-definition DVD industry.

Toshiba was dealt a blow on Friday when Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it would abandon the HD DVD format, becoming the latest in a series of top retailers and movie studios to rally behind Blu-ray technology for high definition DVDs.

Toshiba plans to continue selling HD DVD equipment at stores for the time being but will not put resources into developing new devices, NHK said.

**Xiahou** · 02-16-2008, 21:08

Originally Posted by Lemur

... and it looks like Blu-Ray won. Do we care? I can't imagine running out and buying a player anytime soon ...

Well, we've seem signs of this coming for quite a while now- but this makes it official. I guess Microsoft picked the wrong horse to back with the 360....

Do I care? Not really. I still think that the main reason behind the HD formats is still DRM. I finally did get a nice HDTV, and think DVDs look amazing compared to my old SDTV- definitely not feeling the need to adopt a new more expensive, less open standard.

**Vladimir** · 02-16-2008, 21:23

But how am I going to watch my high-quality pr0n? This isn't fair!

**Beirut** · 02-16-2008, 21:25

Originally Posted by Xiahou

Do I care? Not really. I still think that the main reason behind the HD formats is still DRM. I finally did get a nice HDTV, and think DVDs look amazing compared to my old SDTV- definitely not feeling the need to adopt a new more expensive, less open standard.

What he said.

**Fragony** · 02-17-2008, 00:47

About time, but I am a bit tech-tired and have no intention to make the switch, invested a small fortune in my dvd-collection. Got a small HD-ready tv for the xbox but I prefer to watch my dvd's on an old beovision, looks way better then any plasma or lcd but it obviously can't do blu-ray.

**Whacker** · 02-17-2008, 06:05

Well my thing is increased storage capacity from a PC perspective. Can't say I'm terribly happy that Bluray won, I dislike Sony and their market tactics and arrogance. But at least this time we settled on a single format.

**Mouzafphaerre** · 02-17-2008, 09:16

Originally Posted by Whacker

Well my thing is increased storage capacity from a PC perspective. Can't say I'm terribly happy that Bluray won, I dislike Sony and their market tactics and arrogance. But at least this time we settled on a single format.

.