Big Fat Rumour: Toshiba to drop HD DVD, sources say

[admin]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3ib77125d96b22e860b14b889b10defb59

I'm posting this story here and not in the news section because first, this story has been doing the rounds, and second, I don't think it can even be classified as news.

The reason is that the article contains several misleading facts, and quotes used out of context. For one, they imply the statement from the Toshiba rep was in response to the rumour of Toshiba dropping HD DVD, but what the article does not mention was that those quotes were actually from a news story a couple of days ago in reponse to the Best Buy/Netflix decision. The writers of this article did not contact Toshiba at all.

Since then, people who have connections within Toshiba have asked around and this story is totally false. Unless this is being kept a huge secret that only the very top brass at Toshiba knows about (and if so, why would they leak it to the Hollywood Reporter? And why would HR imply that this was something "widely expected" within the article), then it's just another example of the Blu-ray Disc Association's marketing/PR arm at work. And it won't have been the first time either.

Blu-ray will probably win, but it's sad to see such dishonorable tactics being used successfully (plus wins for region control, excessive copy protection, and confusing hardware profiles).

[blutach]

We'll see if they write off the millions & millions of dollars of R&D in this quarter's P&L.

Regards

[admin]

From trusted sources, despite the price cuts, Toshiba is making money off each HD DVD player being sold so the claims of them losing big from HD DVD sales is false or exaggerated.

Of course, they are not making as much as the Blu-ray manufacturers (the Sony PS3 apart), and the studios are putting in money via redemptions and various sales which is probably just offset by the money they make from selling HD DVD movies. The situation for Blu-ray is not all that dissimilar though, as they've had bigger and more number of movie sales.

Added together, BD/HD currently accounts for 3% of all movie sales. I've just read an article about Apple TV being classified as a failure after the older 1.0 version only sold 400,000 units. BD/HD standalones added together has only sold about a million units, and it's been available for far longer than Apple TV, so one has to say both formats have failed so far. Warner hopes that picking one format will drive up sales, but it that doesn't work (and there's so far no sign of it working), something else will have to be done.

[gonwk]

No more HD

Hi folks,

Sad but True ... Toshiba bows down to Blu-Ray ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080219/ap_on_bi_ge/japan_toshiba

Watch your wallets!

G!

[admin]

You can continue the discussion about the likely impact of Toshiba's decision, as well as the future of high def movies, here:

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=86294

[gonwk]

Sorrry Admin ... I guess I should have known you will punch any of us to the beat.

THANKS for the Thread ... will do.

G!