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Buh Bye HD DVD
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Movies,
It’s official. Toshiba announced today that the end is here. In a public statement, Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO said, “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.”
The company will cease selling their products to retail dealers by the end of March, but promises to continue its product support to those who have already purchased HD products. They will continue to market standard DVD players and DVRs. Toshiba will now concentrate on other tech that supports hi-def, including NAND processing, next gen CPUs, small form factor hard disk drives, and those that utilize wireless and incryption technology.
Read More 
| Toshiba Press Release
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Toshiba Stops HD DVD Production
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Picturehouse, Universal, Corporate Shakeups, Home Entertainment, Technology,
It’s official. HD DVD is DOA.
Toshiba finally announced Tuesday what had been rumored for days—it is pulling out of the high-definition market. Although the HD DVD system preceded Sony’s product, Blu-ray sales have steadily outpaced its competitor.
In the past few months, major studios have aligned themselves with the Sony brand. Even though Paramount and Universal continued to offer their titles on HD DVD, it was clear the Toshiba format was being crippled.
Recent decisions made by Wal-Mart and Netflix helped drive a nail into the HD DVD coffin. The companies announced they would no longer be making the high-def option available to its customers.
Shipments of the Toshiba systems will wrap up by March.
Hollywood Reporter
Microsoft’s official word on their HD DVD player add-on in light of Blu-ray victory
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Corporate News, Microsoft, Xbox 360,
So, HD DVD is dying, as it seems tht Blu-ray has finally become too much for the format to handle. Where does this leave the Xbox 360 HD DVD player add-on? We just got word from Microsoft PR:
“We do not believe the recent reports about HD DVD will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace. As we’ve long stated, we believe it is games that sell consoles and Xbox 360 continues to have the largest next-gen games library with the most exclusives and best selling games in the industry. We will wait until we hear from Toshiba before announcing any specific plans around the Xbox 360 HD DVD player. HD DVD is one of the several ways we offer a high definition experience to consumers and we will continue to give consumers the choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and TV shows directly to their living room along with playback of the DVD movies they already own.”
Well, we think it is safe to say that we will be seeing the 360 HD DVD player (along with all the others) hitting the bargain bins over the next week or so. Now we await official word of an Xbox 360 Blu-ray add-on. It’s gotta happen.
Toshiba Concedes to Blu-ray
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Editorial, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Rumors,
Toshiba has announced that it will stop using its HD DVD format. Since this company tried harder than most of the others, this undoubtedly marks the end of the disc war. The official announcement will probably be made in the next several days.
“We have entered the final stage of planning to make our exit from the next generation DVD business,” said a spokesperson from Toshiba who wished to remain anonymous. The company estimates they will lose hundreds of millions of dollars because of the concession.
Read More | Reuters
Best Buy To Emphasize Blu-ray
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Editorial, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Movies,
Round two. In a “no surprise” move (since Netflix is doing the same), Best Buy said that it will recommend that its customers choose Blu-ray when purchasing a DVD Player/Recorder.
“Because we believe that Blu-ray is fast emerging as that single format, we have decided to focus on Blu-ray products,” said President and CEO Brian Dunn.
You will notice the hardware and software change by March, although they will also carry HD products. We suspect you will find them in the mark down aisle and, while you are there, check out the bargain DVDs.
Read More | Reuters
Netflix to Go Blu-ray
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, HDTV, Home Entertainment,
Netflix has announced that it will only buy Blu-ray discs and phase out HD by the end of the year. We suspect that is because four of the six major studios have gone the same way. While this looks to be the end of the war, we are just not ready to go out and purchase a new player right away. We hope that Sony finally feels karma for their failed Betamax. We also discovered that Netflix will be only sending out standard DVDs by the end of this month.
Read More | Reuters
This Week on HD DVD and Blu-ray: February 05, 2008
Posted by Johnny Mercedes Categories: 20th Century Fox, Buena Vista, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Adaptation, Classics, Documentary, Drama, Foreign, Music, Musicals, Religious, Satire, Comedy, Thrillers, Home Entertainment, New Releases,
As the 80th Annual Academy Awards inch ever closer, some of us are still scrambling to see the contenders in question before the big night. Those anxious to see their favorites before the inevitable acceptance speech or scowl-behind-forced-smile have the chance to watch a few in high-def this week.
On HD DVD is Elizabeth: The Golden Age, nominated for Cate Blanchett‘s performance and the opulent costumes. On Blu-ray are Across the Universe, nominated for its costumes, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, nominated for Casey Affleck‘s supporting performance.
Look for other nominees, brought to you in crystal clear high definition, throughout the month.
Check out the full list of high-def releases after the jump.
Click to continue reading This Week on HD DVD and Blu-ray: February 05, 2008
This Week on HD DVD and Blu-ray: January 15, 2008
Posted by Johnny Mercedes Categories: Lionsgate, New Line, Adaptation, Documentary, Drama, Independent, Religious, Satire, Comedy, Home Entertainment, New Releases,
Alright, yes—this article should have been written yesterday. But despite my lack of punctuality, I’ve decided to go ahead and post it anyway as part of a New Year’s resolution to write more. And this is a slow time for film in general, so I think I deserve a reprieve.
To be perfectly honest, little jumps out at me this week. We have the hilarious, slightly esoteric The Ten, helmed by some The State alumni and starring, well, just about everyone. Is there anything else worth mentioning? Could Girls Gone Wild: Baby Bash—Live and Uncensored be the best Blu-ray title this week? That seems a bit sad, doesn’t it? Don’t worry, HD DVD patrons—if you were looking for some girl-on-girl action, hold out until February 12th when it releases in your format.
I can’t wait for these sluggish few weeks to pass.
Check out the full list of high-def releases after the jump.
Click to continue reading This Week on HD DVD and Blu-ray: January 15, 2008
CES 2008 Video: All about Blu-ray
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gizmatic, Short Bytes, Broadband, CES, CES 2008, Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Movies, Podcasts, Videocasts,
Sony showed up in force for CES 2008 with a bevy of Blu-ray players in tow. Check the video above for a good run down of the Blu-ray technology. Some of the new interactive features are sure to impress, although many of the features have been available within HD DVD for some time.
Take note of the awkward cut that occurs when we ask them about the whole format war thing and the fact that studios are jumping over to Blu-ray left and right. That is when they stopped and told us they didn’t want to talk about that subject. We pushed the issue a bit, but they wouldn’t budge, so we just cut that portion out. Not sure what the big deal was though, I mean, it seems victory may be at hand for the Blu-ray side of things.
Toshiba Slashes Prices, Again
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Hot Deals, Movies,
Toshiba, never admitting defeat, has once again cut its prices up to 50% to promote its HD DVD players. Their entry level players now carry an MSRP of ~$150.00. Expect an onslaught of various media-type commercials within the next few weeks. While we continue to hear rumors concerning the HD/Blu-ray War, we think we will just bide our time and revel in the news that now almost anyone can afford a player. Toshiba is still offering 5 free DVDs with purchase.
Read More | USA Today
