Toshiba, the manufacturer of the HD DVD format announced yesterday that it will no longer manufacture players with the HD DVD format. This basically ends the extended war between the two high definition DVD formats, HD DVD and BluRay. If you have been following this blog, you already know all about the battle of HD and BluRay, manufactured by Sony.
Like a house of cards, movie companies and retail companies announced how they wouldn’t be supporting the HD format. Just last week, both Wal-Mart and Neflix said that they will no longer be carrying anything HD DVD. And just last month, Warner Brothers, the largest movie company that had been releasing discs in both formats, abandoned HD DVD for good. This news was announced right before the Consumer Electronics show, no doubt leading many retailers to think twice about supporting the format.
Analysts say that one of the major reasons for the failure of HD DVD is because it was not positioned adequately in many retail markets. In a press release, Toshiba President and Chief Executive Atsutoshi Nishida said, “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.”
The war not only affected DVD players, but also video game systems, too. Sony’s Playstation 3 plays Blu-Ray discs, while Microsoft Xbox 360 plays the now outmoded HD DVDs.
Now that the rivalry is over, look to and end to the price incentives, the earlier release perhaps of new Blu-ray technology, and many more movie releases on Blu-Ray.
Toshiba will continue to produce standard DVD players.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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