Wal-Mart Kills HD DVD

[Mels_Smileys45]

Taps for HD DVD as Wal-Mart Backs Blu-ray






SAN FRANCISCO — HD DVD, the beloved format of Toshiba and three Hollywood studios, died Friday after a brief illness. The cause of death was determined to be the decision by Wal-Mart to stock only high-definition DVDs and players using the Blu-ray format.

There are no funeral plans, but retailers and industry analysts are already writing the obituary for HD DVD.

The announcement by Wal-Mart Stores, the nation’s largest retailer of DVDs, that it would stop selling the discs and machines in June when supplies are depleted comes after decisions this week by Best Buy, the largest electronics retailer, to promote Blu-ray as its preferred format and Netflix, the DVD-rental service, to stock only Blu-ray movies, phasing out HD DVD by the end of this year.

Last year, Target, one of the top sellers of electronics, discontinued selling HD DVD players in its stores, but continued to sell them online.


“The fat lady has sung,” said Rob Enderle, a technology industry analyst in Silicon Valley. “Wal-Mart is the biggest player in the DVD market. If it says HD DVD is done, you can take that as a fact.”

Toshiba executives did not return calls asking for comment. Analysts do not expect the company to take the product off the market but the format war is over. Toshiba had been fighting for more than two years to establish the dominance of the format it developed over Blu-ray, developed by Sony.

The combined weight of the decisions this week, but particularly the heft of Wal-Mart, signals the end of a format war that has confounded and frustrated consumers and that had grown increasingly costly for the consumer electronics industry — from hardware makers and studios to retailers.

Andy Parsons, a spokesman for the Blu-ray Disc Association, an industry trade group, said retailers and movie studios had incentives to resolve the issue quickly because it was costly for them to devote shelf space and technology to two formats. Besides, he noted, many consumers have sat on the sidelines and not purchased either version because they did not want to invest in a technology that could become obsolete.

Thus far, consumers have purchased about one million Blu-ray players, though there are another three million in the market that are integrated into the PlayStation 3 consoles of Sony, said Richard Doherty, research director of Envisioneering, a technology assessment firm. About one million HD DVD players have been sold.

Evenly matched by Blu-ray through 2007, HD DVD experienced a marked reversal in fortune in early January when Warner Brothers studio, a unit of Time Warner, announced it would manufacture and distribute movies only in Blu-ray. With the Warner decision, the Blu-ray coalition controlled around 75 percent of the high-definition content from the major movie and TV studios. The coalition includes Sharp, Panasonic and Philips as well as Walt Disney and 20th Century Fox studios.

Universal, Paramount and the DreamWorks Animation studios still back HD DVD; none of those studios responded to requests for comment Friday.

“It’s pretty clear that retailers consumers trust the most have concluded that the format war is all but over,” Mr. Parsons said. “Toshiba fought a very good battle, but the industry is ready to move on and go with a single format.”

Because movie and entertainment technology has become integrated into a range of consumer electronics, the high-definition movie format war has created unusually wide-ranging alliances. The battle included, for example, video game companies; Microsoft has backed the HD DVD standard and sold a compatible player to accompany its Xbox 360 video game console.

Sony has pushed vigorously for the Blu-ray standard, not just because it is a patent holder of the technology, but also because it has integrated the standard into PlayStation 3. Sony has argued that consumers will gravitate to the PlayStation 3 because of the high-definition movie player.

Any celebration over the victory may be tempered by concerns that the DVD — of any format — may be doomed by electronic delivery of movies over the Internet. The longer HD DVD battled Blu-ray, the more the consumer market has had an opportunity to gravitate to downloading movies. Such a move, coupled with the growth of technology that makes such downloading easier and cheaper, has threatened to cut into the long-term sales of physical movies in the DVD format.



Read the rst here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/16/te...ref=technology

[Excrement_Cranium]

Fuck. Finally.

I didn't care which format one, so long as it finally settled on one. I'm one of those sideline-consumers.

[Mels_Smileys45]

I would like to see a cheap HD DVDR drive for my pc. They could still do well on the pc IMO.

[northwest stew]

Sweet I have a ps3 so all is good ,but yea in no time they will come out with super high maxi lite blu-ray or some other format and will have too shell out more money for the players and what not .:icon_scra

[DigitalJunkie]

There are combo drive for both HD DVD & Blu-ray format already, however we still need to wait until cheap & mass produced blank disks to be available. You would still have a long wait!!

[Boomer The Dog]

If they only plan for Blu-Ray, Wal-woof-Mart should take HD-DVD equipment off of the shelves right now and send it to the dump. That's because some people are not going to know and they will be fooled into buying obsolete junk for 4 months!

[mfgbypooter]

Wal-Mart sucks donkey balls by selling nothing but obsolete inferior junk anyways.

*

[Mels_Smileys45]

Update



Report: Toshiba May End HD DVD Format


TOKYO (AP) — Japanese electronics maker Toshiba might withdraw its HD DVD next-generation video format, Kyodo News agency reported Saturday.

The report cited unidentified individuals from the industry as saying Toshiba Corp. is reviewing its operations, with the timing of the withdrawal to be decided later, depending on U.S. demand for its HD DVD products and other factors.

Calls went unanswered at Toshiba Corp.'s Tokyo office, which was closed for the weekend.

HD DVD has been competing against the Blu-ray technology, backed by Sony Corp., other makers and five major Hollywood movie studios.

Recently the Blu-ray disc format has been gaining market share, while Toshiba has been forced to slash prices to sell its HD DVD machines. A Toshiba pullout would signal the almost certain defeat of HD DVD to Blu-ray.

On Friday, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the largest U.S. retailer, said it will sell only Blu-ray DVDs and hardware and no longer carry HD DVD offerings.

The announcement came five days after Netflix Inc. said it will cease carrying rentals in HD DVD. Several major U.S. retailers have made similar decisions, including Target Corp. and Blockbuster Inc.

Last month, Warner Bros. Entertainment decided to release movie discs only in the Blu-ray format, becoming the latest studio to reject HD DVD.

Warner Bros., owned by Time Warner Inc., had been the only remaining Hollywood studio releasing high-definition DVDs in both formats.

Both formats deliver crisp, clear high-definition pictures and sound, but they are incompatible with each other, and neither plays on older DVD players.

Only one format has been expected to emerge as the winner, much like VHS trumped Sony's Betamax in the video format battle of the 1980s.


http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i...YHbKwD8URS5400

[evilmegaman]

It's sad, but blue ray's cooler cuz the only cost effective player is also the best and it even plays video games and other stuff like browse the internet. seriously you can't beat that. I wish I had a betamax player lol

[Excrement_Cranium]

It's sad, but blue ray's cooler cuz the only cost effective player is also the best and it even plays video games and other stuff like browse the internet. seriously you can't beat that. I wish I had a betamax player lol

When I was a kid, and after Betamax bit the dust, there was a video store in town where you could rent a player for $1 and the movies were also $1 each.


Made for fun weekends of Betamax horror movies.


That, and we were too poor to afford our own VHS.

[evilmegaman]

that's hardcore (hxc)

[Mels_Smileys45]

It's sad, but blue ray's cooler cuz the only cost effective player is also the best and it even plays video games and other stuff like browse the internet. seriously you can't beat that. I wish I had a betamax player lol

Are you trying to be funny? Blu Ray has nothing to do with Videogames. Sure Sony uses it in their POS3 (just kidding) but the storage media doesnt mean the games will be better. With slower seek times I would expect it to be worse unless you like download times. OH Wait, you WERE trying to be funny! I see. Damn it, I fail to see the humor!

It sure isnt cost effective! Not by a long shot! I see this as a hollow victory for Blu Ray. Neither format sells very well because not many people care enough to upgrade. With the VHS/Betamax battle we didnt have the "downloads" wildcard. We did have the Laserdisc card but that huge piece of tech failed to because, WHY CLASS? It was too EXPENSIVE and did not offer enough of an upgrade to make people not want to keep using VHS. Plus you could tape over VHS and it was cheap. Hmmmmmmmm, sorta like DVD's!!! WOW! If you really think about it, even Blu Ray doesnt have a snowballs chance in HELL! Its not easy to pirate, BIG downfall! The Pirate factor helped cement DVD as a platform. When DVD's first came out no one wanted them because they were too expensive and people loved VHS because it was easy to record and copy. When DVD's became cheap and easy to copy people dove in head first! Blu Ray is impossible to copy and they promise to keep it that way. Keeping the blank media expensive could be key. Some people have ripped Blu Ray movies to PC but its still not practical. Having to transfer such HUGE files over the net and getting the "crack" is a real pain in the ass too.


Both Formats are too rushed. Its the wrong tech at the wrong time. Digital downloads are going to win the war and thats all there is to it. Mels has spoken so BOTH sides can suck something.........

[evilmegaman]

are you kidding me? it's the most cost effective player. when blu ray upgrades to a new standard (currently 2.0), you can just update your PS3. It's definitely the most cost effective because almost all HD players are 200+. So if you're looking for a blu ray player, you absolutely can't beat the PS3 right now.

[XKS]

So if you're looking for a blu ray player, you absolutely can't beat the PS3 right now.

Yeah, it's very well rated as well: the picture quality is superb.

[Mels_Smileys45]

are you kidding me? it's the most cost effective player. when blu ray upgrades to a new standard (currently 2.0), you can just update your PS3. It's definitely the most cost effective because almost all HD players are 200+. So if you're looking for a blu ray player, you absolutely can't beat the PS3 right now.

WTF are you still talking about VIDEOGAMES? Say I want to only watch some movies? Thats some expensive movies! Especially when I can download a 4.5 gig High Def movie for free, no player needed other than my pc hooked up to my Hi Def TV monitor! In fact, I have a few on tap right now!

Are you brainwashed by the Blu Ray Fairy? If I buy a PS3 it will be because I want to play some games and not because I want an expensive movie playing device!


Its like you think every cheap Blu Ray player is coming with a free PS3. Consumers want to buy a device that does either or, not a wonder device that costs too much and does many things. If people want videgames they buy a console, a cheap one! Look at the Wii. If consumers want to watch movies they buy a movie watching device. A CHEAP one! Look at Divx players!


Im seeing many digital devices on Ebay that play downloads on your PC or your hi def TV set. You can either simply hook your external Hard drive to the device or use the internal hard drive on the movie viewing device to store your Hi def movies......and they cost around $100. This is the futre, not Blew Ray!