HD DVD bids its farewell

[HEXUS]

The format war had already been declared over, with Blu-ray beating out rival HD DVD. Today however, Toshiba has made it official by declaring the "discontinuation of HD DVD businesses".

Read more.

[Nick]

cue floods of HD DVD players on eBay...

I guess this could be seen coming a way off... even from a Joe Public view, the lack of HD DVD advertising on TV was a big clue.

Expect to see PS3 sales increase as those waiting to see what format would win now go out and get themselves a BD capable bit of kit.

[Mike Fishcake]

So does this mean Toshiba are going to start manufaturing BR equipment?

[MD]

*Looks at hardly used PS3 - and goes to heavily used XBOX360 and EP30 and shakes head*

Ok so BluRay won (I have over 30 -15 of which unwatched) but what's the bets the price of them goes up by £5+ overnight an the price of HDDVD drops like a stone?

I reckon HDDVD isn't dead as such - alot of people will pick them up cheap and hope that the media drops a fair amount - this is what happens when manufacturers dictate the price of the media with Studios - it wouldn't surprise me if BluRay which discs are more expensive for gave a bigger share to the studios.

HDDVD could have survived, if only thay had reduced the media to around £9.99 a disc...

Matt

[Parm]

So does this mean Toshiba are going to start manufaturing BR equipment?

Mike, quote from article: "During a Q&A session that followed, Nishida-san offered few details as to what would become of Toshiba's Aomori HD DVD factory but did confirm that the company currently has "no plans at all" to adopt Blu-ray"

[Stoo]

*Looks at hardly used PS3 - and goes to heavily used XBOX360 and EP30 and shakes head*

Ok so BluRay won (I have over 30 -15 of which unwatched) but what's the bets the price of them goes up by £5+ overnight an the price of HDDVD drops like a stone?

I reckon HDDVD isn't dead as such - alot of people will pick them up cheap and hope that the media drops a fair amount - this is what happens when manufacturers dictate the price of the media with Studios - it wouldn't surprise me if BluRay which discs are more expensive for gave a bigger share to the studios.

HDDVD could have survived, if only thay had reduced the media to around £9.99 a disc...

Or, as has happened in the past, now that the confusion has been removed, more people start to buy Hi-Def with confidence, so more disks and hardware will be produced, which in turn will drive the prices down.

Just like it did with DVD, CD, VHS etc etc..

HD-DVD will certainly be dead as nobody will be producing hardware, or releasing new films on the format - sure you'll be able to pick stuff up cheap for a few months while the inventory has cleared, but what's the point in buying up a dead format with no future?

[MD]

sure you'll be able to pick stuff up cheap for a few months while the inventory has cleared, but what's the point in buying up a dead format with no future?

....ask my mate who is making an ABSOLUTE mint out of Laser discs he's picked up for a couple of quid and shifted for £100+ per disc.

There is a demand down the line - there was a rash of people paying a premium for Shooter when paramount switched formats...

Matt

[Lucio]

It's a real shame it came to this, all that's happened is the consumer has lost out because of corporate greed and their inability to agree on a new HD format. It should have never come to this in the first place!

Even worse, is that the Sony format won out which will undoubtedly lead to higher prices for the consumer, because in my experience anything with a Sony name attached to it ends up costing more than an equivilent product...

[JimNastics]

Is the technology there to rip Blu-Ray and convert / encode + burn to HD-DVD? Can HD-DVD standalone players play copies? I'm just wondering if there could be a long-life in HD-DVD in terms of piracy, if the answer to my two questions is "yes". If ripping groups can do this, you've got the market flooded with cheap players and lots of unscrupulous people ready to download. If HD-DVD is going to continue as a storage format, I guess we'll still see writers and media on the market? Remember how long piracy kept the PS1 going?

(I don't want to know how to do this which we obviously can't discuss here, just if it's technically possible)

[Nick]

I'm not so sure there's a format war going on for DVD vs BD... after all, a BD player can play DVDs anyway.

If there is a 'war' as such, it'll be over the pricing of the discs and not about the hardware.

Either way, DVD owners now have one less thing to confuse them as they won't have to replace their old DVD stock to upgrade to BD... unless they want to re-buy their fave film remastered for BD.

Eventually DVD will go the way of vinyl, VHS and audio cassettes but not for a good few years yet.

[directhex]

I'm not so sure there's a format war going on for DVD vs BD... after all, a BD player can play DVDs anyway.

If there is a 'war' as such, it'll be over the pricing of the discs and not about the hardware.

Either way, DVD owners now have one less thing to confuse them as they won't have to replace their old DVD stock to upgrade to BD... unless they want to re-buy their fave film remastered for BD.

Eventually DVD will go the way of vinyl, VHS and audio cassettes but not for a good few years yet.

30 quid for a blu-ray movie on the high street. thirty sodding quid!

[Mike Fishcake]

Mike, quote from article: "During a Q&A session that followed, Nishida-san offered few details as to what would become of Toshiba's Aomori HD DVD factory but did confirm that the company currently has "no plans at all" to adopt Blu-ray"

D'oh! I re-read the article just in case I missed it out, and I must have missed it twice

I can't help but feel this is over-reacting a little though: Blu-ray.com - Toshiba Resigns from Format War; Blu-ray Wins! (Updated)

[Nick]

30 quid for a blu-ray movie on the high street. thirty sodding quid!

Hehe, you're getting ripped off bud!

ASDA is £24.97 for new BD releases, Tesco are £27...

And I'm now seeing back catalogue films as new BD releases for £14-£19...

Hope this (every little) helps!

[MD]

your getting ripped off, my local ASDA, £20 for a 0-day release

Interestingly they dropped the HDDVD's about two weeks ago from £20 to around £16 in store...

DVD.co.uk are generally the cheapest I have found

matt.

[Stringent]

Just as well Sony aren't the only company who make Blu-Ray players then isn't it ...

[starbuck]

Just as well Sony aren't the only company who make Blu-Ray players then isn't it ...

no, but they are the reason the format won as they have allowed blu ray to be available more widely than HD. With HD you have to specifically buy a dedicated player. With blu ray you get one with the PS3 as well as having dedicated players.

Glad I waited before buying a combined HD/Blu ray player.