Well, it’s official. After emitting a death rattle that seemingly lasted for months, after virtually every major studio decided to back rival format Blu-Ray, and after major retailers in the US recently chose to stop stocking it, HD-DVD has finally been put out of its misery by Toshiba.
The company will no longer develop, make or market HD-DVD players. Here are selected highlights from a Toshiba press release that has just been issued. To read the full thing, click the link above.
‘Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.
"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," said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. "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."
Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements. The company will continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives within the overall PC business relative to future market demand.’
So, this high-definition format is no more. It has ceased to be. It’s expired and gone to meet its maker. It’s a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. If you hadn’t nailed it to the shelves, it’d be pushing up the daisies. It’s off the twig. It’s kicked the bucket. It’s shuffled off the mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible. It is an ex-format.
Which is a shame – not just because this correspondent, along with at least one other Empireite, bought one just before Christmas - but because we admired the quality of HD-DVD, and – hey! - there’s nothing wrong with a little competition. Of course, Sony won’t agree – they’ll be jubilant (as will staunch Blu-Ray supporter, Mr. Michael Bay) and now Blu-Ray is set to rule the HD format… at least, until the next big thing comes along.
What about you, readers – are you sad to see HD-DVD go? Did you think that it was better, or worse, than Blu-Ray? Are you glad to hear that Toshiba will still provide after-sales support? Was there room enough for both Sony and Toshiba’s formats to thrive in the market? And does anyone want to buy a big, black doorstop?