HD DVD Death Watch Over - Toshiba Out

HD DVD Death Watch Over - Toshiba Out

Saturday, February 16, 2008 - by Dave Altavilla
As the saying goes, it's all over but the shouting and we're sure there are more than a few heated words that are still yet to be exchanged.  Reports are continuing to flow in quickly since Friday, on the news that Walmart was stepping back from the sale of HD DVD players moving forward, offering only Blu-Ray format players by June 2008. With Walmart Senior VP, Gary Severson quoted as saying,  "we've listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases", the writing was on the wall.  With the world's largest retailer officially taking a stance in the other camp, it was easy to see the clock was running out in the 4th quarter and HD DVD wasn't even going to cover the spread.

This morning it looks as though the inevitable will indeed finally come to pass, with news coming across the wire from Toshiba that they're finally bowing out of the high-def format battle, ending further development of HD DVD products and that factories were being closed. NHK online reported "The Blu-ray format now makes up 90 percent of the Japanese high-definition DVD market after winning last year's price war for DVD recorders and players." 

With Toshiba officially throwing in the towel there is sure to be a surge in Blu-Ray sales, with many consumers waiting for the other proverbial shoe to drop before making a purchase.  Here's hoping that prices won't climb as a result of this announcement but if they do, maybe consumers who were also smart investors could cut back on the sting a little bit while shares of Sony most likely head for an uptick.  Walmart better be ready with extra greeters on hand, as a few folks stream in with returns, now that the holiday HD DVD blowout buzz is over like a bad hang-over, realizing their players eventually will be nothing more than standard DVD spinners or up-scalers at best.

Via: Reuters | News Archive | Tags: HD, Toshiba, DVD, Death, HD DVD, os, watch
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Comments

By ice91785 on Feb 16, 2008

I can't say I mind too much -- prices will be up for a while. When DVD players came out initially I remember you were lucky to find one under $200 -- I am sure blu-ray will be similiar but within......2 year we'll be able to find $80 players :)

 BOUT FRIGGIN TIME is all I can say about the matter

By recoveringknowitall on Feb 16, 2008

From jump I pretty much knew there was little chance 2 formats could co-exsist... furthermore I'm glad I've waited patiently.

BTW: ice - when/if you OC your quad we wanna see the #'s!!! Stick out tongue

By ice91785 on Feb 18, 2008

I won't mind if/when the 360 comes out with an add-on blu-ray player -- I must confess, looking at my employee discount on the HD-DVD addon almost made me jump on board (glad I didn't). Hopefully the same will be the case with blu-ray hmm? :) :)

 

recoveringknowitall:
ice - when/if you OC your quad we wanna see the #'s!!!
 

 I have been running into dumb stuff preventing me from doing so -- first my monitor's PSU took a dump on me so I had to send it into the repair center under mfg warranty (I have been without it for about one month and a week now....the only spare I have is my LCD TV which is directly behind my setup so I have to crane my neck to do anything on my PC. 

NEXT!! I was running some basic hardware tests today and found that apparently my 4GB kit is erroring out in memtest -- AHH!!

When it rains it pours I guess right? 

By recoveringknowitall on Feb 19, 2008

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Be patient and I'm sure you'll get everything sorted out. If you decide to get different ram, Mushkin has a 4gb(2 x 2g)kit at Newegg that really caught my eye. It's speed is 1ghz, it's timings are 5 5 5 12 and it only requires 2.0-2.1 to achieve said speed & timings. LINK Seems like a great deal for $150!!!

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