Items tagged with HD DVD
Toshiba told us it was coming, and now the world can finally mark it down: the company famous for supporting HD DVD while everyone else sided with Blu-ray has finally decided to product its very own BD deck. Some might view this as the real death of HD DVD, as for the longest time, Toshiba would have nothing to do with the rival format that eventually killed the "red" format that it so dearly loved. The BDX2000 will be forever known as Toshiba's first-ever Blu-ray Disc player, and it'll provide 1080p video output, Profile 2.0 (BD-Live) support, a smoked mirrored front panel, REGZA-LINK support, an SD card slot for loading up multimedia locally and AVCHD playback. The full list of highlights are...
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At long last, the inevitable has occurred. Nearly 1.5 years after the curtain fell and HD DVD was deemed dead, Toshiba--HD DVD's biggest fan, backer and producer of players--has agreed to join those on the other side. After years of fighting, the Blu-ray format won out over the other HD disc format, HD DVD, though Toshiba never once showed any indication that it would side with those that helped obliterate the format it poured millions into.Until now. According to a report originating in Japan over the weekend, Toshiba will shelve its pride and push to market its very first Blu-ray player before the year's end. Unfortunately, details about the deck are nowhere to be found. There's no model number,...
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It's a tough time for Blu-ray to be really hitting its stride. Many consumers are still wary due to the battle with HD-DVD, and frankly, many are still content with DVD. In too many cases, upscaled DVD looks "good enough" for consumers, and only those with oodles of disposable income are willing to fork out for Blu-ray. Blu-ray player prices are still relatively high, and the actual movies are way expensive compared to the same titles on DVD. Plus, the install base of DVD is so high, it's tough for many to start building another movie library on another format.Those reasons and more are what is keeping the interest in Blu-ray rather low according to a new study by Harris Interactive. Currently,...
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$986 million to be more precise. Why so much? It's the last one. That's the projection for the cost to Toshiba to close up shop and retool its production line to make something else. It's the final chapter for Toshiba's ill-fated attempt to offer its HD DVD alternative to Sony's Blu-ray high-definition disk player. Toshiba still turned a profit for their full fiscal year, although it was much smaller than anticipated, and that helped drive its stock price substantially lower after the report of the price tag for HD DVD funerary expenses hit the wires. The report came from the Nikkei Business Daily, not directly from Toshiba. What's Toshiba have to say about it?"We did not announce this, and therefore...
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Things seemed settled. Blu-ray, the high definition format favored by Sony, finally overcame the competition offered by rival Toshiba, HD DVD, and the next-generation format wars were over. Not so fast, says New Medium Enterprises, who are touting an alternative to Blu-ray they call the versatile multilayer disc. VMD has the one attribute no one has ever ascribed to Blu-ray; it's cheap.An HD VMD player costs less than a Blu-ray because it uses the red-laser technologies found in today’s standard-definition DVD players. The Blu-ray and HD DVD machines use a more-expensive blue laser system. “We do not intend to take on Blu-ray,” said Shirly Levich, New Medium’s vice president and product development...
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Get your tin foil hats on, this is one of those kinds of rumors. As always we remind you to take all rumors with a grain of salt.We reported in the past that Sony was going to offload their Cell production and that Toshiba was a rumored buyer, but the deal seemed to be in limbo for several weeks. Then major retailers and studios started pulling the plug on HD DVD without a whole lot of explanation.A few more weeks go by and Toshiba officially canned their disc format and Sony sets a price on the Cell operation: $835 million. It's hard not to wonder if there is more here than meets the eye. It seems that both companies got something they wanted, but the short-term gains...
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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...
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When Warner announced that they were going to go Blu-ray exclusive starting in June, it seemed that the outlook for HD DVD seemed bleak at best. But it appears that a new strategy is forming, and the immediate goal would appear to be putting more HD DVD capable devices into consumer hands.“One part of HD DVD’s new strategy is on lower prices and selling the hardware’s ability to upscale regular DVD movies. Graffeo explained the logic behind the new push, “Consumers right now are buying upconverting players – they are outselling the next-gen players combined by 10 to 1 every month. They are affordable because they are under $200 – the average price is $85 – and consumers want to see their...
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Toshiba, backer of the HD DVD standard for next-generation high-definition disc players, is reacting to the move of many Hollywood studios to exclusively offer their entertainment on rival Sony's Blu-ray format. By "reacting," I mean "slashing their prices to the bone."Toshiba's third generation 1080i-capable HD-A3 is selling for a mere $139.98 on Amazon.com. The 1080p-capable HD-A30 is not much more expensive at $179.98. For the price of an Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on, consumers can now purchase a fully-fledged set top box with 1080p support.Amazon isn't the only retailer with the discounted pricing, however. Tiger Direct is selling the HD-A3 for $129.99 and the HD-A30 for $179.99. There are also...
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Well the winner of the "Who wants to be listed in Wikipedia next to the Betamax format" sweepstakes appears to be HD-DVD. Paramount has decided to follow Warner Brother's recent decision to support Blu-ray and is going to drop its support of the HD-DVD format. Warner's decision last week to throw its weight behind Blu-ray saw it join Walt Disney, 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as backers of the Sony format.The Warner move gives Blu-ray about 70 per cent of Hollywood's output, although the format's grip on film content will increase further when Paramount comes aboard.It is unclear whether DreamWorks Animation has the same get-out clause in its contract with the HD-DVD camp....
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The fight for supremacy between the two high-definition formats for entertainment has been fought to a stalemate, at least according to Sony's CEO Howard Stringer. Sony backs the Blu-ray standard, while Toshiba touts the HD DVD format. When the numbers are in for Christmas, we'll likely see that one or the other format has a wide lead over the other, but not nearly enough to make the loser drop out. Who loses? Well, producers of movies, for one. They have to choose a format knowing that a goodly portion of their target audience can't view it. While Warner Brothers has demonstrated success in supplying content to both sides, the format war seems to be a lose-lose situation for many of the studios....
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Addonics Announces Optical Solution that Bridges Blu Ray and HD DVD Formats -- Zebra Blu-ray / HD DVD Player Plays Both Formats and Burns DVD±R/RW and CDRW Media -- SAN JOSE, CA (December 13, 2007) – Addonics Technologies today announced its Zebra Blu-ray / HD DVD Player an optical storage solution that allows your PC to play Blu-ray and HD DVD movies from the same tray. The Zebra Blu-ray / HD DVD Player also plays standard DVDs and CDs in various file formats and burns DVD+/-RRW and CDRW media, which makes it one of the most flexible optical drives available. Users can turn their laptop or desktop computer into a high definition movie player and enjoy high definition video quality of 1080p...
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If you aren't wearing your tin-foil hat, you might want to go get it before reading any further.Now that you have your tin-foil hat, we'll issue a not-too subtle warning that this as a wild rumor/allegation and it could easily fall under the heading of 'crackpot' theories despite having a big Hollywood name attached to it. Microsoft may have manipulated the next generation disc format wars in an attempt to make downloading more popular.The theory contends that HD DVD was losing the war against Blu-Ray, and that Microsoft threw their support behind the standard in an attempt to make any standard adoption less likely to happen. Even Transformers directory Michael Bay seems to believe...
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Remember when George Lucas digitally remastered the original Star Wars trilogy? He said it was to "finish the film the way it was meant to be." Most of the changes were cosmetic, enhancing the films with special effects that were not available when the films were first made. In a sense, we now have a similar version of Star Trek: The Original Series (ST: TOS).Star Trek finally made it to the 21st century. A new hybrid HD DVD/DVD box set, released Tuesday, delivers the original series' first-season shows, digitally remastered and looking better than ever before. The exterior space shots in Star Trek: The Original Series -- revamped using today's CGI techniques -- now show planets and starships...
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The continuing battle between Blu-Ray and HD DVD might eventually boil down to who can get their player into more consumer hands. A large part of that equation is price. How does less than $200 sound?If you're worried that $200 will buy you a cut rate player, think again. We're talking about a HD DVD player that was going for $499 just a year ago:“Toshiba's HD-A2 was originally released in December 2006 with a $499 price tag. Over the past year, the price for the player has steadily dropped to $399 in April and to $299 in July. Toshiba's long-running five free HD DVD movie offer [PDF] has also been available to give customers more bang for the buck.”The jury is still out as...
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On Monday Toshiba made good on a promise it made earlier this year to add HD-DVD drives to its more popular systems, by adding HD-DVD drives to a Satellite laptop. Previously only the Qosmio AV notebook had an HD-DVD drive. The Satellite A205 equipped with HD DVD carries with it a retail price of $1,149.99 USD, approximately 30 percent higher than the Satellite model without the high-definition format, and the two share very similar specs.lt;script language="JavaScript" src="https://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/ttm.betanews/bn/home;tier=1;sz=336x280,300x250;tile=2;ord=636342080?" type="text/javascript"></script> <noscript><a href="https://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/ttm.betanews/bn/home;tier=1;sz=336x280;tile=2;ord=636342080?"...
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A report from Forrester Research paints a bleak picture for sales of next generation DVD players. They estimate that at least another eighteen months will roll by before many consumers make up their minds to buy one; and until then the two formats will fight it out in low-level trench warfare until one or the other is embraced by consumers. Forrester analyst J.P. Gownder stood behind his company's view that Blu-ray would eventually win out over HD DVD, but he said the Blu-ray camp needs to cut prices. A stand alone Blu-ray player sells for about $500, while HD DVD players cost about $400, and prices are expected to drop further...
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It appears the approval was given on August 31st, but for some reason the news is just leaking out now. In any case, there hadn't been any official announcements by Toshiba or the DVD Forum prior to the leaked information.The 51 GB derivative enables three layers to be bonded together within the same 0.6 mm substrate limitations as standard discs, with varying reflectivity for each layer that enables contents from buried layers to be revealed, even through the bonding material. Multi-layer bonding is not a novel process, though the reflectivity formula is. Engineers from Warner Bros. have filed patents for similar multi-layer bonding concepts including, according to patents, a four-layer process,...
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According to Ken Lowe of Sigma Designs, a company that develops performance integrated SoC semiconductors and markets them to the DVD industry (among many other industries), HD DVD has only a few months to live. Although the format wars commenced not too long ago, HD DVD is expected to rest in peace by fall of 2007. Just how reliable is this apocalyptic prophecy? "Sigma Designs' media processors work with both standards and currently power six of the nine Blu-ray players available on the market today including Sharp, Sony, Panasonic, and Pioneer. He's not playing favorites, just telling it like it is." It seems that even price cuts will not help HD DVD out of this mess. Indeed, Ken declares...
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The HD DVD Promotional Group made a proud announcement today that over half of all next-generation video players sold use HD DVD format, which means that they have a slight advantage over their BD contenders. “About 60 percent of all movie players use HD DVD, and are selling far more titles than before as well. Over 75,000 of the discs sold in the last week of May -- a record achievement for a still new format.” These figures come as a result of a recent price decline on the entry-level Toshiba HD-A2 player and other similar players. The group stated that sales doubled for all players when the HD-A2 dropped to $399 in April. However, the group was unclear on whether or not the sales figures...
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Apparently, a new licensing agreement is being finalized that could make it legal for consumers who have already purchased a HD DVD or Blu-Ray disc to make a bakcup copy... "Under a licensing agreement in its final stages, consumers may get the right to make several legal copies of HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc movies they’ve purchased, a concession by the movie industry that may quell criticism that DRM (digital rights management) technologies are too restrictive. The agreement, if supported by movie studios and film companies, could allow a consumer to make a backup copy in case their original disc is damaged and another copy for their home media server, said Michael Ayers, a representative of...
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News outlets are always anxious to offer breaking news to their readers. But how fast is too fast? Our friends at Engadget reported that Wal*Mart had made a blockbuster purchase of HD-DVD players. Big enough to have an effect on the viability of the format. "Get ready to get your cheap HD on kids. Wal-Mart just threw down some serious green for a batch of Chinese-made HD DVD players. Just as they brought DVD players down to near-disposable status, their deal for 2 million HD DVD players produced by China's Great Wall corporation will ultimately do the same for hi-def optical. The guts are developed by Taiwan's Fuh Yuan with a touch of help from Japan's TDK. How much? A magical $299,...
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