G4 wrote:As you all know, Warner Brothers went Blu-Ray, but rumor has it that the WB was rewarded with a fat stack ($500 million!!) of cash money for their choice.
The story goes like this: Warner was seeing its DVD sales slump because of the format war and wanted to end it quickly. They preferred HD-DVD, but going Blu would end it sooner. They gave Toshiba a chance if they could get another Blu-Ray studio to switch.
FOX was apparently lined up, but dropped at the last minute due to a reported $120 million payout by Sony.
This lead Warner to go Blu-Ray as well. If true, this is $620 million of payouts by Sony.
Tough luck, Toshiba. You win this game with your checkbook, not lower prices.
Von wrote:I wonder what this place would've been like if it had been around for the VHS/Betamax wars.
darkness wrote:No need to wonder. Just take these same posts, insert "Beta" where you see "HD-DVD" and "VHS" where you see "Blu-ray."
Personally, I never touched VHS if I could help it. I was a laserdisc person.
Von wrote: Interesting that you should pair them in that order.
People Happy With DVD, Not Likely To Switch to Hi-Def, Says Study
Relatively few consumers are planning to make the transition from DVDs to high-definition HD DVD or Blu-ray, according to a survey by NPD Group. The researchers said that among owners of HDTV sets, seven out of 10 say they see no need to purchase high-definition players, maintaining that they are satisfied with the quality of their current players. "one of the main challenges for the next-generation" format, NPD Group senior entertainment industry analyst Russ Crupnick told Bloomberg News, "is you have a product out there that is pretty darn good in consumers' eyes."
Von wrote:Gotta agree with them. As far as joe punter is concerned, this is just more cost for very little gain.
darkness wrote:Best Buy is going to start pushing blu-ray heavily, and Wal-mart just went blu-ray exclusive. Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Toshiba is going to call it quits on hd-dvd soon, possibily within a few weeks. Lots of indie studios have been lining up behind blu-ray in the last few weeks. At this point, HD-DVD is pretty much dead. It just doesn't seem to know it yet.
Toshiba planning "withdrawal" from HD DVD
Japanese broadcaster NHK has just announced Toshiba's intention to withdraw from the HD DVD format. NHK says that Toshiba's factory has already ceased production of HD DVD equipment, although it will still be available on sale for the time being. This is the final blow to the ailing format, which has been on a downward slide since being dropped by Warner Bros earlier this year.
The news has now been confirmed by Reuters:
"We have entered the final stage of planning to make our exit from the next generation DVD business," said the source, who asked not to be identified. He added that an official announcement could come as early as next week.
This withdrawal will bring about the long-overdue conclusion of a single high definition disc format, and will mean "losses running to tens of billions of yen" for Toshiba. Unnamed officials from the company suggest poor marketing as the reason behind the format's demise.
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