|
The second major format war is over, and this time Sony has actually appeared to come out on top! Yesterday, Toshiba announced it was throwing in the towel and officially discontinuing its HD DVD format, former rival to Sony's Blu-ray. (Source: yahoo.com) The announcement opens the way for Blu-ray to become the industry standard for the next generation of home video. The format war created a lot of hesitancy among customers to invest in second generation players while the two-tiered system existed. There are approximately 30 million high definition television sets in homes across the United States, but only 1.5 million of those also own a second generation DVD player.
The death knell for HD DVD began in early January when Warner Bros. announced it would stop releasing movies in the format. Following this announcement, major retailers such as Netflix, Best Buy, and Wal Mart joined the exodus, and the final nail in the coffin for Toshiba came earlier this week, when Universal Home Studios, the last of the major studios to support HD DVD, announced it would also cease production. During the press conference where Toshiba conceded defeat, the company's Chief Executive Atsutoshi Nishida said, "This was a very difficult decision to make...but when we thought about the trouble we would cause to consumers and our partners, we decided it was not right for us to keep going with such a small presence." (Source: nytimes.com) Now that Blu-ray has become the industry standard, attention will now turn to convincing customers to change from regular DVDs to the new High Definition format. However, some experts believe a major switch will take at least three to five years before Blu-ray begins to overtake regular DVDs in sales. (Source: com.au) Even then it might be a tough sell, as it wasn't that long ago that the VHS tapes were phased out of video rental outlets. Not surprisingly, Microsoft is not moving very quickly to support Blu-ray. PC World is reporting that the software giant declined to comment on whether it would discontinue its external HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360, as well as demurring about integrating rival Sony's Playstation 3 technology into its own gaming console. Most likely, this reluctance is temporary and Microsoft, an early HD DVD advocate, just needs a little time to get used to living in Sony's high definition world.
-- Related newsletter articles:
2006/04/28 What to do if your Hard Drive Fails (format)
2007/07/26 Toshiba, Sony at Heart of Another Recall (toshiba)
2008/01/16 Toshiba Halves HD DVD Prices (hd dvd)
2007/08/07 Sony No longer PG-13? (hd dvd)
2008/01/17 British Supercomputer Boasts Power Of 12,000 Desktops (second)
2007/09/26 Who'll Take Down MS Office? (announced)
2007/09/10 LG Makes the HD Choice Easier, More Expensive (format)
2007/08/16 In the Mood for Microsoft Office? Have an Apple Instead (format)
2007/12/11 Facebook's Mea Culpa (announced)
2008/02/18 Wal-Mart Joins HD-DVD Exodus (format)
2007/06/21 Toshiba Turns Tables on Sony's Blu-ray (format)
2007/06/08 Sony Slashes Blu-ray Costs, Again (toshiba)
2008/01/09 Blu-ray Scores Major Victory in Format War (format)
2007/12/06 Stop Global Warming One Toshiba Laptop At A Time! (toshiba)
2007/09/17 What? Another HD Format? (definition)
-- Recent articles (from all channels): 2008/05/12 Today in History: for Monday, May 12, 2008
2008/05/12 [ShellX 20080512]: 'Remote Manager', and 'Cyber Bandwidth ...
2008/05/12 Video Gaming Trade Group Struggling
2008/05/12 T-Mobile Finally Joins 3G Phone Race
2008/05/12 Apple Slammed by Environment Watchdog
2008/05/09 [ShellX 20080509]: 'Advanced Run', and 'Diver Windows Manager'
2008/05/09 Texas Refuses Facebook Friend Request
2008/05/09 Photo-Enforcement Technology Replaces Officers On Patrol
2008/05/09 Cuban Government Says 'Ok Computer'
2008/05/09 Excel Can E-Mail Your Weekly Reports For You!
2008/05/08 [ShellX 20080508]: 'Shell Enhancer', and 'Lansweeper'
2008/05/08 Xobni: MS Outlook Social Networking Technology for your Inbox
2008/05/08 Music Companies Jump on GTA IV Bandwagon
2008/05/08 Fascinating: Memristor to replace Binary
2008/05/08 Adobe Hopes To Make Flash Master Of The (Mobile) Universe
2008/05/08 Spiffy Envelopes and Labels in MS Word
2008/05/07 [ShellX 20080507]: 'Winbin2iso', and 'Loop Typer'
2008/05/07 Yahoo Adds Security Warnings To Search Results
2008/05/07 Apple to Lose Money on iTunes Movie Releases
2008/05/07 Amazon.com takes New York Tax to Court
2008/05/07 Need Glasses for the Slide Sorter View in MS PowerPoint?
2008/05/07 After Winning The DVD Format War, Blu-Ray Sales Tank
2008/05/06 [ShellX 20080506]: 'Visual Basic 6.0 Portable', and 'Double-...
2008/05/06 Yahoo Outsources to Jajah
2008/05/06 New HP Circuit Could Change Technology Forever
2008/05/06 Movie Downloads To Match DVD Release Dates
2008/05/06 Microsoft Ends Yahoo Bid
2008/05/05 [ShellX 20080505]: 'Ie7 Pro', and 'Desktop Ok'
2008/05/05 The WB Network Hops Online
2008/05/05 Microsoft Slashes Price of Xbox 360 Overseas
2008/05/05 Google CEO Wants YouTube to Take More of Your Money
|
