Toshiba Announces The End Of HD DVD
The high-definition format war is officially over says The Hollywood Reporter. Toshiba today officially announced it will discontinue developing, manufacturing and marketing HD DVD players and recorders. The announcement ends a two-year-long battle with Blu-ray Disc to succeed DVD. Toshiba will stop shipments of HD DVD players and recorders by March, and will stop production of HD DVD drives for computers as well. The company added it would continue to provide product support and services for current HD DVD owners. The decision came much more quickly than industry sources indicated first to Home Media Magazine on February 14, when they predicted Toshiba would stop backing HD DVD by May.
The move came soon after both Wal-Mart and Netflix announced they would only carry Blu-ray product, and Best Buy announced it would give preference to Blu-ray. Warner Home Video’s decision in early January to only support Blu-ray left HD DVD with Paramount Home Entertainment and Universal Studios Home Entertainment as the only major studios supporting the format. Hardware sales data the week after Warner’s announcement showed 93% of high-def players sold were Blu-ray, according to The NPD Group, and Nielsen VideoScan data has consistently shown Blu-ray software outselling HD DVD 3:1 or more.
Toshiba significantly lowered its player prices during the holiday season, and Microsoft dropped the price of its Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on by $50 earlier this month. Toshiba also bought a 30-second Super Bowl ad for a reported $2.7 million, but apparently was not effective in boosting sales or digging into Blu-ray’s lead.
Tags: HD-DVD