Toshiba Bows Out of HD DVD Business, Blu-Ray Wins
Toshiba officially ended the HD format war today and announced it would wind down its HD DVD player and recorder business. In a press release, Toshiba stated it will “continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives within the overall PC business relative to future market demand.” Confusing.
Big-business and consumers alike have spoken, and Blu-ray is the clear winner in delivering high-definition movies. So why is Toshiba even hinting it will continue to sell notebooks with HD DVD drives?
Toshiba’s been showcasing HD DVD drives in several of its entertainment and gaming notebooks. To pull back would mean retooling its entire Qosmio line and several flagship models. Toshiba’s still bundling HD DVD drives with these notebooks.
As of today (2/19), HP is selling HD DVD drives as add-ons on its dv9700 and HDX series. A HD DVD ROM (reader) is a $150 extra and a HD DVD R (writer) is a $525 option on the HDX. HP also offers a Blu-ray option on the HDX for $325 and a $275 option on the dv9700t. A note on HP’s customization pages note that choosing a HD DVD drive may delay your order, but I recommend you skip any HD DVD options on your next notebook unless you have a really compelling reason (like you already bought 100 HD DVD titles and just can’t imagine life without them).
If you’ve already puchased a notebook with a HD DVD drive, don’t fret too much as you’ll still be able to gets some usage out of it. All HD DVD drives are also mulit-format DVD burners, which means you can read and write CDs and standard-def DVDs for years to come. Toshiba says it will stockpile HD DVD recordable media and sell the discs online so you can still burn up to 30GB of data on a single disc. Another “benefit” of the HD DVD demise is you’ll be able to buy some of those 1,000 HD DVD titles on the cheap.
Here’s the full release from Toshiba:
Company Remains Focused on Championing Consumer Access to High Definition Content
TOKYO–Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.
HD DVD was developed to offer consumers access at an affordable price to high-quality, high definition content and prepare them for the digital convergence of tomorrow where the fusion of consumer electronics and IT will continue to progress.
“We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called ‘next-generation format war’ and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop,” said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. “While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality.”
Toshiba will continue to lead innovation, in a wide range of technologies that will drive mass market access to high definition content. These include high capacity NAND flash memory, small form factor hard disk drives, next generation CPUs, visual processing, and wireless and encryption technologies. The company expects to make forthcoming announcements around strategic progress in these convergence technologies.
Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements. The company will continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives within the overall PC business relative to future market demand.
This decision will not impact on Toshiba’s commitment to standard DVD, and the company will continue to market conventional DVD players and recorders. Toshiba intends to continue to contribute to the development of the DVD industry, as a member of the DVD Forum, an international organization with some 200 member companies, committed to the discussion and defining of optimum optical disc formats for the consumer and the related industries.
Toshiba also intends to maintain collaborative relations with the companies who joined with Toshiba in working to build up the HD DVD market, including Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, and DreamWorks Animation and major Japanese and European content providers on the entertainment side, as well as leaders in the IT industry, including Microsoft, Intel, and HP. Toshiba will study possible collaboration with these companies for future business opportunities, utilizing the many assets generated through the development of HD DVD.
