Toshiba pulling the HD-DVD plug?
Although strongly denied by Toshiba, thenormally reliable Hollywood Reporter says Toshiba is about to abandon its HD-DVD format.
The Hollywood Reporter (HR) cites “reliable industry sources” as saying that Toshiba is losing cash on each and every player sold, and is not making up the difference with individual movie sales in HD-DVD. HR is close to Hollywood’s studios, and its journalists have near-daily conversations with senior industry executives.
Toshiba VP Jodi Sally re-stated her company's support of the HD DVD format. "Based on its technological advancements, we continue to believe HD DVD is the best format for consumers, given the value and consistent quality inherent in our player offerings," said Sally. This less than 100% endorsement as to Toshiba’s future commitment might itself be an indicator that all is not well. But her next paragraph seemed to utter the death knell for Toshiba’s format: "Given the market developments in the past month," she added, "Toshiba will continue to study the market impact and the value proposition for consumers, particularly in light of our recent price reductions on all HD-DVD players."
The past two weeks have seen a steady erosion of market support for HD-DVD. For example, on-line movie rental company Netflix says it will phase out HD-DVD and only buy Blu-ray discs. A similar situation is already in place at Blockbuster. Wal-Mart on Friday anniounced it would phase out HD-DVD and only sell Blu-ray. US electronics giant Best Buy is featuring Blu-ray kit and says it will advise customers to steer away from HD-DVD.
However, Toshiba’s Sally made one common-sense statement in her comments to the Hollywood Reporter, saying: “There are a lot of other product areas where different formats coexist. Look at gaming [where Nintendo and Microsoft compete with Sony]. There are discs that won't play in each other's machines.”
One other option is floating around the Blogosphere, and that is that Toshiba is looking for a face-saving compromise where it can re-enter the Blu-ray consortium, and win a slice of future profits in return for supplying Blu-ray machines. But this would take a huge amount of humble pie.
There’s also a potential Third Way out of the format mess, and it is in the shape of Blu-ray’s successor. Although recognised as still some way off, there’s little doubt that the sort of work being done in advanced Blue laser technology by outfits like Kaai and Soraa on so-called ‘next generation’ gallium nitride-based LED high-capacity players is extremely interesting. Both Kaai and Soraa are being backed by venture capital investment from Khosla Ventures.
Although strongly denied by Toshiba, thenormally reliable Hollywood Reporter says Toshiba is about to abandon its HD-DVD format.
The Hollywood Reporter (HR) cites “reliable industry sources” as saying that Toshiba is losing cash on each and every player sold, and is not making up the difference with individual movie sales in HD-DVD. HR is close to Hollywood’s studios, and its journalists have near-daily conversations with senior industry executives.
Toshiba VP Jodi Sally re-stated her company's support of the HD DVD format. "Based on its technological advancements, we continue to believe HD DVD is the best format for consumers, given the value and consistent quality inherent in our player offerings," said Sally. This less than 100% endorsement as to Toshiba’s future commitment might itself be an indicator that all is not well. But her next paragraph seemed to utter the death knell for Toshiba’s format: "Given the market developments in the past month," she added, "Toshiba will continue to study the market impact and the value proposition for consumers, particularly in light of our recent price reductions on all HD-DVD players."
The past two weeks have seen a steady erosion of market support for HD-DVD. For example, on-line movie rental company Netflix says it will phase out HD-DVD and only buy Blu-ray discs. A similar situation is already in place at Blockbuster. Wal-Mart on Friday anniounced it would phase out HD-DVD and only sell Blu-ray. US electronics giant Best Buy is featuring Blu-ray kit and says it will advise customers to steer away from HD-DVD.
However, Toshiba’s Sally made one common-sense statement in her comments to the Hollywood Reporter, saying: “There are a lot of other product areas where different formats coexist. Look at gaming [where Nintendo and Microsoft compete with Sony]. There are discs that won't play in each other's machines.”
One other option is floating around the Blogosphere, and that is that Toshiba is looking for a face-saving compromise where it can re-enter the Blu-ray consortium, and win a slice of future profits in return for supplying Blu-ray machines. But this would take a huge amount of humble pie.
There’s also a potential Third Way out of the format mess, and it is in the shape of Blu-ray’s successor. Although recognised as still some way off, there’s little doubt that the sort of work being done in advanced Blue laser technology by outfits like Kaai and Soraa on so-called ‘next generation’ gallium nitride-based LED high-capacity players is extremely interesting. Both Kaai and Soraa are being backed by venture capital investment from Khosla Ventures.