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Just in from Japan: Toshiba announce defeat with HD-DVD

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D

drohne

hyperbolically metafictive
i didn't think i'd see toshiba cave before paramount and universal -- though it's to their credit that they didn't drag things out needlessly. now gimme bd versions of the bourne movies and children of men
 
K

Kittonwy

Banned
Warm Machine said:
Who knows what is actually written into their contracts. Best case scenario is that it is clean and allows for an immediate switch. I would assume however that Universal and Paramount would have to approach the BR group and get an agreement written up to start producing movies over there which will hopefully happen fast if it hasn't happened already.

Don't assume though that one light goes off and the other one comes on immediately.
Click to expand...

I doubt Universal or Paramount would be stupid enough to bind themselves to HD-DVD without some sort of escape clause, before Toshiba knew their ship was being sunk, those two probably planned out their bail-out.
Indifferent2.gif
 
J

JzeroT1437

Member
Meanwhile, my poor ass is still watching rented Netflix DVDs on his huge, non-flatscreen TV.

Potential non-crisis averted. Pshew.
 
E

eLGee

Member
drohne said:
i didn't think i'd see toshiba cave before paramount and universal -- though it's to their credit that they didn't drag things out needlessly. now gimme bd versions of the bourne movies and children of men
Click to expand...

64528.jpg


There you go, my friend. :)
 
T

Tabris

Member
Amir0x said:
i dont know, the mighty Blu-Ray player I finally decide to buy (I have to start doing some substantial research now that the war is over) is obviously not going to be cheap. I make a good salary, but it's still not "throw money down the drain" worthy. I have to buy one now, and one later. I'm going to buy a PS3 by the end of the year thanks to LittleBigPlanet/MGS4/
TRICO
, but it's not going to be for Blu-Ray movies. I personally consider the dedicated Blu-Ray player the priority because the PS3 doesn't really have much I care about this moment, but Blu-Ray has tons of things I care about and I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop before I jumped aboard.
Click to expand...

This just doesn't make sense at all when PS3 is the best Blu-Ray player so if you want the best, get a PS3 and then you don't need to buy one later also.
 
E

Extollere

Sucks at poetry
The PS3 is also ahead of the XBOX in sales for the first time in like......ever.

Ok... I haven't read this whole thread and I haven't been keeping myself up to date on the format thing... So someone help me out here. Does this mean that there will no longer be any new machine to play HD-DVDs, and no future movies coming to the HD-DVD format?

Blu-Ray for the final win?

Are all of the HD-DVD exclusive titles going to see a port/transfer over to Blu-Ray?
 
The Main Event

The Main Event

Member
Extollere said:
The PS3 is also ahead of the XBOX in sales for the first time in like......ever.

Ok... I haven't read this whole thread and I haven't been keeping myself up to date on the format thing... So someone help me out here. Does this mean that there will no longer be any new machine to play HD-DVDs, and no future movies coming to the HD-DVD format?

Blu-Ray for the final win?

Are all of the HD-DVD exclusive titles going to see a port/transfer over to Blu-Ray?
Click to expand...

Universal released around 145 HD DVD titles thus far. It's going to take a while (if ever) for all their titles to show up on Blu-ray.
 
R

robertsan21

Member
great fucking news about time, I couldnt understand how people could back HD DVD when its less storing capacity.

if you wanna go HD go for the best! BLURAY!

now give me INDY, STARWARS,MATRIX and LORD OF THE RINGS ON BLURAY BITCHES
 
G

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
Some bits and bobs:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120321618700574049.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

"Sales have been hurt since Warner's decision, and we are considering different options," said Keisuke Oomori, Toshiba's spokesman, though he said that nothing has been decided at this point.
Click to expand...

If Toshiba withdraws from the HD DVD business, Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures and General Electric Co.'s Universal Pictures, both of which currently support the format exclusively, would be immediately released from their commitments, a person familiar said.
Click to expand...

Samsung focussing on Blu-ray now:

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/02/123_19049.html

Samsung Electronics is expected to accelerate its ongoing efforts to strengthen Blu-ray products since Toshiba virtually pulled the plug on its HD DVD products.

``Samsung is expected to show more interests in Blu-ray products than rival HD DVDs,’’ according to a Samsung official on Sunday.

Industry sources have said Toshiba is highly likely to shut down its HD DVD business early this week, ending the ``survival game’’ over the next-generation format against Sony- and Samsung-led Blu-ray technology.

Samsung officials have declined to further comment.
Click to expand...
 
J

JB1981

Member
when has samsung ever supported hd-dvd.

they've been right there with sony in support of blu-ray all along. i don't get it.
 
G

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
JB1981 said:
when has samsung ever supported hd-dvd.

they've been right there with sony in support of blu-ray all along. i don't get it.
Click to expand...

They have always been more on the blu side, yeah, but I thought they made noises latterly about putting out a dual-format player. I guess that won't be happening anymore though.
 
F

Future PhaZe

Member
Only 100s of millions from the loss of HD-DVD? So cancelling out an entire format only cost them that much? Not bad considering Microsoft lost 1 billion dollars on the hardware failure alone.
 
F

Fixed2BeBroken

Member
Now, I have a question about blu-ray/hd movies in general now that bluray has won and I know which format to support...

do the blu-ray movies come as the collector's edition dvd, meaning all the content that the collector's edition dvd has, or does it have the bare minumum standard dvd have but with many languages?

if its the latter, then do they have collector's edition/special edition versions of blurays as well?

If blu-rays do away with collector's edition/special editions at the release of movies...then I am 100 percent for hd.

if that whole thing continues....then sigh. i will still support it of course, but its still kind of lame.
 
M

m0dus

Banned
strange_booj said:
PS3 is officially going to crush the Xbox 360 because of this. Guess Sony's plan was a good one.
Click to expand...

Yeah, MS should NEVER have gone ahead and put that HD-DVD drive in the 360. Now what are they gon--


--oh wait. Actually, they didn't. :)

It has indeed been beaten to death, but I guess this warrants repeating: MS's Hi-Def video format is Live marketplace. the HD-DVD addon was little more than a distraction, meant to help prolongue this format war between studios until their digitial distribution gained enough of a foothold (which, at this point, it has). This is why it was NEVER part of the system's spec, either for games or movies.

It has such little bearing on the success of their platform, that the chances of seeing a similar blu-ray addon are actually rather plausible.

Lastly, do not be quick to try and equate hi-def movie format to a system's success. As you know, the Wii does not even play DVD's, and it is outselling both the other platforms quite soundly.

Back to the discussion at hand, THANK. GOD. I own 3 HDDVDs that I'm going to have to find a new home for (I have an LG hybrid drive) but, at this point, I'm counting the days until Heroes shows up on BR.
 
T

ThirstyFly

Member
Fixed2BeBroken said:
do the blu-ray movies come as the collector's edition dvd, meaning all the content that the collector's edition dvd has, or does it have the bare minumum standard dvd have but with many languages?
Click to expand...

No, not really. Sometimes they come with all the extras (for example, the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, which all come as 2-disc versions). Some have most but not all, and some have almost no extras (I'm looking at you, Robocop!). Dunno about language tracks, but I would assume they toss whatever they have on there.

One thing to keep in mind, is if they're porting over extras from an older, existing DVD, they don't usually spend the time/money to put HD versions of the extras on, so expect a lot of SD content. It's not as bad with BD/HD-DVDs released at the same time as the DVD as those extras are usually a mix of HD/SD or all HD.

And then you have oddities like the 5-disc Blade Runner set where the extras discs are actually just standard DVDs and not BD discs at all.

Fixed2BeBroken said:
if its the latter, then do they have collector's edition/special edition versions of blurays as well?

If blu-rays do away with collector's edition/special editions at the release of movies...then I am 100 percent for hd.

if that whole thing continues....then sigh. i will still support it of course, but its still kind of lame.
Click to expand...

To my knowledge there hasn't been any multi-version/bare bones vs. special edition releases aside from a few movies that have had remasters to improve on poor early releases (example: Full Metal Jacket and The Fifth Element ) and again, Blade Runner which has the 5-disc set and then the 5-disc set in a big case with a bunch of toys and other useless junk. The content of the discs themselves are the same.

Of course it would be naive to assume that the trend of re-releasing titles later on with more extras, or multi-version releases won't happen. It will sooner or later. Titles like Dawn of the Dead '78 and Robocop are just begging for more robust versions since they both have DVD versions that are vastly superior (content wise) on DVD.

So basically, the answer to all your question is yes & no :)
 
S

surazal

Member
Dark FaZe said:
Only 100s of millions from the loss of HD-DVD? So cancelling out an entire format only cost them that much? Not bad considering Microsoft lost 1 billion dollars on the hardware failure alone.
Click to expand...

I don't think that value takes into account the billions they earn from royalties if they won the format war.
 
TONX

TONX

Distinguished Air Superiority
Nicodimas said:
HD-dvd have a format its called blu-ray...wooo
Click to expand...

I have to applaud you sir. Fighting the good fight until the bitter end. Not everyday you see a captain go down with his ship.
 
G

gcubed

Member
GuessWho said:
don't want to start anything but hddvd was the better format.
i have both don't flame it's my opinion
Click to expand...

hd-dvd's standard feature set was better. They're profile they released with was better. Sony wasnt ready wtih bluray yet, and profile 2.0 for bluray is the same as launch HD-DVD... so while i agree that their base set of features was much better, the features of the format itself are way better on the blu-ray side. Higher maximum bitrate are more storage are 2 things that beat HD-DVD alone.

and amir0x, if you arent going to buy a ps3 as a bluray player today, wait until this summer to buy a standalone. You said you were adverse to buying again, so dont buy one until a profile 2.0 player is on the market and reviewed (besides the ps3 of course, as it will be upgraded to profile 2.0 with a firmware upgrade around the same time). The only downside i can see with the ps3 is the not decoding of the dts-ma stream. If that was ever fixed with a firmware update, it would become the best player available.
 
G

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
The slow crawl towards official-dom continues...these reuters reporters now cite an anonymous Toshiba executive:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/17/business/dvd.php

The Toshiba executive on Saturday confirmed a report by the public television broadcaster NHK that it was getting ready to give up on the format.

"We have entered the final stage of planning to make our exit from the next generation DVD business," said the executive, who asked not to be identified before an official announcement was made.
Click to expand...
 
D

dalin80

Banned
Dark FaZe said:
Not bad considering Microsoft lost 1 billion dollars on the hardware failure alone.
Click to expand...

that was just covering the RROD 3 year warranty so far, any other failure or warranty issue/repair is on top of that.

the numbers are hard to visualise but it makes you think about what goes on in the boardrooms when things like hddvd'd failure happens.
 
I

ItAintEasyBeinCheesy

it's 4th of July in my asshole
GuessWho said:
don't want to start anything but hddvd was the better format.
i have both don't flame it's my opinion
Click to expand...


For me to POOP ON!!

Jks, i dont really care, good to see a winner though, the better format one.
 
L

LM4sure

Banned
Probably a good time to buy an hd-dvd player. Prices should be falling now and there are still a lot of exclusives on hd-dvd. Who knows when tehy will make it to bluray. And blu ray is still expensive. You should be able to get a cheap hddvd player which also functions as an upconverting dvd player for all the dvds you own. I am seriously considering getting a cheap one just for that. Bluray can wait until they are in the $100 price range. In no hurry
 
R

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
drohne said:
i didn't think i'd see toshiba cave before paramount and universal -- though it's to their credit that they didn't drag things out needlessly. now gimme bd versions of the bourne movies and children of men
Click to expand...

It's likely Paramount and Uni pressured Toshiba to kill it quickly.
 
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