Movie News

Toshiba Insiders: HD-DVD’s Days Are Numbered

Posted by Michelle Graham (michelle@filmschoolrejects.com) on February 19, 2008

According to CNBC’s Sony company source, Toshiba is finally ready to face facts and drop the HD-DVD format for good. This move, which has been predicted for many months now, will be music to the ears of those who stayed away from the HD market whilst the tussle was going on, not to mention those who put their money behind Blu-Ray. However those poor souls who invested their money in HD-DVD players and their little red boxes are now left, much like those on the wrong side of the Betamax-VHS war of the 80s, with a whole new system to purchase, and another movie collection to build up.

A source at Toshiba confirmed an earlier report by public broadcaster NHK that it was getting ready to pull the plug. “We have entered the final stage of planning to make our exit from the next generation DVD business,” said the source, who asked not to be identified. He added that an official announcement could come as early as next week.

This move will hit Toshiba’s bottom line hard, with millions lost in scrapping HD-DVD players and discs whilst pulling out of the market. This comes on top of increased marketing and price slashing in the last few months as the company fought desperately to claw some portion of the market back, all the while losing supports like Wal-Mart and Best Buy, both of whom decamped to Blu-Ray recently. Though some say that Blu-Ray always had the upper hand, with a huge market coming from the inclusion of a Blu-Ray player in the PS3, HD-DVD had similar support in the form of Microsoft and its XBox 360.

Perhaps Hollywood and the electronics companies will learn this time around what they didn’t grasp with Betamax, that forcing a customer base to split in this medium isn’t the best move.