Just how dead is HD DVD ?

[mr soft]

Very interesting news as always.
Just wondering about those HD sales figures.
HD DVD, is still by a large margin, controlling the market .
There were a lot of players let loose in the early days of battle,which I´m sure the owners of, are´nt just going to throw in the bin. Those sales can´t be ignored by the studios. They must be losing money with such low sales, or did they expect this?
Having fingers burnt by yet another format war (as I´m sure people buying these HD DVD players were around in the Beta vs VHS days)
I just can´t see these owners rushing out soon to buy a blue-ray player. There is obviously still a lot of HD DVD discs floating around.
Hence the title, how dead is HD DVD ?
Also does Toshiba get a lot of money from the sales of discs ?
As this would surely cushion their losses suffered a little.

[neuron2]

I can now get only Blu-Ray at Best Buy, so for me, HD-DVD is dead. I suppose it is the same at other retailers.

Dead/alive is a binary concept; there are no degrees of deadness.

[Taktaal]

"Dead" doesn't really have varying degrees...

There will be no further HD-DVD movies, that's as dead as a format can be.

[fibbingbear]

I think the production of HD-DVD players has completely halted, so they aren't making anymore. Some stores (for example, ones in Japan) actually let you return your HD-DVD players in exchange for a Blu-ray one.

Moreover, given the utter lack of HD-DVD burners that exist for computers, and the increasing plethora of Blu-ray burners, I'd say HD-DVD is dead (sadly).

[Inventive Software]

I'd find it highly ironic if Toshiba decided to quietly re-launch HD-DVD with substantially more backing than they had, but I find it even more ironic that even though the format war is supposedly over, HD-DVD can still push Blu-Ray onto the ropes with far cheaper players and discs......

My Grandad's still pissed that he purchased an HD-DVD player and Warner decided "we don't like you, let's support a colour instead".

[prOnorama]

There is obviously still a lot of HD DVD discs floating around.

No there aren't, even if there are a few million left that's nothing compared to DVD. A few tenths of a percent (think 0.05% or something) market share on the home entertainment market don't really make a dent.

The stocks are being sold then it's really over. HD DVD is dead, maybe some owners will stick by it but it will be a bit like a zombie format (no new discs, no new hardware).

[unskinnyboy]

Quite dead by now.

Even though Toshiba announced the discontinuation of HD-DVD disks, drives, players and recorders on 02/19/08, the final nail in the coffin wasn't pounded in until 03/28/08, when the HD-DVD Promotion group dissolved and their website closed (http://www.hddvdprg.com/jpn/index.html). Toshiba has said that they would carry HD-DVD drive, player & recorder spare parts for 8 more years, though. Users who are now stuck with HD-DVD equipment would just have to use it to watch whatever HD-DVDs they have, or as an up-converting DVD player.

[rebkell]

There should be some good deals on HD-DVDs, I'm still going to purchase the LG Blu-ray/HD-DVD combo drive and there will surely be some bargains on the HD-DVDs that are already out.

[Doobie]

I'd find it highly ironic if Toshiba decided to quietly re-launch HD-DVD with substantially more backing than they had, but I find it even more ironic that even though the format war is supposedly over, HD-DVD can still push Blu-Ray onto the ropes with far cheaper players and discs......


Toshiba tried the cheap rout in late 2007. It hardly did anything for sales thus sealing the fate of the format.

HD-DVD is DEAD. It was born dead, it just took some few people a while to figure that out, or at least to give up hope in the less restrictive format.

Meanwhile, back in the states, Spanish is my native language. I just haven't gotten around to learning it yet. Some Americans just haven't figured out yet that their native language is Spanish.

I could provide endless examples.

[Sharktooth]

HD-DVD is dead coz sony "corrupted" toshiba (and the studios!)
the proof is few days after hd-dvd died, sony sold their chip facility to toshiba at a very convenient price.
toshiba is now building chips for the PS3, cell processors based devices and even chips for blu-ray players...
so, they're both earning big $$$ while the end-users have to pay for something that was available at a much lower price and with a lot less restrictions (in the form of HD-DVD) before the format war ended...
then, here we go with the new mafia... ehrr... alliance.

[setarip_old]

And yet, yesterday Samsung announced that later this year, it will release its BluRay-RW/HD-Read only drive for PCs:

http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/news.phtml/14000/15024/Samsung-launch-Blu-ray-HDDVD-drive.phtml

[Inventive Software]

Since the HD-DVD group basically folded, it's not so hard to incorporate read-only drives into Blu-Ray re-writers.

[Doom9]

Does Toshiba ceasing to manufacture and the DVDHD PG dissolving really mean there are no license fees anymore? I can hardly imagine that seeing as the various patents don't just go away and a lot of things are common amongst the two formats.

Furthermore, iirc you need a different optical pickup to read either format - so it definitely is cheaper to go for a Blu-only pickup.

[Inventive Software]

I missed something on the end of my post. I do actually support companies incorporating read-HD-DVD, write Blu-Ray, since Blu-Ray media is so easily accessible, and HD-DVD is about to go the way of the dodo, it makes transferring them from the "dead" format a lot easier. Prices should go down too. :)

[mr soft]

No Virginia, there are no varying degrees of death.

The bit about studios losing sales, was directed at Blu-Ray and not DVD. Cost production vs Discs sold. Studios must have anticipated this.
Most of the players sold, were in North America.
Amazons still got heaps of movies and some silly priced players.
http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link_4545332_2/105-5429139-7246841?ie=UTF8&node=193642011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=browse&pf_rd_r=0094DRA5KVDBY4RJNJ77&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=384764301&pf_rd_i=130


few days after hd-dvd died, Sony sold their chip facility
to Toshiba That was the biggest surprise/scandal. It makes me wonder, when did Toshiba know it was over ?

This was the article that got me curious.
Despite being a possible blow to Toshiba's pride, the exit would likely be good for business. Goldman Sachs has said such a move would improve Toshiba's profitability between 40 billion yen ($370 million) and 50 billion yen ($463 million) a year.
:eek: How is that possible ?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/19/tech/main3843523.shtml

I´m also hoping (red laser) HD VMD seriously takes off, Bollywood has just embraced it. A much more, user friendly, cheaper format.
This player has just been released and backward compatible with existing DVD. A few titles have also been released.

http://www.nmeinc.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=73

Could we have a, everyone goes there own way scenario.
China with ch-dvd , India with HD vmd ,and so on.

[shinedot]

I see no sense to buy now HD-DVDs (both players and movies).
Bluray is for next few years.