formatwar
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Rock unfazed by fallout, still offering HD DVD as standard on laptops
While many stores are slashing down HD DVD player prices as much as management will allow, it seems that one diehard supporter is casting a blind eye to the whole format war meltdown. Rock -- which tooted its own horn after making HD DVD standard on many of its laptops -- hasn't changed its approach one iota. Even now, the firm is still offering up internal HD DVD drives (and writers) in a plethora of its machines, and curiously enough, there's not even an option to select a Blu-ray or combo player. C'mon Rock, we know you're just trying to clear out inventory, but at least give prospective buyers a choice in the matter, would ya? Update: Looks like a DVD-RW "downgrade" option is currently available for those that inquire, and Blu-ray options should be added in due time. Thanks, Felix!Read - Pegasus 670Read - Xtreme 770Read - Xtreme SL8Read - Xtreme SL Pro
Xbox 360 HD DVD now dead, get 'em while they're hot
Well scratch that rumor about a dramatic price drop: according to Microsoft's Gamerscore blog, Microsoft and Toshiba are discontinuing the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive. So long friend, we'll see you in the next life (or in the bargain bin at Goodwill soon enough).[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Retailers aren't wasting anytime dropping HD DVD
Analyst have suspected that much of this has been in the works since Warner went Blu and VB has given a number of retailers a call and discovered that this is just the case. It seems most retailers have been preparing for the end of the format war since Warner's announcement just before CES, but now that things are officially over, retailers aren't wasting any time. Some of the big boys in retail like Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Netflix, were quick to make their intentions known before Toshiba gave the word, but the rest are falling in line quickly and we're not just talking about Amazon and DVD Empire, but smaller retailers around the country like Texas electronics store Bjorn's which is getting more creative and allowing its customers to return HD DVD players for store credit towards a Blu-ray player. Some retailers immediately returned its stock for credit while others have marked it as clearance and are quick to communicate to its customers that HD DVD is to be discontinued. Whatever the plans, one thing is for sure, most retailers knew this was coming long before some HD DVD fans did.[Via Format War Central]
Nearly half of Paramount's Blu-ray titles are in stock at Amazon again
Way back when Paramount dropped Blu-ray for HD DVD, we saw something very odd happen as some titles were snatched from shelves and within a few months Paramount Blu-ray titles were going for a premium via 2nd hand services like Amazon and eBay. Now just as quickly as they disappeared about half of the 32 titles are back in stock on Amazon.com. No one really knows what the deal is, but we'd bet that these discs have been in a warehouse all along -- just in case. If this is in fact how it went down, Paramount certainly did play its cards right on this one.
Analyst says consumers didn't end format war
As we poked and prodded through the ups and downs of the format war, we noticed a recurring theme -- HD DVD seemed to have things going in its favor on more than one occasion. Consumers adored the low priced hardware, studios were coming on board and Sony's PlayStation 3 (along with all the other Blu-ray players) was priced extraordinarily high. Not to mention Sony's absolutely awful track record with formats. In a recent interview with ABI Principal Analyst Steve Wilson, BetaNews found that he believed that the outcome of the format war wouldn't necessarily benefit the consumer. Besides being more expensive and less developed, some Blu-ray players have had quite the time performing as advertised. According to ABI, "it wasn't customers' likes or dislikes that powered the fatal blow in the format war, it was Warner Bros.' decision to switch allegiance to Blu-ray, along with subsequent moves to dump HD DVD by major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Netflix and Blockbuster." Frankly, we can't argue with that one iota.[Thanks, Andrew]
Universal's HD DVD release slate "currently in flux"
Just days after we heard that Warner was soldiering on with its plans to release HD DVDs as scheduled until May 31st, along comes word that Universal may not be following suit. According to a studio representative speaking with HighDefDigest, the outfit's "entire HD DVD slate is currently in flux," which could mean absolutely nothing or that the company won't be dishing out any more red titles whatsoever. 'Course, that leaves certain hits like Charlie Wilson's War up in the air, but hopefully Universal will either get these stragglers out on HD DVD or convert 'em to Blu-ray, at least.[Thanks, Kiwi616]
How would you change the outcome of the format war?
It's that time again, and this week's "How would you change" over on Engadget Classic has a whole lot to do with HD. We've been seeing comments flood in for weeks on who did what wrong and lots more he said-she said shenanigans, so we're finally giving you all a single venue to vent your frustrations. Go on, click over and loose your master plan for changing the format war.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending February 17th, 2008
As you might expect all the fun is gone from writing up the weekly Nielsen VideoScan numbers courtesy of Home Media Magazine. But even though Toshiba isn't going to make players anymore, there are still plenty of movies out there, so we're going to follow their sales. It's obvious now that the deep discounted HD DVDs have really helped HD DVD take back some of the market share as HD DVD regains to a 73/27 loss from the 81/19 split of last week. This is the best the red team has done since Warner went Blu and again this week we have two HD DVDs on the top ten. The top two titles this week are no surprise and both were easily able to best third place. The surprise is that while Lionsgate's Why Did I Get Married? is number one on the DVD charts, it wasn't released on Blu-ray, but maybe Lionsgate knows something we don't as Warner's No Reservations hit number 3 on the DVD charts, but was outsold by a number of catalogs to take the number eight spot in HD. These numbers of course weren't impacted by the end of the format war, but next week's will be and we're not sure what to expect. On one hand, there are a lot of promotions out there, but on the other there should be a lot of new Blu-ray owners who've either recently switched or we're waiting until the coast was clear.
Edion does the unthinkable: allows swapping of HD DVD players for Blu-ray decks
Shortly after hearing that the relatively unknown studio HDScape cranked up a HD DVD / Blu-ray exchange program, along comes Edion to show the world how this ordeal should really be handled. Said firm owns several chains of electronics stores in Japan, and reportedly, it's allowing customers who purchased one of seven HD DVD players to return them for Blu-ray decks. Apparently, it's allowing them to put the purchase price of the HD DVD unit towards the Blu-ray player, and if their player was somehow more expensive than the BD player they're eying, a refund for the difference will actually be doled out. We'll be honest -- this does seem a bit too good to be true, but we are hearing that the courtesy expires at the end of March. 'Tis a shame this will never happen on this side of the world. [Warning: PDF / Japanese read link][Via Tech.co.uk, thanks Soven A.]
HDScape offers up HD DVD to Blu-ray exchange program
While early adopters won't see a single red cent from Toshiba now that HD DVD has bit the proverbial dust, HDScape movie owners looking to make the transition to Blu-ray may be happy to hear of its latest program. In a move that we can only hope other studios mimic, the firm is enabling customers that previously purchased flicks on HD DVD to exchange the paper casewraps they came in for an $11.95 BD version. Yep, this means you can keep your HD DVD case and disc, but you won't be able to use one casewrap to receive a discount on a different title. For step-by-step instructions on how to take HDScape up on its offer, head on down to the read link -- and for folks scouting stellar deals on the now-defunct red format, you can snag quite a few of its HD DVDs for just $6.95.
How to future proof your HD DVD collection
The good news for HD DVD fans is that although Toshiba isn't going to continue to manufacture HD DVD players, the ones already out there are sure to last a long time. But eventually a day will come when it just becomes impossible to keep your player working, and luckily since it's possible to rip HD DVD movies, you can convert them to Blu-ray. The Wired Wiki has a page up with the basics, but it's certainly not for the faint of heart and it's not step by step. It does include just about all the information you need to get started though, which is made up with three steps; rip, convert and burn. A dual format burner will be a must for this project as well as a fast machine and some software (not all free). This sounds like fun to us, but considering it looks like a lot of work, we'd rather just wait 'til the movie was released on Blu-ray and spend our time working on writing more posts.[Via TVSnob.com]
Amazon officially makes Blu-ray format of choice
No surprises here, but apparently Amazon is staying on top of the format war happenings in an attempt to clarify the issue for potential HDM customers. According to a recent blog posting on the site, Blu-ray is dubbed "the remaining high-definition disc format," and it also noted that consumers that have "been waiting to jump into high-def have a clear path to follow." According to Peter Faricy, vice president of movies and music at Amazon, the firm is now "recommending Blu-ray as the preferred digital format," and it fully expects to update its High-Def 101 page accordingly over the next few days.[Via Blu-ray, thanks to everyone who sent this in]
HD DVD players become DVD upscalers in format war fallout
In an attempt to clear their shelves of dead HD DVD weight, retailers are taking the obvious step of slashing prices. Others, like play.com are renaming the players. Thanks to the magic of Google cache, we see that Toshiba's "HD-EP30 HD DVD Player" (as it was known on February 15th) is now listed as the "HD-EP30 HDMI Upscaling Player with HD DVD High Definition Playback." Caveat emptor, as they say. Update: Looks like Circuit City's jumped on the bandwagon as well -- the HD-A3 is now listed as an "Upconversion DVD/HD-DVD Player."[Via TechRadar, thanks David] Read - Old listing (via Google Cache)Read - Current listingRead - Circuit City HD-A3 listing (old listing)
Paramount officially Blu-ray (again)
Michael Bay can breathe easy, Paramount (Dreamworks included) has officially gone Blu-ray. Two and a half years after announcing itself purple, and exactly five months after becoming HD DVD exclusive, this move makes all six major Hollywood studios Blu. Don't make space for that Blu edition of Transformers in your DVD rack just yet, as the company plans to "monitor consumer adoption and determine our release plans accordingly", but with PS3 sales up and BD Live on the way, we can't imagine it will take very long. The Hollywood Reporter expects to see Universal and Paramount new releases hitting Blu-ray and DVD at the same time by late spring or early summer, when we can forget this whole thing ever happened -- unless of course you picked up an HD DVD player for Shrek, in which case we have a few ideas on what to do next.[Thanks to Robert and everyone who sent this in]
Best Buy's not shy about Blu-ray's victory
It's obviously not a secret that Blu-ray came out on top of the world's most recent physical media scuffle, but Best Buy's Canadian branch is most certainly not being subtle about announcing said fact. The main splash screen currently on the site grabs your attention with "Format War Over: Blu-ray Wins! We've got your Blu-ray needs covered." Sheesh -- tell the world how you really feel, why don'tcha?
Warner still releasing HD DVDs until May 31st
No need to sound the alarms. We definitely assumed that Warner would continue to release HD DVDs until May 31st -- even after the format completely fell apart -- but thanks to DVDTown, now we've got a nice cushion of confirmation. According to "studio sources" that spoke with the site, the outfit will indeed continue pushing out red flicks as promised until June dawns, after which it will crank out Blu-ray Discs alone unless demand necessitates any restocking of older HD DVD titles. Nothing new here, but nice to know Warner won't be ditching the failed format early.
Two years of battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray: a retrospective
It's been a long, hard journey to get to this point, but at long last, the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray is over. Sure, we've got a somewhat clearer view of how things will pan out going forward, but we figured it prudent to take a step back and really scope out how we got to this point. If you're interested in taking a walk through the past two years of headbutting without, you know, actually sifting through headlines from the past two years, head on over to Engadget HD and dig in.
Post-format war, which Blu-ray player will you snag?
After what seems like ages, the deadlock between HD DVD and Blu-ray has finally been broken, and as you undoubtedly know, high-definition film lovers everywhere are now scrambling to figure out which BD player would suit them best. 'Course, the easy answer is Sony's Profile 2.0-capable PlayStation 3, but if you've got a higher-end home theater, things aren't necessarily that simple -- there are some pretty big audio codec issues to keep in mind. Either way, now that it's safe to commit to one format, why not check out what everybody else is doing and toss in your own vote at Engadget HD's poll? [Image courtesy of AV Revolution]
Poll: What Blu-ray player will you be picking up?
Following up on what was likely Engadget HD's most popular poll of all time -- which asked HD DVD early adopters to decide their next move after their beloved format crumbled -- we're out to see exactly what fencesitters and disgruntled converts alike are going to do now. It should be noted that while everyone and their grandmother has been quick to suggest the PlayStation 3 as the end-all solution, we can't help but remind audiophiles that Sony's latest console may actually not be the best choice. Granted, the constant flow of updates and its Profile 2.0 compatibility are definite pluses, but still, we can't say with a straight face that it's for everyone. So, dear readers, now that you can rest assured that the one remaining high-definition format will be around for at least a hot minute, which BD player are you eying?[Image courtesy of AV Revolution] %Poll-9995%
Onkyo pulling the plug on future HD DVD development
The writing was already on the wall, but it looks as if Onkyo actually won't be pursuing the long lost HD DVD format any longer. According to a Japanese report at Yomiuri Online, the firm will be discontinuing production of HD DVD players following Toshiba's own decision to abandon the format, but it will continue to provide service for customers that already snapped up the DV-HD805. Interestingly, there was no mention of Onkyo's plans in regard to Blu-ray, but nevertheless, yet another red supporter has definitely waved its white flag. [Via Widescreen Review, image courtesy of Bret Philpot]
