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GameStop no longer taking HD DVD trades, possibly not taking 360 HD DVD drive either
Doesn't look like there's going to be any glory in death for HD DVD -- we've just received confirmation that GameStop is no longer accepting HD DVD movies as trade-ins, and several GameStops have apparently already stopped taking the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive as well. We're also hearing that the 360 HD DVD drive will no longer be accepted at any GameStop as of tomorrow, and that there's a major price cut in the works -- which makes sense, but we'll see what happens. For now, though, it looks like HD DVD fans jumping ship may have to resort to eBay -- or start peddling discs out the back of their cars.[Thanks, Mark]
Toshiba sez it wouldn't change a thing, still thinks HD DVD is better
We've always heard that there's no need in regretting, and apparently, Toshiba is following said mantra after the collapse of its beloved high-definition movie format. In an interview with TechRadar, Toshiba's deputy general manager of HD DVD Olivier Van Wynendaele stated that it "wouldn't change anything that it did," and continued on to say that "circumstances saw to it that [Toshiba] had to make the decision not to continue, but that doesn't mean [the company] did anything wrong." Just in case you couldn't already sense the inability to swallow one's pride, Mr. Van Wynendaele also proclaimed that its format was "a finished standard, unlike Blu-ray," and concluded by noting that HD DVD was still "better than Blu-ray." Maybe he really didn't get the memo? [Image courtesy of Bexhuff, thanks David]
LG not ditching HD DVD just yet, hopes to accommodate early adopters
Shortly after Samsung stated its intentions to focus on Blu-ray in the future, along comes LG looking out for those guinea pigs who've already started building up a respectable HD DVD library. Reportedly, the firm stated that it felt it "necessary to provide a player which supports both formats and therefore creates simplicity and convenience for the existing HD DVD consumer." Furthermore, Daniel Aziz, marketing manager for LG Electronics, was quoted as saying that Toshiba's announcement "does not rule out HD DVD immediately, as there are still a number of consumers who have chosen HD DVD and begun to build a HD DVD collection." 'Course, we wouldn't try to read between any lines here -- it seems that LG won't be yanking its combo players anytime soon, but there's no doubt it understands that the future is Blu.[Via HighDefDigest, thanks JoseB]
In case you missed it: peace broke out in the format war, HD DVD is dead
Just in case you missed the big news earlier this morning, after more than two years on the market HD DVD finally rolled over. Here's everything you need to know: Official: HD DVD dead and buried, format war is over Toshiba: "no plans" to adopt Blu-ray HD DVD casualty report: over 1m players, recorders, and drives lost to the format war Paramount and Universal to publish films on Blu-ray More Live from Toshiba's HD DVD press conference in Tokyo Top ten things to do with your now-defunct HD DVD player
Top ten things to do with your now-defunct HD DVD player
Finally, HD DVD users now have the empirical evidence they've been looking for to prove that the universe really is conspiring against them. We figured we'd make ourselves useful over here and give you a list of things you can do with your poor, obsolete HD DVD player -- starting with taking it out to dinner, excusing yourself to the bathroom before the check comes... then getting the hell out of there.Gimmes eBay Doorstop Entertainment center cup-holder Destroy it. Office Space style. Oh, the humanity Mail it to the office of Howard Stringer in protest of Blu-ray's victory. Plug it into your clothes dryer's 240-volt outlet. Woops, honey! My bad, guess we have to buy a Blu-ray player now. Finally, replace your Betamax player. Buy the Blu-ray player of your choice, put it in the box, attempt to return it as "defective." Channel it through Whoopi Goldberg and make some pottery with it. Put a Blu-ray disc in the tray and then call up Toshiba when it doesn't work. Repeatedly. Put it in a time capsule, just to confuse future generations. Buy a few dozen of 'em and build a little hut for your Blu-ray player. Lock it alone in a room with a few lethal weapons... let it die honorably. Use it to upscale DVDs, which is all you ever used it for anyways. Of course, feel free to leave your own suggestions in comments.
Paramount and Universal to publish films on Blu-ray
Not a whole lot to go on right now, but German site HDTV Praxis has it that both Paramount and Universal will now make the obvious choice and publish their films on Blu-ray. Notably, this follows hints seen in certain Circuit City databases as well as word that we've received noting that both studios would indeed make things easy on everyone and simply support the one format still standing. Interestingly, DreamWorks isn't mentioned in the linked article per se, but we've all ideas it'll be following suit shortly.[Thanks, Khattab]Update: Universal's president Craig Kornblau had this to say: "While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray." Thanks, Kiwi616!
HD DVD casualty report: over 1m players, recorders, and drives lost to the format war
At all curious to find out just how rare that HD DVD player of yours really is? Well, we hate to tell you, but it's probably not rare enough to fetch anything special on eBay in a couple of years -- but still every bit rare (read: discontinued) enough to justify taking up space in your home theater. The numbers, according to Nishida-san, at this morning's press conference: Xbox 360 drives (worldwide) - 300k PCs with HD DVD (worldwide) - 300k Standalone players/recorders: US - 600k units Europe - 100k units Japan - 30,000 units Add it all up, and that's about a 1.3 million customers -- just a fraction of the 10m+ Blu-ray owners out there -- that got boned on HD DVD. Thanks, Toshiba and Sony!
Official: HD DVD dead and buried, format war is over
It's official. Toshiba just made a statement saying, " it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders." Cessation of the player and recorders are targeted for March 2008. Volume production of HD DVD disk drives for PCs and games will end in the same time frame. However, Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation did say that Toshiba will, "continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives." That's it folks, the format war is over, Blu-ray has won. Full press release after the break. Update: Besides stating "no plans" to go Blu-ray during the Q&A, Toshiba committed to stockpiling HD DVD recording media for those who own HD DVD recorders. These will be sold on-line. As for future HD DVD software releases, Mr. Nishida could only say, "it was not our business, we cannot predict their business." Oh really? Is the lack of new titles on a dead platform really so hard to predict?
Live from Toshiba's HD DVD press conference in Tokyo
Engadget Japan is live at Toshiba's HD DVD press conference in Tokyo right now. It's nearing 5PM, when the bell is expected to toll for HD DVD, and we can all move on with our new lives as Blu-ray (or download) buying consumers. It won't be in the usual second-by-second coverage, but we'll do our best to have live updates as they come in, so check back to this post.IT'S OVER! The release just hit the wires even before Toshiba started talking. "Toshiba Announces Discontinuation of HD DVD Businesses." 5:00PM - Right on time, Toshiba's president, Nishida-san, takes the podium. He is talking about how great and advanced HD DVD was. WAS. He is also speaking about how Toshiba shared a good partnership with Warner. "There was a difficult decision. Multiple standards have a huge impact on consumers."5:15 - Now he's just reading from the release, more or less. They're on to bigger and better things: two new NAND factories in Japan, one will be jointly-operated with SanDisk.5:21 - Q&A time!Three part Q: what was the cause of HD DVD's failure? What is Toshiba doing with its Aomori HD DVD factory? And what about the timing of the announcement?A: From an objective, fair point of view, we were clearly in a good place until last December and January. So we were very, very surprised by Warner's announcement. As for the Aomori factory, nothing is final at this moment.Q: Any plans to adopt Blu-ray?A: No plans at all, not at this moment.More after the break.
Does everyone know the war is officially over but us?
While we all wait for Toshiba to make things official, we're starting to wonder if everyone is the HD DVD camp already has a plan that they haven't shared with us. We can't say we blame them, but just reviewing the series of events since Warner went Blu, it has us convinced that everything that's happened since, is according to schedule. Sure Netflix and the Wal-Mart aren't inside the circle, but it's reasonable to believe that when they got wind of the demise of HD DVD, it seemed like a great time to make an announcement for some shameless free press. If we were to guess, we'd say that Universal and Paramount feel like they're left holding the bag and we'd think that as far as they're concerned Toshiba can't call it fast enough. To add credence to this, the good old WSJ is reporting that both will be in the clear to announce titles for Blu-ray -- as well as for Warner to cease HD DVD production-- as soon as it goes official. We can certainly understand Toshiba's desire to string it out though, cause no doubt as soon as it's official many of the remaining HD DVD players will end up in a landfill somewhere and that's not good for anybody. [Via CEpro.com]
BDA sez Toshiba and Microsoft are "more than welcome" to go Blu
Oh, how the times have changed. Merely months ago we caught Frank Simonis, chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association, firing off all sorts of vitriol at the red camp, and now that the wheels are falling off of the HD DVD wagon, we're seeing quite the change of heart. According to a recent interview with Tech Radar, Mr. Simonis was quoted as saying that Toshiba and Microsoft, along with any other company, is "more than welcome to join the BDA." He continued by stating that if "Toshiba decides to drop HD DVD, it would extend the hand of friendship to them." Yeah, it's kind of cute to see such lovey-dovey phrases being thrown around, but we've all ideas none of these heartfelt feelings are easing the sting felt by Toshiba right about now.
Samsung expected to focus efforts on Blu-ray
Not like it's any surprise or anything, but the company known for its fairly continuous stream of Blu-ray / HD DVD combo players is reportedly expected to hone in on Blu in the very near future. If you'll recall, we heard Onkyo make a similar statement earlier this month, and according to an unspecified Samsung official, it's looking to "show more interest in Blu-ray products than rival HD DVD." Unfortunately, that's all the firm would utter on the record, but really, it pretty much says it all. 'Course, it remains to be seen what will happen to the forthcoming BD-UP5500, but don't be shocked to hear that Sammy's next high-definition movie player only understands one of the two formats.
Toshiba expected to announce death of HD DVD tomorrow, stop sales by March
Despite Red's inability to make any real public statement, Japanese publication Nikkei has it that Toshiba president Atsutoshi Nishida will be announcing the final discontinuation of HD DVD tomorrow, as well as halted sales of hardware and media by March (as in days from now). Apparently Toshiba will pull its units from retail shelves, but has no intention to give burned early adopters any refunds (no kidding?); it sounds like the ceasefire will include the bare PC drives as well, so those hoping to keep using HD DVD as a personal data storage medium probably won't have much luck. Apparently the announcement will come alongside Toshiba's plans to build new semiconductor fabs, which we're sure they'll try to spin as an advancement that far overshadows the hill of beans (read: hundreds of millions) they've lost in the format war. [Warning: subscription required.] Update: Nikkei also has it that the press conference is scheduled for 5PM in Tokyo, which is Midnight PT, and 3am ET. We'll let you know what turns up. Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
HD DVD and Blu-ray releases on February 19th, 2008
So it seems that our favorite battle between Red and Blu is all but over, as long as titles are released for each format we'll be here to sum 'em up for you. And of all the weeks for HD DVD to fall like a house of cards, what an interesting one for it to happen, with one of the two remaining hot exclusives for HD DVD hitting the shelves. The number one movie this week is easily Universal's American Gangster with a stifling IMDB score of 8.2 placing it in the IMDB top 250 at number 166 -- that's the first time a movie was released on either format while making the list. Meanwhile on Blu-ray, Warner brings Michael Clayton which is no slump and will be available on HD DVD in about three weeks also. Finally, Warner catches up a title on Red (officially) with The Invasion, but based on how poorly it sold on Blu, we're not expecting it to make much of a dent in the Nielsen numbers. Looking ahead to next week, HD DVD's remaining hot exclusive on the calendar hits the street as Beowulf and while IMDB didn't think much of it, overall we expect it to be a hot commodity for Red. HD DVD 389 vs Blu-ray 451*Blu-ray Deep Purple: Live at Montreux 2006 (Eagle Rock) In the Valley of Elah (Warner) Michael Clayton (Warner) Night of the Werewolf/Vengeance of the Zombies (BCI) Run Lola Run (Sony) Santana: Hymns for Peace - Live at Montreux 2004 (Eagle Rock) Yes: Live at Montreux 2003 (Eagle Rock) HD DVD American Gangster (Universal) Galaxina (BCI) The Invasion (Warner) * Blu-ray total does not reflect 32 Paramount titles that were previously available.
Toshiba claims "no decision" on HD DVD strategy as desertions continue
Toshiba made a formal announcement today with regard to the state of HD DVD. Unfortunately, it wasn't the white-flag surrender we had hoped would bring a swift end to the format war. In a statement made by a Toshiba spokesman, the firm said, "Toshiba has not made any announcement or decision. We are currently assessing our business strategies, but nothing has been decided at the moment." This came as its stock soared under investor speculation that Toshiba was ready to pre-empt future losses and bring the battle with Blu-ray to a conclusive end. Nevertheless, a multi-format disc pressing plant for indie films by the name of Blue Ray Technologies (BRT) announced the closure of its HD DVD stamping lines. According to BRT's founder Erick Hansen, there's no need to wait for the formal announcement, "HD-DVD is dead, all that is left is the burial." Ouch. Read -- Toshiba statement Read -- BRT press release
Toshiba shares surge ahead of HD DVD abandonment
While owners of new HD DVD gear might be miffed at Toshiba's plans to scrap their HD DVD format, investors are stoked. Toshiba's shares are up nearly 6% in mid-day Tokyo trading on unusually high volume. A clear sign from investors that it's time for Toshiba to cut its HD DVD losses and run. Now go ahead Toshiba -- investors, consumers, retailers, and the content owners all agree that it's high time to end this format war once and for all. We're all just waiting for you to make it official.[Thanks, Karl]
Announcement of HD DVD's death expected in short order (duh)
We know it looks like HD DVD's death is a foregone conclusion at this point, but it isn't official until Toshiba says it is, and Ars is reporting that a number of their sources have pegged the impending announcement for within the next few days -- not weeks. Apparently HD DVD's future was in serious jeopardy even before Netflix dropped 'em, and the holdup on Toshiba's part now comes from the company's need to formulate its plans to shut down production -- which is no small task given the volume of hardware and media they were geared up to move.Of course, out Tokyo way the party line's all the same. Our Japanese bureau checked in with Toshiba HQ, which was obviously on PR red alert since they responded to our query in nine minutes, and well well before business hours. The boilerplate response is about what you'd expect, though: "We are considering our future business policies and plans, and studying the market response [to recent developments]." Let's just get this thing over with already, okay Toshiba? [Thanks, Max]
Retailers already forgetting HD DVD
Even without an official announcement, it appears the world is moving on without HD DVD. At the Fifth Avenue Best Buy, HD DVD hardware is already special order only, while its disappeared entirely from this week's Circuit City advertisement. The only people still picking up HD DVD players seem to be value shoppers looking for to deep discounts when retailers clear out movies. Red put up a good fight, but with retail support rapidly following the studios, its clear what time it is.
J.D. Power finds Blu bandwagon already full of salespeople
While this week's Blu-ray announcements from Best Buy and Wal Mart were big news, a study by J.D. Power and Associates shows that HD-peddlers across the retail landscape made the move to Blu back in January. Like a fleet of automatons, mystery shoppers sent into the field posed as new HDTV owners who were looking for a nameless dedicated HDM player. They reported back with numbers showing a decidedly Blu sales force: 25-percent didn't recommend one HDM format over the other and 67-percent recommended Blu-ray, leaving less than 10-percent sticking up for HD DVD. But the hits keep on coming: not a single HD DVD recommendation came from Best Buy and not a single salesperson suggested HD DVD would become the dominant format. Sorry, HD DVD; we may have just put you on deathwatch this week, but salespeople have had you in repose for quite a bit longer, it seems. [Via FormatWarCentral]
Blu-ray discs reach 1.5 million sold, HDM still trails DVD's first two years
As red continues to fade in the format war, an eye turns towards DVD as Blu-ray's most formidable opponent. According to Adams Media Research, while HDM hardware sales are on par with DVD's first two years -- even exceeding them due to the price slashing and pack-ins of the holiday season -- HDM discs have only sold 8.3 million compared to 16.3 million DVD's over a similar time period. While we're pretty sure Netflix has had some effect on that number, DVD is still an even more formidable opponent now, than VHS was in 1997. The good news is that HDM sales increased 9.5 times in their second year, and VideoBusiness' sources report 1.5 million discs sold in 2008. With HDTV penetration continuing to grow, we'll see if Blu can keep up the pace on its own.
