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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]
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 hard to believe it's actually over, but for more than two years we've followed what has come to be one of our favorite topics as Blu has faced Red in a battle to be the next physical home media format. In the end it came down to studio and consumer electronic industry support -- not to mention the PS3 -- but it was by no means an easy victory, and just because it was more popular than HD DVD, doesn't mean Blu-ray can win over the hearts of millions of DVD fans. But while we wait to see how well Blu-ray is adopted by the masses, we wanted to take a second to look back at how it all ended up working out. We'll start this story way back in the Summer of '05 where the talks to create a unified format broke down: this is the moment most of us realized we were in for some fun. Sure, this thing got started way before that, but we have to start somewhere and this is when it really began to get interesting. As HD DVD approached the BDA to join forces and demanded too many changes to the Blu-ray disc format, the BDA told them to pound sand.
So it begins: Toshiba's HD-A3 falls to $99 at Circuit City, comes with 7 free HD DVDs
It's not like there has been any shortage of deals on HD DVD hardware over the past few months or anything, but now that Toshiba (and almost everyone else on the planet) has officially yanked support for the format, prices are beginning to plummet en masse. First on the docket is the HD-A3 at Circuit City, which now sits at just $99.99 and comes with seven free titles, two of which are 300 and Bourne Identity. So yeah, if you've been waiting for this moment to snap up the failed format for cheap, hop on in -- but if we were betting souls, we'd say holding out just a wee bit longer would actually be in your wallet's best interest.[Thanks, Dustin]
Testronic Labs' interactive Blu-ray / HD DVD test facility is only half useful
Oh sure, we've seen testing devices for both HD DVD and Blu-ray before, with the latter even boasting a dedicated quality assurance lab, but we've a feeling only half of Testronic Labs newest facility will actually see any real usage. The firm has constructed an interactive Blu-ray and HD DVD test bed in Burbank, California in an attempt to provide "third-party, quality-control of high definition software and integrated web capability." Unfortunately for it, we don't foresee too many more any new highly advanced HD DVDs in the pipeline, so it looks as if most of the scrutiny will surround HDMV, BD-J and BD-Live. Ah well, the joint probably needed space for a cafeteria, anyway.[Thanks, Steve]
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]
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]
American Gangster HD DVD review roundup
American Gangster had the misfortune of being released on HD DVD the same day the format war died, and will probably serve more of a reminder of why red lost, than an example why it deserved to go on. Coming on an HD DVD / DVD combo disc extends compatibility, but expands the price beyond that of the far more extensive 3 DVD special edition set. Also apparent casualties of the combo are the unrated directors cut of the film (found only on the DVD side), standard-def extra features,and any TrueHD audio track. The audio and PQ present aren't bad, but don't meet the "reference quality" standards a film like this aspires to. Even HD DVD's HDi interactivity can't save it, with a picture-in-picture track described as a "slim afterthought" by HighDefDigest, and online downloads that aren't specific to this movie, this might make a good souvenir for HD fans, but most will want to wait for the inevitable Blu-ray edition. Read - HomeTheaterForum review Read - HighDefDigest review Read - Electronic House review
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]
It's official: HD DVD has officially died an official death
We were pretty certain when we first heard the rumors, and we were even more certain when other sources said an official announcement was coming. Now that the official announcement from Toshiba has officially happened, we're officially 100% sure that HD DVD is officially dead. Official!Well, maybe we should scale that back a little. Although lead company Toshiba has said they'll no longer make HD DVD players, they are reportedly stocking up on recordable HD DVD media for those who want to make their own discs (remember: BetaMax lasted for years as a professional recording format for broadcast outlets). And there's nothing preventing entertainment companies from continuing to put out HD DVDs if they want to. We don't know why they'd want to but hey. if people are still making Sega Genesis games, anything is possible.
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!
Toshiba: "no plans" to adopt Blu-ray
In the Q&A session following Toshiba's HD DVD dumping event in Japan, Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation made a bit of a surprise announcement. While it remains committed to standard DVD, they have "no plan at all at this moment" to take up the Blu-ray format. He also stated that Tosh has no plans for a next-next gen format at all. Perhaps they are just licking their wounds until HD downloads become a reality.
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?
