Toshiba officially ditches HD DVD, remains committed to high definition, snubs Blu-ray
AT LAST! Toshiba has officially killed off the HD DVD format, announcing that it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players or recorders.
"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality."
Though Toshiba's official press release makes absolutely no mention of Blu-ray, reading between the lines it does seem as if they've snubbed Sony's format by suggesting that high definition discs are already outdated.
Yes, I'm sure you would have said exactly the same thing if HD DVD had won outright? Right?
Instead, "Toshiba will continue to lead innovation, in a wide range of technologies that will drive mass market access to high definition content. These include high capacity NAND flash memory, small form factor hard disk drives, next generation CPUs, visual processing, and wireless and encryption technologies. The company expects to make forthcoming announcements around strategic progress in these convergence technologies."
In other words, we're not going to use a rival's format, despite the fact that when we made Betamax VCRs in the 80s, and then they died, we switched to VHS along with Sony. Oh no, we're not going to be grown up about this.
Actually, that's perhaps a little unfair, though it is worth noting that — despite what the popular press says — high definition discs are currently the only mainstream way to experience full 1080p high definition content. Downloads don't come close — yet. They will, but not yet.
Putting high definition content onto flash memory is also a possibility, now that 32GB flash memory is becoming available. However, it's currently a prohibitively expensive option for consumers who want to own a physical copy of every movie they buy — a disc is much, much cheaper. Could be used in a media centre, combined with a large hard drive and/or a movie rental service (so you never own the movies you watch).
Toshiba will phase out production and distribution of standalone HD DVD players and recorders from next month, and will assess the use of HD DVD drives in notebook PCs. They also plan to maintain collaborative links with the companies who stuck with them.
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