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Toshiba cans HD-DVD production... The format war is over.

February 16, 2008 in News comments 51

Toshiba has just stopped HD-DVD production. They obviously aren't too happy about this, but it's great news for consumers. HD-DVD is now officially DEAD, and the format war is over.

Japan's NHK has followed up The Hollywood Reporter's earlier indications Toshiba was ready to dump its money-losing HD DVD business, with news that the company is prepared to cease manufacturing software and hardware, at a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars. This caps the worst week ever for red, when HD DVD was dumped by Netflix and Wal-mart, pushed to the background by Best Buy and put on -- an apparently incredibly short -- deathwatch right here. Toshiba is mum on the subject right now, but we hear there's plenty of cheap players and movies in a dumpster around back of the HQ.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in; via Reuters; warning, Japanese read link]

Update: Along with an English translation of the NHK's article (Thanks sfditty!) comes additional confirmation from Reuters sources, it's a wrap. Toshiba is shutting down its DVD manufacturing facilities in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, while official word is expected "soon".
Guticb via engadget.com »
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  • 0
    Storm Feb 16, 08
    I wouldn't exactly say that it's officially over. HD-DVDs are still marketing, after all. It's bound to die down now that these companies picked a side, though.
    • 3
      Guticb Feb 16, 08
      Toshiba is the company that makes the HD-DVDs. By stopping production, they've killed off the format.
      • 0
        Storm Feb 17, 08
        Oh, was unaware that it was Toshiba. I still see DVD commercials promoting HD-DVD, but then again they probably were well into production to just stop from marketing and possibly making a small profit by then.
        • 0
          Chais Feb 17, 08
          quote guticb
          Toshiba has just stopped HD-DVD production.
          Nice reading skills there Storm.
        • 0
          Storm Feb 18, 08
          Oh shut up, Avalith. xD I missed the first sentence.
  • 0
    Zero and X Feb 16, 08
    Blu- Ray is the future, good thing too, Id rather have an enitre season of my favorite show on one disc rather than switching between 4-5.
    • 1
      Steel Magnolia Feb 16, 08
      How is a HD-DVD 4-5 times smaller than a Blu-Ray disc? Do you know what you're talking about at all?
  • 0
    Sayyed Feb 16, 08
    About damn time baby. Now lets hope something else doesn't come out of no were to compete with blu-ray.
  • 0
    joshthegreat Feb 16, 08
    Hahah. Hello PS3 sales...
    • -3
      Incidnia Feb 17, 08
      How is this in any was going to boost PS3 sales? Are you a complete *bleep* or just a fanboy? This wasn't anything to do with the PS3 and 360.
      • -1
        Final Blade Feb 17, 08
        Well i don't know about that, but i do know if it wasn't for the PS3 system and Games, Blu-ray wouldn't have been kicking butt for the last year. But its not over though, just wait a few days another article to put this in the rumor bin
      • -1
        Existenz Feb 17, 08
        PS3 has Blu-Ray and the PS3 is the cheapest player with Blu-Ray Profile 2.0 capability, which is just what the PS2 was when people wanted a cheap and good (for its time) DVD player, guess what the PS2 sold 125 million units and continues to sell to date.
        • 0
          Incidnia Feb 17, 08
          I highly doubt the people got the PS2 for the DVD function.
        • -1
          Existenz Feb 17, 08
          It was certainly a reason to buy it, i mean when the PS2 was new so was DVD, it was only just taking off and it was a cheap player, it definately effected the sales of the console.
  • 1
    Kinetic Feb 16, 08
    I wouldn't say it's over. Blu-Ray is winning, yes, but HD-DVD hasn't stopped selling yet. It still has a chanve to make a comeback.
    • 0
      Existenz Feb 16, 08
      Yeah i've never heard of a system that isn't being made anymore making a comeback once stocked units run out...
      • 0
        Kinetic Feb 16, 08
        Whoops. I read it wrong.

        I thought they were just talking about a company that used the HD-DVD format, not made it. Sorry. XD
    • -1
      Shadow of Death* Feb 16, 08
      No, it really really doesn't...

      There is a much better chance of DVD killing off the Blu-ray format than HD-DVD killing Blu-ray >_>

      The main supporter of HD-DVD (the creator in fact) has bowed out...

      It just won't bounce back from this...It's days were numbered as it was, with only like 1 studio backing HD-DVD over Blu-ray >_>
      • 0
        jmac353 Feb 16, 08
        Hahaha, No there isn't tallteen. DVD will not kill Blu-Ray. Prices will drop and Blu-Ray will be just as cheap as DVD and slowly but surely Blu-Ray will infiltrate tons of peoples homes. It doesn't happen over night. Hell, I know some crazy people that still buy VHS!
        • 0
          Shadow of Death* Feb 17, 08
          Way to miss the point genius, I was illustrating my point with an example >_>

          Anyhow, there IS still a slight chance the Blu-ray won't get the foothold that DVD has....

          Yes, Blu-ray will get cheaper, but DVD will be cheaper still.

          I can see DVD outselling Blu-ray for a long time, at least.

          I personally want Blu-ray to gain strong foothold though, since I have a PS3 (which is a blu-ray player), and the potential of having a whole season of a HD show (on the multi-layered disks) on a single disk is something interesting, though companies probably wouldn't do that, since that would lose them some sales probably >_>
  • 0
    joshthegreat Feb 16, 08
    The following bigger studios exclusively supported HD-DVD:
    - Weinstein Co
    - Focus Features
    - Paramount Pictures
    - Universal

    The following bigger studios exclusively supported Blu-ray:
    - Miramax
    - Fox Searchlight
    - Sony/Screen Gems
    - MGM
    - Lionsgate
    - New Line Cinema
    - 20th century Fox
    - Buena Vista
    - Sony Pictures
    - Warner Bros

    Paramount and Universal were already rumoured to be defecting to Blu-ray, given its clear dominance. Even if HD-DVD production wasn't halted by Toshiba, I doubt it would have sold for much longer, but this may be partially due to Blu-rays leniance towards 'Gentlemen's films'.
  • -1
    Bale Fire Feb 16, 08
    So you still think the format war isn't over yet Finalblade?

    Now finally we can this rabies dog out of its misery
  • 2
    Ren of Heavens Feb 16, 08
    quote Wikipedia
    BD+ was developed by Cryptography Research Inc. and is based on their concept of Self-Protecting Digital Content. BD+ is effectively a small virtual machine embedded in authorized players. It allows content providers to include executable programs on Blu-ray Discs. Such programs can:

      - examine the host environment, to see if the player has been tampered with. Every licensed playback device manufacturer must provide the BD+ licensing authority with memory footprints that identify their devices.
      - verify that the player's keys have not been changed.
      - execute native code, possibly to patch an otherwise insecure system.
      - transform the audio and video output. Parts of the content will not be viewable without letting the BD+-program unscramble it.


    If a playback device manufacturer finds that its devices have been hacked, it can potentially release BD+-code that detects and circumvents the vulnerability. These programs can then be included in all new content releases.
    HD-DVD had absolutely no region encoding. BluRay may have won the format war, but we have lost.
    • 4
      ali3n Feb 16, 08
      I love how the consumers are getting screwed over no matter what happens.
    • -4
      jmac353 Feb 16, 08
      What's the big deal? HD-DVD still had DRM Ren and region encoding isn't a major deal in the slightest. If you're going to be arguing this DRM is a much larger issue than region encoding because the latter is a negligible problem.

      Besides, why should you want to tamper with your Blu-Ray player? And even if somewhere down the road you do tamper with it, there will no doubt be a hack that makes this BD+ inside think the modified player is still a normal player.
      • 3
        VeGiTAX2 Feb 16, 08
        AACS was easily bypassed and minimal as a security feature in comparison to BD+. The amount of restriction on the HOME user and the INDEPENDENT author is a bit annoying because at any drop of the hat your non BD+ encrypted disc can be told to take the piss.

        AACS was the equivalent of CSS, BD+ is about equal to installing a full DRM system into your home to tell you what you get to see and how you get to see it.

        So yeah, consumers and authors lose with BD+. Acting like BD+ is a slap on the wrist is pretty sad. Consumers should be out for what provides them the best experience, not what provides companies the most control over what you view and what you view it on.

        Ren hit it on the head, Sony wins and consumers get to bend over.
      • 0
        Ren of Heavens Feb 17, 08
        quote jmac353
        region encoding isn't a major deal in the slightest.
        In America, perhaps not. But in Europe, unless you want to wait several months, you would import the DVDs from America. With DVDs, this was easy, just modify (Or buy a pre-modified) region free DVD player. With HD-DVD, no modification was needed as region coding did not exist. With BluRay, BD+ will prevent you from doing this.

        Probably at least a third of my collection are imported from either America, Australia or Japan.
    • -4
      Final Blade Feb 17, 08
      I hope your realize quoting from Wiki doesn't mean anything, they don't have the full facts, or have links proving this. Find another site stating this cause i really don't believe it. Wiki can be edited. BD is region free from what i remember reading awhile ago, i can't remember where i read it, however it did sound convincing.

      Then again im not entirely supporting this news as true, we seen before where this gets taken out of context and i won't be surprised if Toshiba retort back saying "we haven't stopped production". So i don't think its over just yet. I mean some random new Format beats an existing one in less than 2 years, doesn't sound possible.
      • 0
        Jeterocks Feb 17, 08
        Finalblade, you are about as stupid as a two year old, and even then I'm sure they can beat you out sometimes. You cease to amaze me. When will you realize that the best thing for you to do, is not talk at all.

        Blu-ray disks are in fact region coded. They are as follows:

        * Region 1: North America, South America, East Asia except for China (India, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia etc.)
        * Region 2: Europe and Africa
        * Region 3: China, Russia and other countries

        This is why it is hard for European Gamers to enjoy American movies. Not only do they take months to arrive in their country, but now they can't even import them. Just because Playstation 3 games are not region coded, doesn't mean the movies are not as well...

        And what the heck is up with you saying you don't think it is over. Face the facts and realize that even if Toshiba turned around tomorrow and said they were indeed going to continue (which is highly unlikely). All the big distributors of movies have already decided the winners. Best Buy, Blockbuster, Wal*Mart for god sakes have all chosen Blu-Ray to promote and give the center stage too. The format war is over and that is the only fact that matters right now.
        • -4
          Final Blade Feb 17, 08
          Oh sorry for being skeptical. Listen i bet most of you thought Me being a Sony user for a long time that this would make me jumped up and down with joy, well sorry it isn't. Maybe back around June when i was stupid in the PS3 general Forums i would have jumped on this like a kid and laugh at everyone, but not any more this is a new me your looking at.

          I still think its not over, something imo isn't right. However I more referring to Video games not being region coded, not movies that i already knew. The way Rens posts sounds like it was everything that was made on the disc. If games cannot be region coded, that also means Movie could very well end up at one point not being region coded.

          Also we all know When it comes to Wikipedia it isn't the most reliable of information, as others have said before. In fact others flat out say Wiki sucks. I like wiki but i would never support that information unless i see other sources, since if your only using that as your source which isn't a source at all then it isn't reliable.

          Thats why im sticking to my thoughts. How about stop with the name calling, cause i didn't even call anyone names and i like Ren alot as a user.
  • 0
    Guugley Feb 16, 08
    So quickly?

    I never expected Blu-Ray to be so good, never seen a Blue-Ray DVD to be honest. Must be something special eh. Gz Sony.
  • 0
    lord of vice city Feb 16, 08
    sweet, hopefully they'll re-release some HDDVD films on blu-ray

    transformers!!!
    • 0
      Guticb Feb 16, 08
      Agreed. Transformers is the one movie I would have bought an HD-DVD player to watch.
      • 0
        Storm Feb 17, 08
        That also happens to be the most sold HD-DVD to date I believe.
    • -1
      iLLmatic Feb 17, 08
      Transformers was a sad display of an attempt to bring an old pop culture icon back to life, trying to hard to get mass appeal. The movie was trash.
  • 0
    Subzer0* Feb 16, 08
    Go Blu Ray! Blu Ray is the true HD format.
  • 0
    Bri Feb 17, 08
    Not surprised. The death knell was getting louder and louder for HD-DVD, and well, here we are. This is actually a double edge-sword, while only one format will dominate the market and thus give consumers less hassle, this puts Sony in a position to RAISE prices for it because guess what? It's the only format.
    • 1
      Existenz Feb 17, 08
      I don't think that will happen, now the Blu-Ray Association have to make the format battle ready to steal sales from DVD, this battle was only the preliminary round, the war has only just begun. This is not to say that Blu-Ray is going anywhere now but it needs to promote itself now as the rightful successor to DVD to the point where people that haven't done so will jump into the High Definition domain, thats a much harder sale than VHS to DVD.
      • 0
        Armed Rebel Feb 17, 08
        It's just a matter of when. It's really no contest really.
      • -3
        Final Blade Feb 17, 08
        Thank you so much you finally see things the way i see it. Thats what i been saying for days now, its not over. Sure i knew at one point HD-DVD could very well end, but you stated was completely what i've been feeling, its just the beginning.

        For example when the PS3 ever catches up equally in sales worldwide with 360 and Wii the war truly begins. Now they are playing catch up. They haven't done anything to make me say They're going to win, its just the preliminary.
        • 0
          ali3n Feb 17, 08
          The format war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD is over, he is talking about Blu-ray taking over the place of DVD's in a normal household.

          Also what does the PS3 catching up the Wii or the 360 have to do with anything?
        • 0
          iLLmatic Feb 18, 08
          finalblade, come clean. you're really just a joker who trolls the forums and says as much idiotic shit as possible just to make people scratch their heads. just be real.
        • -2
          Final Blade Feb 18, 08
          @Ali3n
          It was actually a comparison of the format wars to console wars. Right now PS3 is catching up, until they are equal in sales the between the 3 to win this generation doesn't begin. Its the same as What Nikki stated. And yes however you guys make the Blu-ray format has won everything, my point they haven't, and if Ren of Heavens is correct We lose regardless. Blu-ray was actually catching up in sales to HD-DVD since it was out earlier i think and wasn't as new as Blu-ray.

          Hi iLL whats good
      • -1
        Bri Feb 18, 08
        You know what? That makes a lot of sense. I haven't gone to High-Def for a reason, because there is no money. And with things as they are, it WILL be a hard sale because most people already have DVD players.
  • 0
    The Slayer Feb 17, 08
    Sweet, I was hoping Blu-ray would win. I was going to be hard to get around the content protection on either of them, but like everything else that is suppose to be impossible to crack, I'm sure someone will figure out a way to get past the region coding and other stuff.
  • 0
    Play ISDF Feb 17, 08
    Oh WONDERFUL! Now consumers can get screwed over! I feel just so *bleep*ing happy! /sarcasm

    The last thing I want is a company telling me that I can't view or listen to certain things just cause they don't agree.
  • 0
    Bale Fire Feb 17, 08
    quote
    Transformers was a sad display of an attempt to bring an old pop culture icon back to life, trying to hard to get mass appeal. The movie was trash.
    I think your alone in thinking that, Tramsformers was a huge success and many people on this site (including me) thought it was a great movie
    • 0
      ali3n Feb 17, 08
      Being a huge success does not automatically make it a good movie.
  • 0
    Slumpy monkey Feb 17, 08
    as a quote from one of our favourate games.

    "well done commrades, you won the battle"
  • 0
    Supernouva Feb 18, 08
    It' s kinda sad. Toshiba just got abandoned, even by their so called greatest supporter Microsoft. HD DVD is a good disc format, I don't even remember how Blu-ray started gaining more support over HD DVD, even though it's a more expensive format.
    • 0
      Existenz Feb 18, 08
      PLAYSTATION 3... Just takes one product to adopt it as its leading format, had the Playstation 3 not had Blu-Ray then HD-DVD would probably have won this, but you can't beat a format that is already in the homes of 10.5 million worldwide not including those that bought standalone players.

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