Official Toshiba Announcement Tomorrow? - BDA Welcomes MS and Toshiba Options

[Xbox-Scene]

Official Toshiba Announcement Tomorrow? - BDA Welcomes MS and Toshiba Posted by XanTium | February 18 22:16 EST | News Category: Xbox360

From engadget.com: [QUOTE] 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?). [/QUOTE] From techradar.com: [QUOTE] Frank Simonis (Blu-ray Disc Association's spokesperson) said: "Of course we have always said that Toshiba and Microsoft, and any other company, is more than welcome to join the Blu-ray Disc Association. We are an open organisation, with an open disc standard. If Toshiba decides to drop HD DVD we would extend the hand of friendship to them, they are always welcome to join,". "Microsoft could easily put Blu-ray inside the Xbox," said Simonis. "From my understanding Microsoft did an early evaluation and the Xbox has a similar processor to the PS3 so it will be perfectly capable of decoding a Blu-ray disc. "So technically it could do it. All Microsoft would have to do is acquire a BD licence," he said. Simonis dismissed the notion that Sony might be uncomfortable with Microsoft joining the Blu-ray camp. Some say that it's unlikely that Sony would want Microsoft to put a Blu-ray drive in the Xbox - because then it would be an even bigger threat to the PS3. But Simonis said that Sony would not be able to stop such a move. [/QUOTE] Full Story: engadget.com | techradar.com

[Elemino]

Wow... I would have thought they would just sell off remaining inventory, but to actually pull them from the shelves is shocking.

[zcz_team]

I doubt microsoft would make a blu ray 360, but more like just make an add-on like with the HD-DVD player.

[XanTium]

I doubt microsoft would make a blu ray 360, but more like just make an add-on like with the HD-DVD player.

Well yes, that's what they mean probably.
We'll probably see an addon first .... an internal blu-ray is probably not for any time soon (if ever - depends on demand I'd guess).

[twistedsymphony]

I liked HD-DVD as a format more than Blu-Ray for a number of reasons
1. It seems like Toshiba had their sh*t together from day one with final spec players and media right out of the gate which goes a long way towards confidence in a new tech.
2. While Sony use the "protective layer" crap as a selling point they failed to mention that they had to develop that because their discs are intrinsically weak and over flexing caused a collapse of the data layer because of how close it was to the surface... HD-DVDs were just as durable as DVDs since they use the same data layer depth.
3. From a manufacturing standpoint HD-DVD was cheaper which meant that the timetable from expensive first run players to cheap players in every home was quite short (and we even saw that).

One thing I DID NOT LIKE about the HD-DVD format is that it used Microsoft's HD1 programing language (basically a special derivative of VB.net) to run all the on disc applications.

Meanwhile Blu-Ray uses Java as their base programming language.

This press release mentions that Blu-Ray is an "Open format" which is very much true... it is an open format and built on open source standards.

As much as people viewed this as a MS vs Sony battle it was also analogous to Windows vs Linux

Blu-Ray is more than just Sony, and in terms of an open storage platform they are have always been the good guys in this battle.

Anyone who appreciates homebrew software should have no problem welcoming Blu-Ray for this reason.

[Mike4]

...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?)...

No, no, no... this can't really be happening. I just ordered my add-on drive last week and am still waiting for it to arrive. Although I was upset to learn HD DVD was throwing in the towel, I figured I would be able to get bargain basement deals on remaining inventory. If they just pull everything, this will possibly end up being the worst purchase of my life. It comes with a copy King Kong, which means that I will have essentially spent a little under $100 for King Kong in HD. I don't even really have any desire to see the movie, let alone spend that much on owning it.

[twistedsymphony]

most "dead" formats get all of their stock pulled from shelves when the official announcement is made.

The last time this happened it was the Divix disc format.

[Lordscr]

I wonder about all of the people the purchases a player to take advantage of the 5 free movies promotion. If they haven't received the items, will they still get them?

[moddingswede]

I wonder about all of the people the purchases a player to take advantage of the 5 free movies promotion. If they haven't received the items, will they still get them?

I've been wondering that myself. I mailed in my form a couple of weeks ago. I'm gonna be pissed if I don't get my movies.

[joemm210]

They should just slap a sticker on the boxes that say this player is being sold as a upcoverting dvd player only, it will play hd dvd discs however the format has been discontinued and should not be considered when making the purchase.

[Arch0n]

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/19/officia...at-war-is-over/

Includes official commentary.


The war is over

[jesterrace777]

Yup it's official now. That being said if you read the article they are just going to finish clearing out stock until March 2008. Meh, I don't care I just can't wait for a bunch of high-def to be on clearance. Bring on the sales.

[biseroner]

Hopefully M$ does do a add-on, because I dont want my Xbox 360 drive to die early. Two separate drives would be better.

[g8crapachino]

I liked HD-DVD as a format more than Blu-Ray for a number of reasons
1. It seems like Toshiba had their sh*t together from day one with final spec players and media right out of the gate which goes a long way towards confidence in a new tech.
2. While Sony use the "protective layer" crap as a selling point they failed to mention that they had to develop that because their discs are intrinsically weak and over flexing caused a collapse of the data layer because of how close it was to the surface... HD-DVDs were just as durable as DVDs since they use the same data layer depth.
3. From a manufacturing standpoint HD-DVD was cheaper which meant that the timetable from expensive first run players to cheap players in every home was quite short (and we even saw that).

One thing I DID NOT LIKE about the HD-DVD format is that it used Microsoft's HD1 programing language (basically a special derivative of VB.net) to run all the on disc applications.

Meanwhile Blu-Ray uses Java as their base programming language.

This press release mentions that Blu-Ray is an "Open format" which is very much true... it is an open format and built on open source standards.

As much as people viewed this as a MS vs Sony battle it was also analogous to Windows vs Linux

Blu-Ray is more than just Sony, and in terms of an open storage platform they are have always been the good guys in this battle.

Anyone who appreciates homebrew software should have no problem welcoming Blu-Ray for this reason.

Please...let's not turn this into another tired Windows vs. Linux debate. To the average person Java and Open Source are irrelevant details and is certainly not the deciding factor behind what products most people choose to buy.

[kingprawn]

It IS official now

Toshiba Announce End of HDDVD