Toshiba faces 986usd mln loss on HD DVDs Options

[Xbox-Scene]

Toshiba faces 986usd mln loss on HD DVDs Posted by XanTium | March 12 23:49 EST | News Category: Xbox360

From reuters.com: [QUOTE] Japan's Toshiba Corp is likely to book a 100 billion yen ($986 million) loss in its high-definition DVD business and post a full-year operating profit of around 250 billion yen, falling short of its outlook, the Nikkei business daily said on Thursday. Toshiba's decision to pull the plug on HD DVDs will entail production line changes and other charges that would double the 50 billion yen loss the electronics group had previously expected this business year on next-generation DVDs, the Nikkei said. [/QUOTE] Full Story: reuters.com

[Landlocked]

I'm over my HD DVD losses. Bring on flash drive movies.

[Elusive hacker]

better to take a smaller loss now than a bigger one later

[88 Ecko Unltd 88]

ouch .. better then losing way more later

[metalcoat]

At least they still posted a profit even if it's just 2.4 billion.

[Norco]

I don't think they would incur that much more of a greater loss. If I was Toshiba I would have cut R&D funding, but keeping selling the machines/discs. Consumers still would have bought the format and they could have recouped more money back.

[Flagg3]

I don't think they would incur that much more of a greater loss. If I was Toshiba I would have cut R&D funding, but keeping selling the machines/discs. Consumers still would have bought the format and they could have recouped more money back.

Considering that they were losing hundreds of dollars on every player sold, how do you suppose they were going to recoup any losses by continuing on that path?

[Elemino]

Because the boxes were already built. If you sell them its not a COMPLETE loss.. just a partial one.

[Chancer]

Funny how so many HD-DVD supporters at the time of the ridiculous low prices on Toshiba machines, were telling us all that this was a sustainable price level and that Toshiba were not taking such a big loss on machines. "It was the manufacturing and costs that were much cheaper"
Doesn't really seem so to me.

[elocin671]

the only ones that lost was the consumers...except for having a kick ass dvd upscaler

[twistedsymphony]

the only ones that lost was the consumers...except for having a kick ass dvd upscaler

I still like my Oppo better

Honestly though Sony's not out of the woods yet, their biggest competitor now is digital distribution, the AppleTV is gaining popularity and the 360 has larger install base than their PS3... All in all I'd say it's already winning out over Blu-Ray.

It's clear to me that Sony thinks they they can relax considering you could get some models of Blu-Ray as cheap as $300 around Christmas and now the bottom end is $400 and many of the free movie deals are gone as well. If they don't push Blu-Ray this year they're going to go the way of SACD vs MP3 where the high quality format is only ever used by enthusiast while the general consumers clamor for the more flexible and lower quality digital distros.

[ZakMcRofl]

As much as I supported HD-DVD its good to see the industry suffer for their high definition format war.

Hopefully this will lead to a consolidated development of new standards without needless consumer confusion. We knew from the beginning that one of the two standards would fail so it apparently was a risk they were willing to take.

[Alkane]

Digital distribution for movies is in it's infancy. Unless Sony (and partner companies) screws up for many consecutive years they don't have to worry about digital distribution.

To compare the movie industry sales with music digital distribution is premature. Music is one thing, but movies have just increased in resolution. The Internet connections in the United States are too slow. It's like having an iTunes store when everyone still has a 300 baud modem.

[Flagg3]

I still like my Oppo better

Honestly though Sony's not out of the woods yet, their biggest competitor now is digital distribution, the AppleTV is gaining popularity and the 360 has larger install base than their PS3... All in all I'd say it's already winning out over Blu-Ray.

It's clear to me that Sony thinks they they can relax considering you could get some models of Blu-Ray as cheap as $300 around Christmas and now the bottom end is $400 and many of the free movie deals are gone as well. If they don't push Blu-Ray this year they're going to go the way of SACD vs MP3 where the high quality format is only ever used by enthusiast while the general consumers clamor for the more flexible and lower quality digital distros.

People who think that digital distribution will EVER replace physical media need to realize that the vast majority of consumers will always buy their media at retail.

MP3s are certainly a mature format, with simple, easy access to digital downloads and players - and that certainly hasn't been the 'death' of CDs. While you and I may prefer digital distribution, there will always be demand for physical media. Ignoring the impulse purchase factor, and the inherent perceived value of owning a physical disc over a digital copy, there will always be the demand for a physical version to give as gifts.

Of cource digital distribution will mature, and will eventually take a substantial portion of the market, but will it ever achieve greater than 50% market share? Very, very improbably. Digital Distribution is perfect for movie rentals, but it's just never going to be as desirable for movie sales as it is for music sales.

Blu-rays biggest competition will always be DVDs. The upgrade from video tape to DVD was monumental, and it offered many benefits to people besides improved resolution. High def discs may not be perceived as enough of an improvement when compared to standard upscaled DVDs to the average person in order to be compelling enough for them to upgrade to it. Until prices drop to consumer levels next year, we won't really know for sure the extent of the demand, but I suspect that blu-ray will never really replace DVD in the way that DVD replaced VHS, and I expect that while there will eventually be a substantial market for it, it will be a very long time before blu-ray disc sales ever exceed DVD sales, if ever.

This post has been edited by Flagg3: Mar 13 2008, 05:00 PM

[twistedsymphony]

... MP3s are certainly a mature format, with simple, easy access to digital downloads and players - and that certainly hasn't been the 'death' of CDs. ...

you're right, they haven't been the Death of CDs... but Blu-Ray aren't analogous to CDs in this race.. they're analogous to the SACD format, which for all intents and purposes might as well be dead. My point is that so many people will either say with DVD or go digital distro that Blu-Ray might NEVER get widespread adoption, in the same way that SACD never has.

... While you and I may prefer digital distribution, there will always be demand for physical media. Ignoring the impulse purchase factor, and the inherent perceived value of owning a physical disc over a digital copy, there will always be the demand for a physical version to give as gifts. ..

I don't prefer digital distribution, I personally HATE it, I cringe every time I download an XBLA game, and I've only ever purchased an album online once and that was only because the CD wasn't available.

I make this claim because none of my co-workers with HDTVs seem to have any interest what-so-ever in Blu-Ray, but many of them have purchased AppleTVs because they can pretty much rent movies without going to the store.

As for the bandwidth issue. I thought the same thing too but when I visited a friend of mine last week who was showing me his Apple TV he was able to start watching the movie within 30 seconds of the download starting and it never hiccuped once. This was even with a low end crap-tastic DSL connection.

...The upgrade from video tape to DVD was monumental, and it offered many benefits to people besides improved resolution. High def discs may not be perceived as enough of an improvement when compared to standard upscaled DVDs to the average person in order to be compelling enough for them to upgrade to it.

DVD offered ZERO resolution increase over VHS... in terms of quality the two formats were essentially the same. The only thing DVD offered was CONVENIENCE, they didn't degrade over time, they didn't need rewinding, they took up less space, they allowed for multiple audio tracks and control over sub titles, and chapter selection, etc.

A good VHS player and a brand new tape had the same resolution, surround sound, and overall quality as a DVD, but DVDs offered an easier way to access and control the content.

Every major release that has been accepted by the public has been because it offered additional conveniences Digitally distributed music has gained enormous popularity because it offers a convenient way to access, and carry your media... SACD was abandoned because despite the fact that it has 6 times the audio resolution of a normal CD it didn't offer any additional conveniences and people didn't care about the quality. Similarly digital distribution of movie content offers a world of new features in terms of convenience while Blu-Ray simply does not.

My point is that while digital distro is still young, blu-ray is even younger, and unless Sony pushes it hard NOW it will suffer the same fate as SACD. As it is now Digital Distro is gaining a lot of popularity, and a lot of people don't see the need for higher resolution movies.

This post has been edited by twistedsymphony: Mar 13 2008, 07:29 PM