My brother told me that HD DVD died a few months ago because I hadn’t heard or read anything about the format war, but Blu-ray still ain’t doing so hot. And by “doing so hot,” I mean selling any better than it did when it was still entrenched in the utterly pointless war. From January to February, Blu-ray sales plummeted some 40 percent, only to get a slight bump from February to March to the tune of 2 percent. Hardly the type of news Sony wanted to hear, especially if those rumors that it paid Warner $500 million were true. The Blu-ray folks blame their inability to meet demand following the spectacular, dare I say “epic,” failure of Toshiba to convince anyone that HD DVD was worth buying. Cynics, myself included, think that, generally, consumers still aren’t too keen on Blu-ray when, you know, regular DVD (which is cheaper; the economy’s not so hot right now) looks “good enough.” → Read More
The fallout from the now-over Blu-ray vs. HD DVD war is still coming, with Toshiba suffering a 95% loss in profits this quarter, most of it attributed to the failure of HD DVD as the format of choice for next-gen disc players. Samsung, meanwhile, is showing a 37% increase in profits, mostly from mobile phones and LCDs. For Toshiba, it wasn’t just the licensing, but the loss of HD DVD’s manufacturing that cause the loss. Tosh had invested millions in the manufacture of the disks, but then had to shutter its plants. Wars, even format wars, have casualties. The good news though is that Toshiba’s shares only fell 2% on the news. → Read More
In an interview with Game Daily, Shane Kim professes his love for HD DVD, what MS is doing to ensure the next gen Xbox doesn’t have RROD issues, DRM issues and why they’re not in the market to swoop up Take-Two. While it is unfortunate that HD DVD was discontinued, there is still enjoyment to be had from your Xbox 360 HD DVD Player. You can take this as an opportunity to build out your movie collection! There are around 500 HD DVD movies to choose from and many at great deals, so there is a fair amount of content for HD DVD on the market. It also is a terrific DVD player and it allows you to have game discs and movie discs, whether HD DVD or DVD, within the console at one time. The HD DVD player also adds two additional USB ports to your console. → Read More
Those sports at Amazon understand “new technologies don’t always work out as planned.” Or rather, they don’t work out as Toshiba planned. I have a feeling this is how Sony planned it all along. In any case, if you bought one of those bargain HD-DVD players after February 23rd, help yourself to $50 worth of stuff from Amazon. Personally, I’d be buying the Planet Earth box set. Hell yes. → Read More
So those of you with the Xbox 360 HD DVD player will be getting an update the next time you watch a flick while you’re logged into Live. The update will add support for network features and certain titles will get compatibility improvements, but specific titles were not divulged. If you don’t have acces to Live then you can get the download from here. Thanks for the update Major Nelson. → Read More
Attention HD DVD purchasers, If you were suckered into getting an HD DVD player from Wal*Mart on or after November 1 then you are entitled to a full refund, I think it’s a full refund, so long as you have your receipt. That is all. → Read More
TG Daily is reporting that Circuit City has begun spring-cleaning on HD DVDs by offering them with discounts up to 50 percent. Can anyone confirm this? → Read More
It’s not like we didn’t see this coming. It’s just now official. → Read More
I haven’t been to my local Best Buy, but it’s being reported that some are clearing out stock or sending them back to publishers. One location in Dublin, CA has discounted all HD DVD movies to $10 with TV shows discounted at 70 percent. While two locations in Chicago have pulled all HD DVD discs and put them in back to be shipped out. I better get my copy of “I Am Legend” on HD DVD because I want to watch how craptacular it is since I just read the book. Can anyone else verify this? → Read More
I’ll leave this up to you as to whether or not you consider this a good deal. In light of what retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City are offering to HD DVD refugees, Amazon’s decided to get in on the good-will action by offering the following; “For a limited time, receive two HD DVDs from the list below for free when you buy the Samsung BD-UP5000 1080p HD-DVD Blu-Ray Disc Combo Player and any two Blu-ray discs sold by Amazon.com.” As of right now, the BD-UP5000 is out of stock but it normally goes for around $450. You have five HD DVD movies to choose from; Batman Begins, Excalibur, Rio Bravo, The Road Warrior, and Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride. So in effect, you’ll have to spend almost $500 for the player and two Blu-ray discs to get two free HD DVDs from a list of five. I’ll reserve judgment but TechConsumer’s Bob Caswell says, “Gee, thanks, Amazon.” Get Two HD DVDs Free [Amazon.com] via TechConsumer → Read More
[photopress:brdhd.jpg,full,center] Flickr’d Now with HD DVD out of the picture, the Blu-ray camp is free to promote the format’s cutting edge technology, no matter how dull that edge may be. USA Today has a puff piece today on Blu-ray’s upcoming Profile 2.0, known colloquially as BD-Live. The new standard, which is scheduled to debut this fall, requires that Blu-ray players have built-in Internet connectivity capability, something all HD DVD players had at launch in 2006. → Read More
[photopress:bbuyrebate.jpg,full,center] Flickr’d Best Buy joins Circuit City (and a Japanese retailer) in giving customers who fell for that whole HD DVD scam a little something for their troubles. The electronics retailer will send a $50 gift card to everyone who purchased an HD DVD player (by February 23) from it. The cards, which won’t expire, can be spent on anything in the store. → Read More
Previous rumors indicated that Toshiba would eat a $1 billion loss from the demise of HD DVD, but that seemed to have been exaggerated as Toshi has reported a loss of $653 million. They’re still turning a profit this year, though. Toshiba Cuts Profit Target 31% on Chip Prices, HD DVD (Update2) [Bloomberg] → Read More
Two versions of WB’s hit ‘Batman Begins’ will be rereleased this July on Blu-ray. The HD DVD version was released in October of 2006 and Warner held back a Blu-ray version because the format was unable to support the “In-Movie Experience” PIP feature. HD DVD never had that problem. Along with a standard Blu-ray version there will be a “Limited Edition Gift Set” chocked full of goodies. → Read More
Toshiba has posted a profit of 250 billion yen, but it could have tacked on another 50 billion to that total had it not been for the demise of HD DVD. The company was already slated to post a 50 billion yen loss for the year, but the demise of its high-def format means production lines changes and other augmentations, which will amount to a 100 billion yen ($1 billion US) loss. I’m personally bummed, but you’re still in the money, Toshi. Lets focus on that. Time to move on. Toshiba faces $986 mln loss on HD DVDs: Nikkei [Reuters] → Read More
Let the chiseling begin! I think we all saw this coming: now that Blu-Ray has no competition, the distributors can raise prices back to what they probably should have been in the first place. As you can see in the chart above (courtesy of/shamelessly stolen from Tom’s Hardware), every company but LG has raised the average price of their player by $75-100 from what it cost at or near the beginning of January. And even LG hasn’t kept its price near the low end of the range. It’s safe to say that now is not the time to buy Blu-Ray. Wait for the companies to make back the money from their loss leaders, then snatch ‘em up when they put them back on sale. Blu-Ray Player Prices Hit 2008 Highs As Competition Dwindles [Tom's Hardware] → Read More
I guess he’s a pretty realistic guy. He acknowledges that “the world moves on,” and of course so have the manufacturers and buyers. He says they’ve already been working on driver support and the like, and his comments put weight behind expectations that Microsoft will release a Blu-Ray peripheral for the 360. MS and Sony are already in talks, so it seems like a sure thing unless there is any unpleasantness. Ballmer: “We’ll support Blu-Ray” [GamesIndustry.biz] → Read More
[photopress:ccitybr.jpg,full,center] A little birdie wearing the red of Circuit City whispered into Giz’s ear, saying that the electronics retailer will let consumers exchange their recently purchased HD DVD player for a shiny new Blu-ray one. Only players sold within the last three months qualify—Christmas shoppers would be right on the border of qualification—and Circuit City won’t be advertising the deal much; consumers will have to ask for the promotion on their own. You’ll also have to pay the price difference should any exist. Or, if you’re feeling particularly burned by the whole HD DVD fiasco, you could also just ask for a gift card in exchange for your now-useless player and buy yourself a video game or two. So far, Circuit City is the only U.S. retailer to offer this kind of promotion. A similar one was recently launched in Japan, but that’s all the way on the other side of the world. Now we wait to see if the other guys like Best Buy or Wal-Mart respond in kind. Circuit City Trading In HD DVD for Blu-Ray Players, Says Employee [Gizmodo] → Read More
[photopress:twbbbr.jpg,full,right] There may be blood, but it won’t be on HD DVD. Paramount clarified earlier reports concerning its upcoming HD DVD release schedule. The final two HD DVD releases will be Into the Wild (anyone see that? Opie seemed to like it.) and Things We Lost in the Fire. They are currently scheduled to be released next week. Paramount isn’t expected to release movies on Blu-ray until the summer, meaning we’ll be waiting an awful long time to see There Will Be Blood in 1080p. (Not that I don’t already have the DVD screener. But really, high-def or bust.) Also, Bee Movie on HD DVD has been canceled. Paramount Cancels Majority of HD DVD Slate (UPDATED) [High-Def Digest] → Read More
Flickr’d Either DreamWorks is stupid or there are some things going on behind closed doors that no one knows about because there’s really no other explanation as to why they’re still clinging to HD DVD. “We have a partnership with Toshiba and have an obligation to see this through,” DreamWorks Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg said on Tuesday. “As you know, we have been well-compensated for our support. It really is in their court at this point to really declare what the next step will be. We’re poised either way to jump into the marketplace when the conditions are right to do so,” he said. Loyalty is a hard thing to come by these days any way you cut it, but this seems rather ridiculous. Toshiba dropped out, Katzenberg. They don’t give a heap load of dung what you do with “Bee Movie”, either. But then again, digital downloads are more than likely going to put Blu-ray to bed so maybe Katzenberg is onto something. DreamWorks waiting for cue from Toshiba on Blu-ray [Reuters] → Read More
