Technology — Toshiba Delays HD-DVD — Gee, who’d a thunk it?
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Toshiba Corp.’s (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research) U.S. unit may delay the launch of its next-generation DVD player for several weeks to coincide with the April debut of movies that play in the new HD DVD format, the company said on Thursday.
Championed by Toshiba, HD DVD is one of two competing formats hoping to breath new life into the slowing $24 billion home video market. The rival format is Blu-ray, created by a group led by Sony Corp. (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research)
In January, Toshiba America Consumer Products said it would in March ship its first players, the HD-XA1 and HD-A1, for $799 and $499, respectively.
forgot to mention the $15.00 to $30.00 per blank disk. Them some expensive frisbies.
I just wanted to be the first person to mention Bush in these comments. Bush
I would like to ask everyone to boycott both HD-DVD and BluRay on account of the rediculous artificial limitations they are placing on them. Over 3 million HDTV owners will not be able to use them due to a lack of HDCP support, and your current computers will not be able to view the material at high-def (again artificially derezzed to standard def). Stand together and let these people know we want something that we can use.
Please read the material referenced on this site if you don’t believe me. Then ask all your friends to support the cause.
http://writersblocklive.com/boycott/
Too bad they missed the boat on this.
Now it will probably be like early VHS/Beta – where people couldn’t afford to buy the tapes, so the rental industry stepped-in to provide movies [and the Studios complained about lost sales…]
I’ll be surprised if sales of Blu-ray/HD DVD movies aren’t mostly to Netflix, Blockbuster, et al – with most consumers buying just a player [preferably one that will playback either format].
And then a downloadable format will combine with broadband [such as it is, in the US] to make discs seem quaint.
[and, I fully expect someone to chime-in about how holographic storage will be the “bee’s knees”] 🙂
I see the failure of the DVD DL format as a precursor to both Blu-ray and HD-DVD being underwealming. I’m already at a point technology wise where I’d rather download a movie than buy one (don’t bother sending me the disk afterwards), and think many others are as well.
Also, despite being an early adopter of technology, I’m not going to drop $500 on a new DVD player when my current upconverting model does a great job. That price is going to have to come in a bit first, and there’s going to have to be a lot of media out for it, before I jump the couch.
There’s absolutely no chance that I’m going to spend money on HD so long as they are trying to tell me what I can do with it. Also, the higher resolution, while pretty, isn’t remotely life altering. Boycott or no boycott, there’s no reason to go HD at this stage, I don’t think there’s going to be a reason for a long time.