QuickJump QuickPeek special edition: a format war history in hi-definition |
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It's been a long and grueling war between the hi-def formats. Both the Blu-ray camp and the HD DVD camp gave and took hits, but it seems the format war may finally see its end as Toshiba, one of the major players in the war, has withdrawn support for the HD DVD camp.
During the previous months, the HD DVD camp has had a series of losses, a movement which probably started when Warner Bros. decided to go Blu-ray exclusive. The war may end soon, but for now let's take a look back and see how the war escalated to this level.
Both formats were released back in 2006 and played an important role in the console war as well. Analyst Michael Pachter predicted that the winner of the format war will decide the winner of the console war as well.
By mid-2007, it felt like the Blu-ray format was winning: Toshiba's HD DVD sales weren't performing as well as expected, while Target - the second largest retail outlet in the US - and Blockbuster decided to go Blu-ray (Blockbuster being exclusively Blu-ray).
But in August of that same year, HD DVD reached into its sleeve and took out an ace, announcing that Paramount and Dreamworks will be going HD DVD exclusive. This deal brought major movies like "Transformers" and "Shrek the Third" appearing on HD DVD, keeping the format well within the hearts of consumers.
Such was the announcement that talks of a stalemate between the two formats started up. Toshiba's Mike Eves said the two formats will exist together rather than one format winning out. However, analysts believed that the stalemate would be over by 2008.
Then, right at the beginning of 2008, Warner Bros. Entertainment announced its decision to go Blu-ray exclusive. Sony stocks rose while Toshiba's fell after this announcement. A week after this announcement, Blu-ray hardware dominated 90% of the market share.
The news racked the industry and a huge wave of other media companies followed suit like Woolworths, National Geographic, Netflix and Best Buy, and just recently, Wal-Mart.
While Toshiba gave its continued support, it and Microsoft remained as the largest backers of the HD DVD format. Soon after Wal-Mart's announcement, a spokesperson for Toshiba made a statement that may suggested that they may reconsider their position.
The day after the spokesperson made this statement, an insider told Reuters that Toshiba will be giving up the format soon. The source went on to say that Toshiba was in its final stages of planning to give up the format.
At this point, the fate of HD DVD possibly hinged with Toshiba. Should Toshiba decide to go Blu-ray, that would leave Microsoft as the format's largest spearhead. And as big as Microsoft is, keeping a format afloat by itself is a tall order. However, word surfaced that even Microsoft is planning to withdraw its support for the format.
Insiders say that Microsoft even plans to go over to the Blu-ray camp. They say that Microsoft is putting together a standalone Blu-ray player, while other people think they could release an external Blu-ray add-on for the Xbox 360 much like how they decided to release the external HD DVD player.
The rumor even goes so far as to say that Microsoft will be making a built-in Blu-ray player for the console (which is far more than what it was willing to do for the HD DVD format so this sounds a little too incredulous - but at this point, who knows?).
Just recently, Toshiba has finally made an official announcement saying that they have given up the format. In doing so, they are expected to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in withdrawing their support for the format.
Given Toshiba's decision, some are now led to concur that the disc manufacturing company likely sealed the coffin of HD DVD. Universal Studios made the switch to Blu-ray not long after Toshiba's announcement; remaining HD DVD supporters may soon follow suit.
The HD DVD camp may have another ace up its sleeve, but considering the odds of how things have been going, even more people believe it's highly unlikely: with Toshiba's support withdrawn, we could probably expect the format to be phased out completely soon after.
So it looks like we have just witnessed the end of the war, but the story isn't over yet. It remains to be seen how this would affect the console war between the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. You can bet it will have repercussions.
Michael Pachter and other analysts have already given their forecasts, saying that consumers now have a clear path towards the PlayStation 3. However, some believe that the end of the format war won't affect the Xbox 360 at all.
Rumors speculate that Microsoft will choose to adopt Blu-ray, but Pachter believes that this won't happen. Only time will tell what kind of waves the end of the format war will have on the future of the consoles.
We'll keep you posted on developments, but for now, this is where the format war stands.
Originally posted on February 20, 2008 at 1:34 p.m.
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Comments [refresh]
The war is done. Toshiba has dropped HD-DVD, its over. Blu-ray wins.
Why am I not surprised?
I'm just glad that we can now stop saying BLURAY and just say DVD and HDDVD without actualy meaning Toshibas HD-DVD!
Whats wrong with calling it Bluray? or BD?
And I personally think it would boost PS3 sales, but wont really affect 360 sales, since the 360 just has a HD-DVD addon, which barely any of 360 owners have.
For people that don't know what either are, even an idiot can follow along if you call it HD-DVD.
Plus, it just makes more sense.
Tell that to the 233 000 people whi bought it!!
lol
Tell them what? That calling a High Definition DVD, "HDDVD" makes more sense then calling it Bluray?
Ok.
When someone call blu ray hd dvd because is a dvd who is HD... not because the name of the dead one...
Is more easy for consumers because a lot of people doesn't know the name of blu ray... many people are not in the geek thing... anyway the blu ray name and logo is a lot better
The above is all very interesting but in reality most people buy a screen and plug it in and then sit back and watch something. Cool........
However most people ( not all ) never take the time to calibrate the image correctly resulting in what you see is what you get.
I use an Oppo dvd player with upscaling and HDMI that is regarded by hifi enthusiasts worldwide to be as close you can get to HD without paying hundreds of dollars. The Oppo retails for 100 bucks. My 42" LCD softscreen as soft reacts faster that hard is calibrated correctly after using a professional series of calibration DVD's that can be rented or purchased but it takes time to do it properly.
The reason for my statement is purely to emphasize that many people can go get the latest and greatest but what they see is often not better than what others have when implemented correctly. (this is not the fault of the product)
I am not bashing the BR but the DVD is itself not dead as for the HDDVD well maybe. A good quality DVD and well calibrated screen is still for many people worldwide more than good enough. BR may well win the format war as such but then high density populations in Asia etc are not gonna go bluray for a long time. The common all garden DVD will still rule the market share. BR will of course be available but then at a price where as many people will be more than happy to buy a DVD for lower cost.
There is something very "not right" about your post. I see comments that seem like nothing more then assumptions.
Do you have an HD setup?
I don't care if you brought home a $1000 upscaling DVD player that was the worlds greatest! It might be the "closest" to HD compared to others but it's still not anywhere actually close to it. Of all the people in this thread you might be the closest to me in regards to where I live, but you could still be thousands of miles away.
All of your assumptions about how much time it takes to calibrate a TV set for HD is completely moot. You can buy ANY HD TV and run HDDVD to it with ZERO calibration and you WILL BE looking at something that is LEAPS AND BOUNDS better then DVD.
My $1,400 47" Visio looks just as good (without calibration) as my $5,000 60" Samsung (calibrated).
So as much as you claim the average consumer will simply have an out of box experience with no advanced setup, THAT'S OK! That's experience will blow your upscaled DVD setup out of the water any day. So you actually disprove your own point.
"people can go get the latest and greatest but what they see is often not better than what others have when implemented correctly."
Yeah, when you compare HD and HD. When you use this compare SD and HD, you are dead wrong.
I see this all the time. People who can't afford HD try to justify how their 480i experience can look exactly like 1080p. Even worse, they try to justify how their MPEG2 480i (highly compressed) experience is just as good. However, if they were knowledgeable enough to realize how much MISSING INFORMATION there is in their setup they would then understand how impossible of a realization that is.
The world is not america or europe.
Many people I know that do already have HD are happy but not all have a picture that is equally good as the next.
My point is that the WAR in many ways is mute. China Russia India Indonesia malaysia Africa and most of the Arabic world have a minority of rich people but most may have a tv and at best a dvd.
thats my point. And by the way my screen is HD and by the time blu has conqured 1/4 of the market network speeds will let me view the content i want.
And finally i in know way justified anything I stated very simply that I was satisfied with what I have. So why should you get upset???
Go chill out, tech is cool and i like it but this particular format war will have no real lasting impact on most of the world population for a long time yet.
So, based on your above text, that's what you MEANT to say? Wow.
Everything you said in the beginning of your comment has nothing to do with this topic. We are discussing a technology, not who can or who can not afford it. So your entire point is that because of the areas you mentioned this technology is "moot"? If that's what you think then good for you.
"And by the way my screen is HD and by the time blu has conqured 1/4 of the market network speeds will let me view the content i want."
1. Again, the content YOU want to see really has no barring on this topic. Your "network" content will be the bottom of the barrel in regards to HD. You can be perfectly fine with SD or downloaded content but when you start to try and explain how it EQUALS HD content, people like me will step in.\
2. Just so people that read this understand the full picture. YOU might be getting the SD download content you want but there is no way in hell HD digital download content will be mainstream by the time BR only has 1/4 of the market.
"So why should you get upset???"
1. Who's upset? If you took offense to my comment then that's your problem. I enjoy interjecting and making sure people get the CORRECT information so they can make informed choices.
2. I "corrected" you because I'm sick of people like you making comments about how 480i looks just as good as HD. People like "YOU" confuse the heck out of people that do not understand the technology.
i always thought the BD DVDs would win cuz they are clearly better than HD DVDs....shows were microsoft belongs....with the losers
anyways good for Sony
and to ISOHeaven - good argument
Excuse me, I never stated that one was as good or looks equal to the other.
I stated that often lesser capable systems when implemented correctly can equal better systems badly implemented.
The war in most cases has always been focused on the image quality. Second the data storage capabilities.
Both formats offer an HD quality for graphics.
"2. I "corrected" you because I'm sick of people like you making comments about how 480i looks just as good as HD. People like "YOU" confuse the heck out of people that do not understand the technology." this statement is total bull as I did not say this, and assumption is the mother of all f^%k ups.
you obviously missed this part completely
"The reason for my statement is purely to emphasize that many people can go get the latest and greatest but what they see is often not better than what others have when implemented correctly. (this is not the fault of the product)"
I stated OFTEN as in not all. and secondly I stated that it was not the fault of the product (bluray HD etc )
I also said as close as you can get which in no way means equal to, so get off your high horse and go drink some milk and then read the comments properly.
"Excuse me, I never stated that one was as good or looks equal to the other."
Oh really? And I quote:
"that many people can go get the latest and greatest but what they see is often not better than what others have when implemented correctly."
"I am not bashing the BR but the DVD is itself not dead as for the HDDVD well maybe."
You either have wild scattered thoughts or these two comments (one after the other) are in relation. You are clearly putting the DVD up against HD.
"I stated that often lesser capable systems when implemented correctly can equal better systems badly implemented."
You just got done saying you did not put the two up against each other yet here you are AGAIN putting the two up against each other. I don't know how many different forms of technology you THINK is out there right now, but in this case your comment would have to address "LESSER" as SD and "BETTER" as HD. So, if that's not what you are referring to then you are doing a horrible job at getting your point across. This is especially since you brought up the fact that you are upscaling DVDs to your HD capable screen.
"2. I "corrected" you because I'm sick of people like you making comments about how 480i looks just as good as HD. People like "YOU" confuse the heck out of people that do not understand the technology." this statement is total bull as I did not say this, and assumption is the mother of all f^%k ups."
Read above. When someone discusses how they upscale their DVDs then mentions that those with LESSER can be just as good as those with BETTER.....just admit you fubared just about everything you wrote.
"I stated OFTEN as in not all. and secondly I stated that it was not the fault of the product (bluray HD etc ) "
Even OFTEN is 100% wrong! There is ABSOLUTELY NO SCENARIO IN THE WORLD where your SD upscaling can compare with HD.
"I also said as close as you can get which in no way means equal to, so get off your high horse and go drink some milk and then read the comments properly."
You're an idiot. I read your comments just fine. I also ADDRESSED your "as close as" comment so obviously you're the one that can't read for sh1t. And I quote:
"It might be the "closest" to HD compared to others but it's still not anywhere actually close to it. Of all the people in this thread you might be the closest to me in regards to where I live, but you could still be thousands of miles away."
That was ALSO YET ANOTHER case of where you clearly judged the difference between the two. Again, as much as you claim you did not compare the two, you did....you're just a lair.
Oh and one more thing. LEARN TO USE THE REPLY LINK!!!!!!!!!!! ! You look like an idiot making a new thread over and over again especially since people can sort these threads in different ways.