Next-Gen HD Disc War is Over.

Yamagushi · Post by **Yamagushi** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 7:45 am

Though it may be a sad disappointment to some Toshiba has announced it is ending its HD-DVD line of products. Toshiba has said they will begin to phase out HD-DVD, completely removing it from shelves by March.
"We concluded that a swift decision would be best," Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida told reporters at his company's Tokyo offices.

Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida said the decision made by Warner Bros. last month to move exclusively to Blu-Ray Disc made the choice inevitable.
"That had tremendous impact," he said. "If we had continued, that would have created problems for consumers, and we simply had no chance to win."
The Warner Bros. move to Blu-Ray also brought forth a few other major production companies such as Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Co. and News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox to make the same switch to Blu-Ray only making it even worse for Toshiba.

"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." -TechRadar.com

The question still remains what will now happen to the production companies such as Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation? Well so far nobody knows, Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida said he is uncertain.

And most importantly what will happen to the more than a Million people who own a HD-DVD player, about 300,000 people who own a Xbox360 HD-DVD drive, and personal computers with HD DVD drives that total about 300,000, making up a total of almost 2 million HD-DVD players worldwide? We'll that one I can answer... Your all screwed.

Senor_Grunt · Post by **Senor_Grunt** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 7:49 am

I don't get it? What was wrong with the HD DVD drives or what was the 'Disc war'?

Yamagushi · Post by **Yamagushi** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 7:51 am

Blu-Ray discs and HD-DVD discs are 2 different brands. They are the High-Def Next-Gen movie formats. There was a war between the two over which would be the next-gen format. Blu-Ray pulled some power moves and beat out HD-DVD. There was nothing wrong with either format. Just no point in having two...

HPDarkness · Post by **HPDarkness** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:06 am

I don't like either format. I prefer digital downloads. Both formats just looks like regular movies with sharpness filters over them. But there is already a Blu-Ray DVD drive rumored for the 360. It's also rumored that Microsoft is hiring for development on the third Xbox. So if there is a third Xbox no doubt there will be a Blu-Ray drive in it.

Munsie · Post by **Munsie** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:11 am

I hope Blu-Ray is gone before the next-gen Xbox comes out.

Patrickssj6 · Post by **Patrickssj6** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:21 am

Surprise...surprise...

Dr.Cox · Post by **Dr.Cox** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:22 am

Screw format wars.... I have to buy a new xbox in the near future.... ;____; Whats wrong with the 360....

DarkShallFall · Post by **DarkShallFall** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:14 am

Dr.Cox wrote:Screw format wars.... I have to buy a new xbox in the near future.... ;____; Whats wrong with the 360....

Lmao, I don't see a new console coming out any time soon. No one has tipped the ice berg of the 360 yet. No company has really showed us what the Xbox 360 can do. I would like to see a lot better games come out before another console comes out. Besides Microsoft just came out with the first dash update since release, how many more could there be 0_0

Tural · Post by **Tural** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:35 am

Munsie wrote:I hope Blu-Ray is gone before the next-gen Xbox comes out.

And you will use what for the games and movies that don't fit on the dual layer DVDs? Blu-Ray is the de facto new format. Digital downloads are good to an extent, but I can't imagine wanting to download 10 gigs to play a game. You need the discs, and this is what you will be using. If you hope they are gone, I don't know what sort of thing you're expecting...

And as I said[size=0](lawl, cheap plug)[/size], I was sick of the format wars. I'm glad it's over, and I'm glad to say I decided to wait before choosing a device. I saved hundreds of dollars on the player and discs, at the opportunity cost of watching some movies in HD. I'd say it was the smart move.

Munsie · Post by **Munsie** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:37 am

Eh, Blu-Ray is just really associated with PS3. I'm one of those guys that takes pride in the console he plays.

Tural · Post by **Tural** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:39 am

That's a rather shallow reason.

Munsie · Post by **Munsie** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:39 am

Sadly, yes.

Kirk · Post by **Kirk** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:14 pm

I never saw what was so great about HD-DVD in the first place, it seemed like blu-ray beat it in all the comparisons I saw.. Maybe I'm missing something here?

ScottyGEE · Post by **ScottyGEE** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:05 pm

The only way I saw how to get HDDVD in Australia was the 360 addon...Blu ray has a bigger impact here (albeit still small compared to dvd)...So I don't care about hddvd dropping.

The only thing I want is a bluray addon for the 360 and cheaper blu ray movies (some can be as expensive as $50 AUD)

GametagAeonFlux · Post by **GametagAeonFlux** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:15 pm

ScottyGEE wrote:The only thing I want is a bluray addon for the 360 and cheaper blu ray movies (some can be as expensive as $50 AUD)

Bleeding edge technology is always expensive...DVDs were extremely costly when they first started being released as well.

ScottyGEE · Post by **ScottyGEE** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:18 pm

I know, but it doesn't stop me from wanting it to be cheaper

ExileLord · Post by **ExileLord** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:24 pm

Neither have won in all honesty. Most people don't even have hdtvs in their houses and it would seem rather absurd for them to buy a high definition player. DVD is going to be commanding for a long time due to the low price of the players and discs.

While it looks like it's going to become the standard more than anything else, Bluray still has a lot of issues that need to be worked out.

TomClancey · Post by **TomClancey** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:25 pm

Doesn't Blu-Ray hold 25 GB per layer, whilst HD-DVD only has 15 GB?

And, same here Tural, I was tempted to buy an HD-DVD driver for my computer, but wanted to wait to be sure which one to get.

FleetAdmiralBacon · Post by **FleetAdmiralBacon** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:47 pm

Finally. Didn't particularly care about the outcome (though as a PS3 owner, and not having an HD-DVD drive for my 360, I was leaning towards Blu-Ray), but I was waiting for it to be over.

Thinking back to how VHS won that format war, I'm happy this didn't come to such extreme measures (though I guess it really couldn't thanks to the Internet...)

shadowkhas · Post by **shadowkhas** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 2:49 pm

I'm with Tural and ExileLord. Glad I waited, and even now, I'm not going to suddenly run out and buy Blu-Ray discs en masse. And even as I was typing that sentence, I was about to write "Blue-Ray DVDs..." :p

If anything, Blu-Ray would affect me most in gaming. It can hold the most data on a disc. I much rather prefer to watch movies in theatres than to have them to myself.