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01 Feb 2008
Toshiba's discounting strategy on its HD-DVD players is a futile gesture in a battle with Blu-ray that is "all but over", according to analysts.
Toshiba cut pricing on its HD-DVD players in US retail outlets last month, but Gartner reckons that the game is already up.
"Toshiba's price cutting may prolong HD-DVD's life a little, but the limited line-up of film titles will inflict fatal damage on the format," said Hiroyuki Shimizu in Gartner's Semiconductor DQ Monday Report.
"Gartner expects that, by the end of 2008, Blu-ray will be the winning format in the consumer market."
The analyst firm stated that Blu-ray will become the next-generation replacement for DVDs, defeating HD-DVD in the consumer market by the end of the year.
Toshiba's price-cutting move followed the decision by Warner Bros to ditch HD-DVD in favour of Blu-ray, giving Blu-ray the upper hand in terms of movie content.
Just two of the seven major Hollywood studios, Paramount and Universal, now back the HD-DVD format.
Microsoft is widely expected to be one of the losers should the HD-DVD format fail to gain significant traction in the consumer market.
The software giant currently uses HD-DVD on the Xbox 360, but would be forced to switch to Blu-ray to enable users to play high-definition games.
This would be a huge blow to Microsoft as the Blu-ray disc was developed by arch rival Sony specifically for the PlayStation 3.
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Do you agree?
misinformed
The Xbox 360 does not require an HD DVD drive for 'high definition' games and has been offering HD content from the onset of production. Microsoft has also announced that it's quite happy to offer Blu-Ray drives if the time comes and has already offered to license HDi to Sony for Blu-Ray interactive content.
Posted by: Di Fiasco 07 Feb 2008
Bly ray adoption is stupidity
At this point in time there are so many problems with Blu ray it is not worth the investment. Perhaps it will be worth looking at in several more years when the standard finally settles and is enforced, but until then any player investment is a waste of money.
Posted by: Fritz_l 03 Feb 2008
BluRay Doomed Also
Contrary to Gartner's prophecy, by the end of 2008 BOTH HD optical disc formats will be replaced by high speed HD downloads. Projections by year end suggest download times less than one minute. If you don't believe this will ko optical media, I guess you're still sporting a Walkman !!
Posted by: BDRand 02 Feb 2008
two clarifications
The Xbox 360 does not use HD-DVD; it uses a conventional DVD. Microsoft offers an optional (at extra cost) HD-DVD player for those who want to use the system as a hi-def player. Sony did not design Blu-Ray specifically for the PS3 -- they designed it to enter the HD market in general. They made the separate decision to include it in the PS3.
Posted by: Norm C. 02 Feb 2008