Written by Liz Gannes
Posted Sunday, February 17, 2008 at 12:06 PM PT

HD DVD: 2003-2008

This eulogy is going to be pretty short because, like many people, I didn’t really care about the high-definition DVD format wars. But according to Reuters and (somewhat less conclusively) Kyodo news (via Bloomberg), HD DVD developer Toshiba will give up its hundreds-of-million-dollar HD DVD player and recorder business. That means Sony-backed Blu-ray is going to be the high-definition DVD format of choice, going forward.

Reuters’ Toshiba source said the effort would not be a total loss for the company, as it learned it would have to improve its marketing efforts. Toshiba had only just run a Super Bowl ad two weeks ago. The company had (along with NEC) its HD DVD format approved in 2003, and in 2006 released its first HD DVD player.

Blu-ray has emerged victorious in this year’s skirmishes, with everyone from Netflix to Best Buy to Wal-Mart taking its side, following Warner Home Video in January.

Sphere Tweet This

Topic: Hardware

Comments (1)

Rip Blue Ray 2012

Matt_ — 3:19 PM on February 17, 2008 Reply

Linkbacks (4)

[...] Brings HD — Do You Want It? With the battle over high-definition DVDs now decided, the HD debate shifts back to the web, where once again we ask if HD online matters. [...]

Dailymotion Brings HD — Do You Want… — 8:31 PM on February 18, 2008
[...] anything of length on YouTube and you will start to feel very bored. With the battle over high-definition DVDs now decided, Blue Ray winning via Sony’s deep pockets , the HD debate shifts back to the web, [...]

Gareth Murran Blog » Blog Archive … — 3:35 AM on February 19, 2008
[...] technologies are sowing the seeds of a new standards war. And standards wars stink. Whether between Blu-Ray and HD DVD or the varying shades of Ultra-Wideband technologies, when the fight centers on technologies, [...]

Wireless HD is the New Front in a Standards… — 12:01 PM on June 16, 2008
[...] Big Week for Blu-ray, But Is It Enough? It’s been a year and a half since Blu-ray toppled HD DVD to win the high-def DVD format war. While Blu-ray won that battle, it hasn’t exactly set the [...]

A Big Week for Blu-ray, But Is It Enough… — 9:18 AM on August 13, 2009