Future of HD-DVD
Blu-Ray recently won the format war for high definition discs, which means at least going forward there is a single format for consumers to commit to, but obviously that doesn’t help all those who have HD-DVD players and discs at home. So what now?
Do you have a HD-DVD player of some description sitting at home right now?
The question for the retailers now is that you’ve got all this stock of a defunct technology, what are you going to do with it now?
Well obviously you’re going to drop the price by a third and now sell these HD-DVD players as upscaling DVD players that also has HD-DVD playback functionality, as shown by some quick listing changes made by Play.com - the genius of it!
Personally though, I’d have thought you’d be better off putting that cash towards a Blu-Ray player (or a cheap PS3) that would also upscale your dvds? - Not really an issue for me granted because I do already have a stand-alone upscaling DVD player, but I’m sure there’ll be plenty of people out there in that situation now.
What do you think? Would you want to still get a HD-DVD player as an upscaling DVD player?
For that latest information, I recommend you check out this tech news video. So what do you do to mark the passing of a media format, you hold a memorial service obviously!
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Chris Moran
Now I agree, and I saw that R.I.P. announcement on Toshiba’s site. The war is over, Blue-Ray has won… anyway, business is business, such risks are always assumed then you developing a new product or something…
As I said before - the only ones who ‘lost’ the war is customers, who already bought their HD-DVD devices at the full price
I think it will need some time for people to get addapted to with new technologies. I don’t think HD DVD players will get end up soon…That’s just my opinion.
@Chris - thanks very much for the feedback, it’s alway sgood to hear whether it’s good or bad! But thanks for subscribing to the site, I hope you enjoy reading what I have to say in my future posts!
I think it’s definitely the consumer who have lost out all along with this format war - the company’s should have come up with a combined standard from the beginning.
Going forward I think that it will definitely take several years before Blu-Ray has a decent penetration of the home video market, even with PS3s coming with a Blu-Ray drive - I think the vast majority of consumers are still perfectly happy with their DVDs, especially given the much cheaper prices in the last couple of years.
I think Toshiba as the main driver for HD DVD technology has a moral responsibility to its purchasers of HD DVD players either buy them back - or at least offer some compensation. Most people that bought HD DVD who purchased players like myself haven’t really had the opportunity to get any real value out of the player other than for upscaling standard DVD’s.
Gary - I think to a certain degree you’re right, consumers have been left with technology of limited use in what has been nothing more than an extended 2 product beta test - it would be nice if Toshiba gave something back, even if it was just a token gesture.
Zaths last blog post..Lego Indiana Jones Demo