HD DVD is dead

[Andrew]

So everyone for months has been saying it has been dieing and was confirmed over the weekend and today with an announcement.

Toshiba Announces Discontinuation of HD DVD Businesses

[Dunenewt]

I thought initially it was doing better, but in the end it just could not compete with Sony I guess.

[veK]

finally the battle is over... it was about time.

I favoured the blu ray even before it was available because of it's name... how stupid does HD-DVD sound... they should have given their product a cooler name  ;D

seriously... I'm glad and as I'm going to buy a PS3 some time in 2008 I like it even more...

[Dragoon Knight]

I'm glad the format war is over, too.  What I'm wondering is what Microsoft are going to do with their XBOX 360 HD-DVD Drive and people who have recently bought it.  I almost did.

I'm very happy that Blu-Ray was the winner, because it makes the PS3 a more valid purchase now.  And yes, it has a cooler name.  And I like blue.  Despite both formats using blue lasers, only one goes for the whole blue theme.  Pretty shallow, I know, but the benefits of bigger disc space and whatnot are good, too.

Also, I wonder what the movie companies that backed HD-DVD are going to do?  Move to Blu-Ray, presumably... will have to wait and see.

[Andrew]

I thought that blue ray was more expensive (licensing), and held less storage.

Not that it really matters, digital storage will overtake that media in the near future. 1 terabyte hard drives are around $200. That's 40 blueray discs.

I don't see many bluray burners on the market yet (if any they would be extremely expensive).

1 blank bluray disc costs around $15.

So moral of the story is that digital will win, as soon as those stupid corporations think of a legal way for me to find, purchase, and download the content I want in the format I want, when I want, irregardless of where I am located (country).

Also I hate having dozens of discs laying around. I'd rather have 2 or 3 portable hard drives to carry around.

Also there is new experimental discs that can hold 3.9 terabytes.

Holographic Versatile Disc

EDIT:

Also, I wonder what the movie companies that backed HD-DVD are going to do?  Move to Blu-Ray, presumably... will have to wait and see.

All media companies had moved to blueray (pretty easy since there are only about 5 of them). That is why hddvd died.

For me there is no point in getting bluray since I do not have a HDTV.

EDIT:

Quite frankly, things like Mythtv media centers (or any digital video recording device) will be the future.

[Andrew]

Via slashdot

Blu-ray player prices hit 2008 highs as competition dwindles

Less competition = higher prices.

But then I could care less if these early adopters have to pay more.

I guess I'm just jealous I don't have a $1000 50 inch widescreen and money to blow on $400 blueray and $30 blueray movies.

[Dunenewt]

How would I play a HDDVD on my laptop?

[Andrew]

You would need a HD DVD player in your laptop (it should have been advertised if it was able to play them).

Although it is possible to download HD DVD quality files and play them without the need for a disc drive.

[Dunenewt]

Well, I don't think it can play them, but I would like to buy the HD DVD version of Lynch's Dune, and watch it on my laptop, that's all.

[Andrew]

You're probably out of luck for now.

HD DVD players were supposed to be really cheap now (less than $100 USD)

[Andrew]

HD DVD returns and kicks Blu-ray to the gutter

Umm, so it is possible that blu-ray will die and HDDVD will become #1.

China will use HDDVD.

[veK]

you gotta be kidding me. I was so glad that the battle between those formats ended and now this. but I don't think bluray will be defeated. after the last big news about br winning over hd a lot of people have made their decision and bought a br player. also there are now a lot more ps3 user than there were about a year ago. china has many citizens but it remains 1 country while so many other countries are using a different type of highdef-medium. as long as most stuff I like to watch is being released on br I'm happy  ;)

[Khan]

I think that the article was flawed in not taken into account the fact that Blue Ray has been the only HD format for a year now. People aren't going to be very willing to change when so much money has already gone into Blue Ray. Not to mention the fact that most people won't be aware of it unless they undertake a massive advertising campaign.

Shanghai vendors will happily sell CBHD players and disks on Ebay

Also while the above may be true how many people will be happy with a shanghai ebay account being their only source for DVDs?

[Dragoon Knight]

I agree with veK and Khan on this - I highly doubt that Blu-ray is going down any time soon.  Especially with Toshiba finally cracking and making their own Blu-ray player later this year.

This will just be another thing that China does differently from the rest of the world.  No doubt the government will be able to monitor who buys what, and how many times they play it, etc. ::)