2008 Woodie Awards
R.I.P. HD DVD
Toshiba made right choice in killing format
Doug Graham
Issue date: 2/21/08 Section: After Hours
Praise the high def gods! The format war is over. HD DVD now joins the ranks of the Betamax cassette and the CED videodisc.
Look that last one up on Wikipedia.
Unfortunately, the real casualties of the war are the early adopters - those poor souls whose players, many of which cost hundreds of dollars, will be next to useless in a few months.
Toshiba, originator and chief backer of the long-suffering HD DVD format,
announced Tuesday that it plans to kill off all HD DVD production, effectively admitting defeat to rival Blu-ray disc.
Thank goodness.
Although Blu-ray is, hands-down, the better format, I would have been happy with either of them winning - as long as there was a winner at all. This could've been a repeat of the SACD vs. DVD-Audio war, a war in which the winner was good ol' compact disc.
But, as I said, Blu-ray is the better format.
That's more or less a scientific fact. Blu-ray has higher capacity - dual layer discs Blu-ray discs hold 50 gigabytes of data as compared to HD DVD's 30 - and the format allows for higher bit rates, meaning less compression and better overall audio and video quality.
The frustrating thing is, this format war was never about quality, or about what's best for the consumer. It was about studio greed. Rumors swirled at the last Consumer Electronics Expo that a number of studios, including Warner Bros., were going to jump to HD DVD exclusivity.
Last-minute wheelings and dealings - rumored to include huge payoffs - resulted in a total change of plans.
Warner announced Blu-ray exclusivity, driving the first nail into the HD DVD coffin. Within months, the coffin was sealed airtight. Wal-Mart dropping the format was probably what pushed Toshiba to make a hard decision.
But while Sony earns my kudos for winning the war with its Blu-ray format, Toshiba wins my respect for hastening the war's end. They could've limped along for another year or so, hanging on to the couple of studios still loyal to them. Rather, they did us all a favor by pulling the plug on their doomed format.
"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," said Atsutoshi Nishida, president and CEO of Toshiba Corporation, in Tuesday's press release.
Many still say standard DVD is good enough for them, and for now, it probably is. But they might very well care in the near future. It won't be long before every TV sold is high definition, and believe me, you'll be in for a surprise when you see just how limited DVD technology is compared to these new formats.
Thanks to a tough but wise decision by Toshiba, those customers who want to watch movies at home in the best quality possible now have a clear choice: Blu-ray.
Look that last one up on Wikipedia.
Unfortunately, the real casualties of the war are the early adopters - those poor souls whose players, many of which cost hundreds of dollars, will be next to useless in a few months.
Toshiba, originator and chief backer of the long-suffering HD DVD format,
announced Tuesday that it plans to kill off all HD DVD production, effectively admitting defeat to rival Blu-ray disc.
Thank goodness.
Although Blu-ray is, hands-down, the better format, I would have been happy with either of them winning - as long as there was a winner at all. This could've been a repeat of the SACD vs. DVD-Audio war, a war in which the winner was good ol' compact disc.
But, as I said, Blu-ray is the better format.
That's more or less a scientific fact. Blu-ray has higher capacity - dual layer discs Blu-ray discs hold 50 gigabytes of data as compared to HD DVD's 30 - and the format allows for higher bit rates, meaning less compression and better overall audio and video quality.
The frustrating thing is, this format war was never about quality, or about what's best for the consumer. It was about studio greed. Rumors swirled at the last Consumer Electronics Expo that a number of studios, including Warner Bros., were going to jump to HD DVD exclusivity.
Last-minute wheelings and dealings - rumored to include huge payoffs - resulted in a total change of plans.
Warner announced Blu-ray exclusivity, driving the first nail into the HD DVD coffin. Within months, the coffin was sealed airtight. Wal-Mart dropping the format was probably what pushed Toshiba to make a hard decision.
But while Sony earns my kudos for winning the war with its Blu-ray format, Toshiba wins my respect for hastening the war's end. They could've limped along for another year or so, hanging on to the couple of studios still loyal to them. Rather, they did us all a favor by pulling the plug on their doomed format.
"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," said Atsutoshi Nishida, president and CEO of Toshiba Corporation, in Tuesday's press release.
Many still say standard DVD is good enough for them, and for now, it probably is. But they might very well care in the near future. It won't be long before every TV sold is high definition, and believe me, you'll be in for a surprise when you see just how limited DVD technology is compared to these new formats.
Thanks to a tough but wise decision by Toshiba, those customers who want to watch movies at home in the best quality possible now have a clear choice: Blu-ray.
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