I Guess Someone Didn't Get the Memo

CES 2009

I Guess Someone Didn't Get the Memo

By Fred Manteghian • Posted: Jan 5, 2008

I was actually sad, sad for a consumer electronic company, when I saw what I saw over at the convention center late Saturday afternoon. Toshiba has always been an outstanding company, from the days of making some of the better rear projection (CRT) TVs, to their headlong dive into HD DVD, a format that offered a lot, most importantly, the potential for a single SKU with their Combo format.

It's going to be a very interesting show.

Comments

Submitted by Richard deSousa on January 5, 2008 - 7:40pm.

I still don't believe Blu Ray will be the eventual winner. The US isn't the center of the high definition world. And the Europeans aren't going to let Blu Ray dominate the high definition market. They've already whacked Microsoft's attempts to monopolize the PC industry and they're also putting the squeeze on Apple's attempts to control the music industry. Even if HD DVD struggles here in the US it will still do well in Europe and Asia.

Submitted by Shane on January 5, 2008 - 8:42pm.

Uh, they already are. The BD lead in Europe is bigger than it is here. And how would supporting HD DVD, which is backed by Microsoft, please that particular continent on that basis? Cue Twilight Zone theme.

Submitted by Frank on January 5, 2008 - 9:52pm.

The fat lady has walked onto the stage...

Submitted by John on January 6, 2008 - 1:03am.

Hmm... it seems Bugs Bunny killed HD-DVD. At times like this I miss Beta-Max.

Submitted by Aron on January 6, 2008 - 3:47am.

In the long run, the fact that there was a format war probably was to our (as consumers) benefit. Or more specifically, HD-DVD, with its much better choice of encoding (VC-1), forced Blu-Ray to improve upon the initial mediocre quality of their releases. It also forced down prices of Blu-Ray players.

Submitted by dave on January 6, 2008 - 11:46am.

If you check prices the price of Sony Blu Ray players shot back up after the announcement nd the holidays. The 300 is back at $399. No more $299 or $249 or even $279

Submitted by 70sam54 on January 14, 2008 - 1:21am.

The consumers pocketbook will have the last say in which hd format will go forward and not Sony who pushes a format which is doing less than the one it says it is better than. Also blu ray players still cost a lot more than hd dvd players. Just something to think about if you get the hd movie bug.