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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

CBHD, née CH-DVD — the Chinese version of the now-deceased HD DVD format — is in production, gearing up for a fourth quarter launch. DigiTimes cites reports from enorth.com.cn that Shanghai United Optical Disc has laid out the first production line, although Taiwanese disc makers (already burned by HD DVD) aren’t as confident it can take on Blu-ray, even with considerably lower royalty fees and hardware costs for disc replicators. Coming alongside news that Chinese-built Blu-ray players based on increasingly affordable hardware is on the way, plus a decided lack of studio support, it’s not hard to see how this one will turn out (again.) Not to underrate China’s national pride, but unless it can gain an unexpected foothold among DVD pirates, CBHD will probably be on the high definition scrap heap alongside HD DVD, EVD and the rest before long.

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Source: Richard Lawler

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Best Buy is following Future Shop, Circuit City and others in reaching out to casualties of the format war. In this case, anyone who bought an HD DVD player from Best Buy before February 23, 2008 can request a complimentary $50 gift card for each player. For those too traumatized to even look at their discontinued hardware and software, Best Buy also announced it’s adding HD DVD players and media to its Trade-In Center program, starting March 21. No word on how much a player can net you, but once its updated, check BestBuyTradeIn.com to get an estimate and decide how much holding onto the past is worth.

[Thanks, Harmin C.]
Update: Best Buy just issued a press release with more information about the more than $10 million in gift cards it plans to distribute, and more details on how to make sure you get yours, check it out after the break.Continue reading Best Buy offers HD DVD owners $10 million in gift cards, trade in, shoulder to cry on

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Source: Richard Lawler

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

While entering a format war is still worthy of a cautionary tale or two — Sony, you may have been on a winning side this time, but we remember Betamax — Toshiba appears to have escaped the fall of HD DVD a bit more intact than expected. Its official forecast for the financial year shows a loss of 65 billion yen ($669 million U.S.), a bit less than the ¥100b/ $1b U.S. figure anticipated last week. Unfortunately, the company as a whole is expecting slightly lower profits, so former red campers may not want to light cigars just yet.

Update: That’s actually 65 billion yen PLUS an additional one-time charge of 45 billion yen for a grand total ¥110b ($1.12 billion) going the wrong way in 2007’s books. Hey Toshiba, uh, you guys want a Best Buy gift card?

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Source: Richard Lawler

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

We had an inkling that the format war was soon to be over when Warner announced it was going Blu-ray just before CES and HD DVD canceled its press conference, but we didn’t realize how quickly things would come to an abrupt end. It looks like Toshiba CEO Atsutoshi Nishida was decisive in ending the battle, telling the Wall Street Journal that HD DVD didn’t stand a chance after Warner left, and that if HD DVD wasn’t “going to win then we had to pull out, especially since consumers were already asking for a single standard.” That’s interesting, especially since Toshiba issued all those jilted-lover press releases as former partners defected and continued to waffle for another month or so and even air a Super Bowl ad, but we suppose PR people can’t go running around saying things like “One has to take calculated risks in business, but it’s also important to switch gears immediately if you think your decision was wrong,” like the CEO can. Of course, the CEO probably shouldn’t be saying Toshiba’s upconverting DVD players are so good “consumers won’t be able to tell the difference from HD DVD images” either, but give the man a break — he’s still in mourning.

[Thanks, ogscorpion]

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Source: Nilay Patel

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

While even the most steadfast red fans have accepted things are over for HD DVD, it appears Dreamworks Animation isn’t able to let the format war go. Even though Paramount seems to have found a way out from under its exclusivity deal, Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg told Reuters he still needs to hear from Toshiba what to do with the truckloads of money HD DVD gave them about its agreement before making any Blu-ray release plans. He seems (to be the only one) worried about the upcoming DVD release of Bee Movie and what will happen there. An analyst quoted said they should certainly have this taken care of by the holiday season, which would only be six to eight months after HD DVD manufacturing has ceased to be. We have a feeling it won’t take that long long to turn Shrek Blu.

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Source: Richard Lawler

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Laptops

While many stores are slashing down HD DVD player prices as much as management will allow, it seems that one diehard supporter is casting a blind eye to the whole format war meltdown. Rock — which tooted its own horn after making HD DVD standard on many of its laptops — hasn’t changed its approach one iota. Even now, the firm is still offering up internal HD DVD drives (and writers) in a plethora of its machines, and curiously enough, there’s not even an option to select a Blu-ray or combo player. C’mon Rock, we know you’re just trying to clear out inventory, but at least give prospective buyers a choice in the matter, would ya?

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Gaming, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Well scratch that rumor about a dramatic price drop: according to Microsoft’s Gamerscore blog, Microsoft and Toshiba are discontinuing the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive. So long friend, we’ll see you in the next life (or in the bargain bin at Good Will soon enough).

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Source: Ryan Block

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Filed under: Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Look, we’re not out to whip the proverbial dead horse, but after taking a long, critical look at how the format war played out from day one, it’s just too inviting to not take a step back and ponder how things could’ve been different. Looking back, we noticed numerous scenarios where it truly looked as if HD DVD had this whole thing wrapped up, and while analysts galore boasted that this grueling war would go on for eons, now we’re staring the other camp in the face as the victor. Believe it or not, folks voluntarily caught up in all of this are quite passionate — shocking, we know — and we’ve all ideas players from both sides would have liked to see a few different moves made along the way.

From the get-go, Toshiba proudly proclaimed that its format wasn’t a work-in-progress, and while Profile changes left early Blu-ray owners out of luck when trying to access more advanced features, sales numbers just seemed to always fall in Blu’s favor. Truth be told, we know many of you simply wish the two would’ve nailed down a pact from day one and cranked out a single next-generation format, but being that said scenario didn’t exactly pan out, how would you have done things to change the outcome of the format war? Would you have tweaked the approach of either side to get this mess over with months ago? Do you feel the “best” camp won out? And would you have bit the bullet and offered up a combo drive in the Xbox 360 if you flew the flag in Redmond? We’ve all ideas this one’s going to get raucous in no time flat, but for everyone’s sake, try to think more with your mind and less with your heart, cool?

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Source: Darren Murph

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