A Toshiba source confirmed a report by public broadcaster NHK that Toshiba will drop the format, according to Reuters. The unnamed source reportedly said, “We have entered the final stage of planning to make our exit from the next generation DVD business.”
Assuming Toshiba bails out of the format wars, that leaves Microsoft as the only powerhouse to carry the banner for HD DVD. Microsoft, whose HDi technology is the basis of HD DVD’s interactivity, has supported only HD DVD on its Xbox 360.
The software giant said earlier this year that it would consider Blu-ray for the gaming console.
Niveus, possibly the first vendor to integrate HD DVD into the Vista Media Center environment, announced last week that it would drop the format and go all-Blu-ray.
http://www.cepro.com/article/t...d_dvd/
However, Toshiba says...
Toshiba is sticking with HD DVD for now. And in this case, “for now” means this minute.
“There have been media reports that Toshiba will discontinue its HD DVD business,” a Toshiba spokesman told the BBC. “In fact, Toshiba has not made any announcement or decision. We are currently assessing our business strategies, but nothing has been decided at the moment.”
A company official, speaking on condition of anonymity, says a board meeting on the issue could be held as soon as Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
The high-def format war started to turn in January when Warner announced it would no longer release movies in HD DVD. Blu-ray gained even more momentum last week, following news that Best Buy, Netflix and Wal-Mart would support that format.
There’s no doubt Toshiba is feeling the financial pressure. Toshiba shares surged more than 5% this morning amidst the speculation it was dumping HD DVD.
http://www.electronichouse.com...d_dvd/
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