HD DVD is dead, long live HD DVD

February 20th, 2008 | by rey |

After a two and a half year hi-density disc storage “format war” with rival Blu-ray Disc, Toshiba Corporation, the champion of the HD DVD format, has just announced they will cease to develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders.

HD DVD was designed to be the successor to the DVD format with a disc having 15GB per layer storage capacity compared to DVDs 4.7GB per layer. Sadly this was not to be as the concurrently developed and marketed format Blu-ray Disc won the hearts of major media producers like Warner Bros. which announced they would only be supporting Blue-ray by June 2008. This announcement marked the decline of HD DVD as more media producers and retailers started announcing support for the rival format.

In terms of capacity, Blu-ray trumps HD DVD offering 20GB more for all those Director’s cut versions, Introducing the Cast bonus clips, or maybe space for 3 alternative storyline endings…

Toshiba has committed to continue stockpiling HD DVD recording media for those folks who bought players/recorders and maintain they will continue to fully support the DVD format and market DVD players/recorders.

“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. “While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality.”

This definitely clears up any confusion with what to go for if I ever see the need to buy a Hi-Def player.

The format war is over, the crown goes to Blu-ray.