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Hardware Universal Studios Goes Blu-ray Disc
Marcus Yam (Blog) - February 20, 2008 7:11 AM

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54 comment(s) - last by jadedeath.. on Feb 20 at 10:51 PM

Universal Studios jumps on the Blu-ray bandwagon.

Universal Studios opens up to Blu-ray Disc following HD DVD defeat

In case there was any doubt of the end of HD DVD, Universal Studios Home Entertainment told the press today that it will begin releasing its movies on Blu-ray Disc.

“The path for widespread adoption of the next-generation platform has finally become clear. Universal will continue its aggressive efforts to broaden awareness for hi-def’s unparalleled offerings in interactivity and connectivity, at an increasingly affordable price,” said Craig Kornblau, Universal Studios Home Entertainment President.

Universal Studios was the only studio to unequivocally support HD DVD since the format’s inception, with the picture company’s executive vice president, Ken Graffeo, also serving as the co-president of the HD DVD Promotional Group. Now that Toshiba dropped HD DVD the movie company has little choice but to release on Blu-ray Disc.

“The emergence of a single, high-definition format is cause for consumers, as well as the entire entertainment industry, to celebrate. While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray,” added Kornblau.

Universal on Tuesday released American Gangster on HD DVD, which may be its last new release on the format. The only other upcoming release on Universal’s calendar is catalog title Fletch, currently set for March 11.

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but where are the $150 players?

By RamarC on 2/20/08, Rating: 0

RE: but where are the $150 players?

By SkeeterLDR2004 on 2/20/2008 8:38:18 AM , Rating: 2

Now that the format war is over, I think we'll start to see more consumer demand for high-definition video players which should turn more hardware manufacturers on to making Blu-Ray players. Its less risky for your second rate manufacturers to come on board and make their own generic players. That isn't to say that you'll see a Memorex Blu-Ray play on sale at Target for $99.99 next month, but I suspect that by Christmas, prices will be in the $100 - $200 range while the ps3 is probably still going to be priced over $300.

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By SavagePotato on 2/20/2008 9:28:46 AM , Rating: 5

Of course there will. The problem is Toshiba's pricing strategy has everyone thinking that anyone should be able to sell $100 players.

It's very clear now why that isn't the case, Toshiba was losing money, lots of money, keeping hd-dvd afloat eating all that cost. Thats a big part of why it lost. The various non bda player manufacturers are simply not going to sell players at a loss, why do you think no one but Toshiba was making players?

Player prices can and will drop very naturally under market competition between the different CE manufacturers. When I bought my first DVD player it was ridiculous, I payed over $500 once i got a couple movies with it. I still have that player, a Hitachi, works well but slow load times and menus.

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By Master Kenobi

(blog) on 2/20/2008 9:52:29 AM , Rating: 2

Yes, but it will be several years before we see prices drop to the 100-150 range. In the meantime we will be lucky if we can get them for ~300. The range seems to be 300-400 currently for BR players. This is a bit steep for most people.

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By Samus on 2/20/08, Rating: 0

RE: but where are the $150 players?

By BansheeX on 2/20/2008 10:36:02 AM , Rating: 4

Giving you the $150 mark for the recent firesale, and with $300 blu-ray players on the market, you have a 100% current premium at best. I don't know where you're pulling this "300%" figure out from, but it probably doesn't smell too good. The truth is that anyone who picked blu-ray now at $300 will have paid the same as you picking a $150 losing player and a $150 blu-ray player a year from now. So who got the better deal again?

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By Spuke on 2/20/2008 4:36:23 PM , Rating: 1

quote:
So who got the better deal again?

You must be using that NEW math. $150 < $400. $400 being the current cost for a Bluray player you can actually buy today. I heard about a $350 BD player coming out but it's not out yet and it's $350 not $300. I paid $98 for my HD DVD player. I will not buy a BD player until the prices hit $98. That's a total of $196. Throw in tax and it comes out to $214.

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By Spuke on 2/20/08, Rating: -1

RE: but where are the $150 players?

By jadedeath on 2/20/2008 10:51:04 PM , Rating: 2

Simple:

The Expensive players are a good thing for consumers because buying into an expensive player you'll see a format that will still be supported by not only manufacturers but studios due to the fact that they'll be making money on selling the players and the media instead of unnaturally dropping the price and convincing a bunch of ass-forward thinking fools that a new format {2 years in} should cost about as much as a high-end DVD player.

Facts are: Toshiba sold the shit out of their firesold $99 players and it ended up being a catch 22, if Toshiba absorbed the cost of the Wal-Mart sold players then they were losing money on the players, if Wal-Mart took on the losses resulting in selling the players, then it's no wonder that Wal-Mart was one of the first in line to drop Toshiba like an angry ex-girlfriend.

Logan

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By SavagePotato on 2/20/2008 12:07:44 PM , Rating: 2

Absolutely not. that's just crazy. CE manufacturer competition will drive prices below $200 by chrismas at the latest.

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By Belard on 2/20/2008 1:54:02 PM , Rating: 5

Its not steep for most people. It seems that way because Toshiba artifically sold their players cheap at $200 or less, well under actual cost of the unit.

After Christmas, The A3/A2s 1080i players went back to $300. A $50~100 less than basic blu playres and $100 less than a PS3. (Perhaps Sony should make a non-console looking PS3 as well)

Avg 40~50" 1080P TVs are $1500~2500. A $300~400 player (sometimes free) isn't expensive and of course not 3-400% more expensive than Toshiba. 60"+ TVs that are $5000~6500, the owner isn't exactly going to go "NO WAY! That $400 player is way too expensive! It'll bust my budget!"

1985 - age 15, I bought my own new VCR, mono. $400. 1989, I bought $800+ top end HiFi VCR. 2000, I bought my first affordable $285 DVD player. Got sick of watching movies from a noisy PC. Whne the PS3 and more Blu-Ray players started hitting the market, the A2 went from $400 to $300... so thanks to BLU, many people paid well under $400 for these players.

Check this out, April 07, Toshiba drops the price of the 6month old A2 DOWN to $400. The HD-fanatics of today talk about $400 being WAY to expensive, forgetting that the A2s were originally $400~$500. What caused the price drop? PS3 and lower end Blue players hitting the market.
See here :http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/20/toshiba-drops-h... (And in the responses, people are already seeing HD in trouble)

Heres a good promo page for 2nd Gen players: http://www.bigscreen.com/journal.php?id=252 $500 for the A2. So in almost a year, the price went from $500 > $120. *THAT* might have HURT HD-DVD more than help it. They might have de-valued themselves which didn't impress the studios. And many of us saw it as an act of desperation - which it was.
Also notice, Toshiba had their $800~$1000 players too.

If there was no Blu-Ray players on the market, the A3 might not even be on the market until this christmas and would have been a $400 player. That would have been NORMAL introduction and price adjustments for new technology.

There are about 15 non PS3 players to choose from now (not including discontinued models) compared to the last 3 Toshibas models and Venturer. In 6o days, there will be at least another 4 players coming to market. By Christmas, there maybe 30 total, Toshiba will have 2 Blu-Ray players by then. That is competition! Compared to a few Toshibas, SONYs and PS3s fighting a format war.

We should see some AVG $300 players and some on sale for under $200 during Christmas.... 10 months away.

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By ViperROhb34 on 2/20/2008 10:08:09 PM , Rating: 1

I think the REAL REASON HD-DVD lost was neither format was selling well, Blu Ray better then HD-DVD - but COMBINED they only accounted for .80 of 1 percent of all MOVIE SALES! The best selling movie '300' sold about 350K units if you combine both Bluray AND HD-DVD - while its DVD counterpart sold something like 14 million.. HUGE difference considering that was HD's best seller.

Movie Studios were losing money and said-
"Look we have to choose one now or both will die"
The most upside was Bluray.

They made a choice to give one format a 'decent 'chance to survive..

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By melgross on 2/20/08, Rating: -1

RE: but where are the $150 players?

By Noya on 2/20/2008 10:08:27 AM , Rating: 2

Did you look at your link?

The cheapest one is a refurb at $250+ shipping...

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By Samus on 2/20/2008 10:27:09 AM , Rating: 2

And it's a samsung. When's the last time Samsung did any optical machine right?

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By powerincarnate on 2/20/2008 10:54:29 AM , Rating: 3

That's the problem with some people, they fail to realize that they are buying new tech. New Tech is not cheap. Don't Let the poor business practices of Toshiba fool you to believe that it is cheap. A 100 dollar HD-DVD player is cheaper than some regular DVD players. A 150 dollar HD-DVD player is cheaper than some multidisc upconverting DVD player. Toshiba just 3 months removed from Black Friday already announce their defeat, 3 MONTHS, how long were they gonna last with practices like that. They started to adopt the console strategy of selling it at a loss with hopes that people will buy the movies to make up for it. Problem is, they were Giving away movies as well. Tons of 5 free movies, tons of BOGO sales all while it still didn't put a dent on Blu-Ray.

Now if you view it as new tech, just like the $600 Iphone, now the highest model is $400, just like the Nokia N95, 800 bucks, now that very model is in the $450 range while the top model is hovering in the $700 range. Just like a top of the like G5 Apple computer hovering in the $2000 range, just like Neo geo was 600 bucks, just like a black and white Ipod with 20 or 30 gigs several years ago was 400 bucks. Just like jordans were expensive, Graphic cards that were once 600 bucks, couple years later is 200 bucks. You people are smart, you've been alive long enough to know how this works. blue ray is New, High Definition is just catching on, you want it Pay up. I wanted a 1920x1200 24 inch LCD monitor 2-3 years ago, but it was like 1600 bucks, plus had poor response time and other things. 2-3 years later, for $450 bucks I got my 24 inch monitor and it has much better reponse time and features. So if you guys wait, chances are you too will have a much cheaper player, that has much better capabilities (profile 2.0, 8x instead of 2 or 4X, multidisk instead of single disk and so on). Remember how expensive HD-TVs use to be, Now look. But What you can't do is go back 4 years ago, and aks, Why can't I find my 40 or 50 inch LCD HDTV that is 1080P for 700 bucks, it just doesn't exist, unless the company feels like being in debt for half a decade.

Oh, and I like how history teaches us some lessons. Boy did reporters of various magazines, talk TV, and internet new Slammed Sony and the PS3 for having a new tech called Blu-Ray in it's system. As if they completely forgot what the PS2 did for mass adoption of the DVD standard. The PS3 is the all around most advance system out there, and due to the tech inside, it came at a high price, this led to a Slow adoption. They knew that, but Sony's strategy unlike the competition which bowed out after 3.5 years with the original XBOX, had a vision of 10 years, the same vision they had with the PS2, which now will definitely reach that 10 year mark. Whose laughing now, it's all but assured that the 360 will end up the Loser of this console generation, while the PS3 will have an upward battle against the Wii, but if stores like Best Buy become successful in promoting the PS3 over any cheap 150 dollar player that might come their way, then they may end up number 1. Sometimes it takes Patience.

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By Spuke on 2/20/2008 4:48:58 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
Don't Let the poor business practices of Toshiba fool you to believe that it is cheap.

Oh yes, making something affordable where normal people can buy them is poor business practice. Right. Keep wasting your money on something that will be cheap with better features in a few years! The savvy buyers among us appreciate your efforts!!!

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By Chaser on 2/20/2008 6:20:41 PM , Rating: 2

He was savvy enough not to waste money on a now dead format.

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By powerincarnate on 2/20/2008 8:54:44 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
Oh yes, making something affordable where normal people can buy them is poor business practice. Right. Keep wasting your money on something that will be cheap with better features in a few years! The savvy buyers among us appreciate your efforts!!!

No said said it can't be cheap so that normal people can buy it, its just that when it is feasible they will do it. Like I mentioned with other examples, from LCD TVs and Monitors, to Ipods and Iphones, to cameras and Consoles, they start expensive and slowly get reduced, especially with competition. like when cheaper companies get their on it. It will drop down in price, but It isn't wise to make a 150 dollar player if you are going to lose boatloads of money. If that is the case, the person that makes 20,000 dollar per year may ask, when are they coming to $50. Unfortunately, you can't please everyone at the same time. Just like there are some late console buyers who just now are starting to buy the PS2 because it's cheap, just like it is just recently some people got rid of their VCRs because DVD players finally became dirt cheap is the same way there will always be groups of people that can't even afford $150 players and need to wait longer to switch.

Plus like the person said after you, I was Savy enough to Not waste my money on a Format We all knew Deep down in our hearts was going to be a failed format. Like I've mentioned before, If you are going to be an earlier adopter then you better be prepared to face either A. First generation manufacturing problems, B. way cheaper prices several months later, C. In the case of a war, your format Loses, or D. in half a year, something is much better in the way of better specs, faster load time, quicker read time and so forth.

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By ViperROhb34 on 2/20/2008 10:19:18 PM , Rating: 2

I have both PS3 and 360.. not a Wii, not sure if I ever will..

The original Xbox never had a 10 yr vision.
It was an experiment by MS really. The 360 is a gaming console alone... I own a PS3 now for the Bluray. The PS3's cell is more advanced, but its video card and memory system is weaker then 360's - so its really a wash. Those who beleive either system is that powerful are wrong. Both have many games that aren't in true HD- because truthfully neither system - especially the PS3 - can't handle 60 FPS at a resolution at true HD if the graphics are complex.

360 is averaging 7 games per console- while PS3 is only around 3 games.

If the PS3 outsells the 360 by one million consoles a year for the next 6.5 yrs.. they'll only break even with 360 since 360 is nearly 7 million consoles ahead.

MS set out to get a bigger fanbase and bigger developer support and so far they have probably quadrupled sales and done more then that in game sales. Basically the Xbox1 made no profit and the 360 is profitable.

Lastly, Id like to see both consoles succeed, even Nintendo, because it keeps prices down.

Thing is you say Xbox will be the loser. I actually think the new Xbox in 2010 will make the PS3 look weak... and probably include a bluray player which will force SOny to abandon the 10 yr plan for PS3.

I always thought PS2 would last 8 to 10 yrs.. mainly because the 1st solid 4 yrs of PS2's life - it never had any real competition .. No competition has a way of making consoles last.

Right now Nintendo has surpassed SOny in company value as of 6 months ago.. MS is worth 3 times more then SOny..
Sony would love to have MS join the bluray camp.. if BLuray survives.. Im sure they will.. especially as tech prices drop..

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By ViperROhb34 on 2/20/2008 10:39:41 PM , Rating: 2

One more thing.
Its not even the console sales that make it a success/ falure.. even though 360 is ahead by nearly 7 million consoles - what make it a winner - is it gained IMMENSE support of the previous generation - and leading next gen consoles in games per console - thats where Sony, Nintendo and MS all want to be leading since they make siginificant money from games.

Id like to see Bluray survive. I think movie studios had to choose one format - because both were likely losing money for studios - combined both formats accounted for less then 1% of movie sales - that sucks. At least now one format has a chance to survive, but a few friends think another format or digital downloads will take over the bluray idea since more media can be stored on a hardrive and re-recorded faster and easier.

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By FITCamaro on 2/20/2008 11:00:38 AM , Rating: 2

While Samsung's PC optical drives are questionable in my mind, their DVD players and what not are excellent.

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By BansheeX on 2/20/08, Rating: -1

RE: but where are the $150 players?

By 777 on 2/20/2008 3:47:39 PM , Rating: 3

quote:
will there ever be a blu-ray player cheaper than the ps3?

Huh??? The Sony BDP 300 IS less than a PS3 player, our company bought one for $275.00. I guess I need to remind you guys that when DVD came out there wasn't $99.00 players for a couple of years. The Market grew slowly in the beginning as it is with Hi-def. All this whinning about $100.00 players is lame. Blu-ray is a brand new technology from the ground up, HD-DVD WAS not, it was a upgrade from DVD. Be patient the prices will come down this year in fact. Nobody seemed to whine about the fact a few years ago how expensive it was to buy a Hi-def monitor and still is to get a really good one.

quote:
In the meantime we will be lucky if we can get them for ~300.

I can almost guarntee you will see a $200.00 player by Christmas, maybe not $100, that will happen in 09 if the market starts to buy in by the masses and that's still the question. I think now that everyone is behind Blu the general public will be saturized with info and advertising about this Hi-def format, and in turn they will start to jump in by the masses bringing prices down.

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By sgtdisturbed47 on 2/20/2008 4:30:30 PM , Rating: 2

There will, but not right away. HD DVD players were dropped to $150 because of the imminent format war defeat, and was done as a last-ditch effort to sell units.

Blu-Ray players will remain in their current price range due to the fact that there is going to be even less competition for HD movie discs, so a price-drop is not necessary. Blu-Ray units will still be sold at their current price as people will still be buying them.

It WOULD be nice to have Blu-Ray players at a more affordable price, and a lot more units would end up being sold, but the market needs to even out a bit more and things need to calm down beforehand.

I'm glad to see that the format war is nearing its end, but it is not really over yet. There are still other movie studios that are HD DVD exclusive, and some studios may not make the switch to BR right away. Thing is, it's really not news that a studios has switched from HD DVD exclusivity to Blu-Ray, seeing as the HD DVD format is on its way down. Not news at all. It's to be expected. I could give a clever analogy as to why that happens, but my wife keeps bugging me and I can't think straight.

Anyway, we will be seeing more studios steadily making their way to the BR format.

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RE: but where are the $150 players?

By Spuke on 2/20/2008 4:51:46 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
I'm glad to see that the format war is nearing its end, but it is not really over yet.

The HD format war is done. The only thing that remains to be seen is whether or not the general public decides to move from DVD to BD.

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good in hind sight.

By jadeskye on 2/20/2008 7:43:26 AM , Rating: 3

While i personally was backing HD-DVD. i'm pleased that now theres a winner i'll be able to get 99% of my favourite titles on a HD format.

RE: good in hind sight.

By probedb on 2/20/2008 8:13:25 AM , Rating: 2

I'm the same as you.

At the end of the day consumers need a single format to prevent confusion over hi-def discs.

Downloadable content will come next but when you have broadband as slow as it is over here for many people it ain't gonna happen any time soon!

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RE: good in hind sight.

By therealnickdanger on 2/20/2008 8:33:20 AM , Rating: 2

Yup, I love HD stuff. I mainly supported HD-DVD because it was the cheaper format and had most of the movies I wanted. I just hope that the shift to all Blu doesn't result in a price hike for my media.

I only hope that this doesn't bring an end to hybrid players. I'd like to see manufacturers (on the high end) eventually release a full-spec, dual-format player with a HQV-class processor.

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RE: good in hind sight.

By melgross on 2/20/2008 9:51:35 AM , Rating: 2

Hybrid players are dead. It costs much more to produce them for several reasons. One is that royalties from licensing fees have to be paid to both camps rather than to just one.

Then there is the electronic and mechanical problems to overcome.

Too much money now, for no return.

It would be better to wait until an HD-DVD player becomes available for $75, or possibly even lower, and store it against the day when yours breaks down, and costs too much to fix (if at all possible).

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RE: good in hind sight.

By Nightskyre on 2/20/2008 11:50:55 AM , Rating: 1

Ding!

Wrong!

http://www.dailytech.com/LG+to+Continue+HD+DVD+Sup...

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RE: good in hind sight.

By theapparition on 2/20/2008 12:05:54 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
One is that royalties from licensing fees have to be paid to both camps rather than to just one.

With Toshiba's announcement also came the relevation that licensing for HD-DVD will be free and open. So no issues with royalties.

In the end though, I agree, why make a player when 100% of new titles in the following months will be BR only.

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Ennui .....

By crystal clear on 2/20/2008 8:07:50 AM , Rating: 2

The endless articles on the formats wars produced an unbearable Ennui .....

RE: Ennui .....

By dflynchimp on 2/20/2008 8:53:29 AM , Rating: 2

yes, but you have to remember it takes more than one nail to seal a coffin lid, and all the major tech news outlets have been oh so keen on driving those nails in lately...

I haven't made the HD jump yet, and since I'm not affiliated with any of the parties involved this wasn't my war to cheer nor my victory to savor. It's silly letting our inner fanboism (we all have it) get out of hand and drive us to bicker non-stop just because we spent the dough on something and *therefore* we think we are obliged to defend that purchase.

Years ago, my dad as a too stood on the sideline as VHS and Beta-max dueled it out. Being the cheap-ass that he was (it runs in the family, via yours truly) he waited till the war was over and done with before buying anything. An amusing note is that Beta-max lost the format war when my dad was 20, and I'm 20 right now...oh the karma...

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RE: Ennui .....

By crystal clear on 2/20/2008 9:18:00 AM , Rating: 1

Marcus Yam should be now writing this-

I sensed that it was time to step back, take stock, and try to untangle and think through a series of events, a great many of which I had either undergone with impassioned abandon or been asked to write about with factitious enthusiasm (a constant temptation for cultural critics who are expected to celebrate the new).

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RE: Ennui .....

By rockyct on 2/20/2008 3:12:36 PM , Rating: 2

Well, I'm sure your dad also sat out because it's hard to afford a $1,000 video player when you're 20.

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More Fallout

By eye smite on 2/20/2008 8:25:02 AM , Rating: 4

I don't imagine any of us are surprised at the additional fallout at this point. I guess the real question is, will they make the players affordable. hehe

RE: More Fallout

By Hiawa23 on 2/20/2008 8:35:49 AM , Rating: 2

I had no issues supporting both. What I couldn't get on BR I got on HD DVD. Only really bought the HD DVD player for Transformers. I hope the HD DVD prices drop so I can get more movies cheap, but it's good there's one clear format now.

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BSG on BRD

By alce11 on 2/20/2008 9:47:30 AM , Rating: 2

Battlestar Galactica is coming to Blue-ray.
Time to buy a PS3.

RE: BSG on BRD

By Oroka on 2/20/2008 10:37:09 AM , Rating: 2

That will be AWESOME!

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I dont get the prices

By AlphaVirus on 2/20/2008 1:33:22 PM , Rating: 2

I do not understand how the PS3 is the cheapest (new) bluray player. It has 4 usb ports, wifi, ethernet, memory card slots, analog/hdmi video, optical sound, bluetooth, multicore cpu chip, and its a gaming system.

Now why cant a standalone player with none of the above be less than the PS3? This really confuses me, anyone care to shed a little light?

RE: I dont get the prices

By Future145 on 2/20/2008 3:37:12 PM , Rating: 2

its because sony is eating some of the cost of the ps3, which is a strategy. They hope to sell enough under cost and make up in it in software sales.

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it was only a matter of time.

By Zensen on 2/20/2008 7:58:11 AM , Rating: 2

I agree for consumers looking into High definition it now has become a lot less complicated. Now they just need to figure out that they can also play their old dvds and cds on these players :)

I don't necessarily go head first and be one of the early adopters but it does bring progress but I don't know about anyone else, I was kinda still looking forward to a battle between the formats as each would continue to lower costs and price to win people over. I'm just hoping prices do not hold steady on blu-ray discs (and that they continue to fall) as i still find them quite dear. I'm quite happy to fork out a lot less on a dvd right now to enjoy the movie.

But it's nice to know that the confusion is now over and these companies can now focus on bringing out the movies that were on the previous format onto blu-ray and improving hardware.

RE: it was only a matter of time.

By FITCamaro on 2/20/08, Rating: 0

RE: it was only a matter of time.

By kilkennycat on 2/20/2008 1:16:42 PM , Rating: 1

Don't worry, there will be a nice discount market of used Blu-ray rental discs at your local Blockbuster or equivalent. And the usual Best Buy discounts on older titles. It is a very long time indeed since I bought a DVD at anything near full retail price. Of course if you want to buy a Blu-ray on release day, you will pay through the nose.

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helps make up the mind.

By Digimonkey on 2/20/2008 12:08:23 PM , Rating: 3

Before I wasn't sure if I would purchase a PS3 ever, I already have a 360. Now with Blu-ray for sure the winner and the fact that the PS3 has a future proof player that can be upgraded to new versions it makes sense to buy one. Especially since they cost about the same as the other players in the market now, so basically at this time it's like getting a free game system.

I'll care when...

By fri2219 on 2/20/2008 11:38:37 AM , Rating: 2

There's $59 players from Plextor available on newegg.

If they don't get off their butts and get to that price point soon, their window of opportunity is going to rapidly close. This particular format is going to have a half life dramatically smaller than VHS, CDROM, or DVD.

What they didn't mention...

By Shawn on 2/20/2008 8:41:51 PM , Rating: 2

was if they would continue to release HD DVDs as well, and if so, for how long.

Ground Hog saw it's shadow today

By DallasTexas on 2/20/2008 9:26:22 AM , Rating: 1

Six more months of HD-DVD is dead or dying articles.

Toshiba BD

By wallijonn on 2/20/2008 12:16:33 PM , Rating: 1

Now that Sony has sold a big part of Cell fabrication to Toshiba, it shouldn't be too long before Toshiba comes out with a BD player. Now, if they do it right they will make it a dual format player, just to keep the HD-DVD customers happy.