Blu-ray Under Attack From New Contenda'

We all thought the format war was over, Blu-ray had trounced on what's its name, oh yeah, HD DVD.  Now it was the only format for recorded HD content, or make that the only optical format.  The upcoming competition to Blu-ray was with content from online sources, like streamed media and digital downloads that could do high def.  In the end, that battle could go on for years to come.

Not so fast though.  While the lines were being drawn for the Blu-ray vs downloads battle, a new kid on the block appeared.  On the flank, hailing from China is CBHD.  Reportedly this is a Chinese only format, but I suppose a billion plus folks should be a large enough market.  I'm not sure why they would buy this as bootleg videos are so rampant there, but the prices are affordable by American standards with discs expected to go for $7.25 to $10.15 which would be awesome by our pricing standards for HD content.

While this standard, and I use the term loosely, isn't new, what did happen is that a major study, Warner Bros., will now be supporting CBHD.  Should be interesting to see if CBHD ever gains acceptance and a mass market in Asia or not.  In the interim, I think many of us would like to see pricing like that on our shores!

NetFlix Says "Bah Humbug" To HD DVD

I truly can't say that this is the "final nail in the coffin" for HD DVD as that was put in some months ago to the now defunct format.  As HD DVD passes into that good night, I'm sure there are at least a few holdouts out there that (1) purchased an HD DVD player, (2) wish they hadn't, and (3) now are trying to get some use out of it before jumping to Blu-ray.  For those folks, NetFlix will soon no longer be an option for HD DVD content.  As of December 15th, the online mail order rental service will no longer be carrying any HD DVD videos.  Reportedly, at that time, their queue will revert to the standard def DVD format.  At least for now, it's either Blu-ray for their hi def fix, or not, as the choices from this company.  In other news, for under $130, at least they can upgrade to the current Blu-ray format, which should keep the grumbling to a minimum.

HD DVD is Dead. The Format War is Over. Blu-ray Wins

Just like predicted, Toshiba officially pulled the plug on HD DVD. The format was is officially over. Toshiba just made the official announcement in Tokyo.

Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders.

Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements.

After a Q&A period, Toshiba said they had no plan to join Blu-ray. That could have been predicted as well, but let's give these folks a break. After all, they gave us a really cool fight to watch in the last two years. No? I would bet that 2008 Holiday season will bring brand new Blu-ray players with a nice and red Toshiba logo...

Read the complete press release after the jump.

Blu-ray add-on for the Xbox 360?

Insiders at Microsoft in the USA have told SmartHouse that Microsoft has already configured a standalone Blu-ray player that can be connected into an Xbox 360 and that subject to internal marketing and sales approvals the model could be on sale within 3 months.

Another day, another bad news for the HD DVD camp. With a leak like this, Microsoft will have to make a statement in the short term to precise their position. A Blu-ray compatible Xbox 360 could also be a bad news for the PS3. Sony's game console would have probably enjoyed a boost just because of the HD DVD collapse.

The same Insiders also say that, even though Microsoft believes that the future of HD movies is online, the company is currently working on an internal Blu-ray player that could be available in a new version of the Xbox 360. No release date and pricing information were disclosed by SmartHouse's sources.

Microsoft is always full of surprises. Let's wait and see before we speculate too much.

Source [Thanks Greg]

Blu-ray Almost Has Victory Sewn Up

It's been quite a week for the format war between the Sony/Blu-ray and Toshiba/HD DVD camps. Key defections, changes in retail strategy and other warning signs suggest the days of HD DVD could be numbered. Here are some of the line items we've been observing:

• Netflix goes Blu-ray only
• Best Buy pimping Blu-ray over HD DVD now
• Wal-Mart goes Blu-ray only
• Toshiba ponders a no HD DVD future

Analyst Firm Declares Blu-ray Soon to be King

The picture for Blu-ray continues to get brighter and brighter as we move away from Warner Bros' defection earlier this month. We now hear via a Gartner report, published in summary by Computerworld Singapore, that the analysts expect Blu-ray to be king by year's end.

Gartner, in an entry published in a report yesterday, said that, despite a recent price cut Toshiba did on HD DVD players, it believes Blu-ray will remain on top. It feels that "the limited line-up of film titles will inflict fatal damage" to HD DVD by the end of 2008.

[via Engadget]

Blu-ray Sales Numbers Tell a Tale

The only sound you here right now is the sound of the Blu-ray camp clapping even louder than CES. That is because new data released and confirmed by market research firm NPD, according to TWICE, shows sales of this particular next generation optical disc format spiked a few weeks ago.

Though there is no reason to directly tie it to the Warner Bros. move, NPD told TWICE, you will note that for the week ending Jan. 12 "Blu-ray Disc player sales accounted for 90 percent of dedicated HD disc player unit sales and dollar volume."

NPD, in confirming this, said it noticed that "dedicated HD DVD player share dropped suddenly compared to dedicated Blu-ray models the week ending Jan. 12, after being only slightly ahead of HD DVD the week ending Jan. 5."

The firm believes this change may have something to do with recent promotions being run and not the Warner Bros. movement.

Retailers Increasing Blu-ray Presence

Blu-ray aficionados looking for more retail options for shopping will be interested to note a number of retailers are beginning to take HD DVD product off of shelves in favor of Blu-ray. This is according to a report from Video Business.

The trade publication has learned that "Trans World Entertainment, Newbury Comics, Video Buyers Group members and Hastings Entertainment" are among those who are beginning to add more Blu-ray material to their shelves.

Trans World Entertainment, for example, operates the F.Y.E. chain and will begin giving more room to Blu-ray. It will however continue to order and stock "key new releases" on HD DVD.

Warner's recent announcement about shifting over to the Blu-ray format is reported to be a major cause for this retail change.

[via High-Def Digest]

Blu-ray Far Outpaces HD DVD in Recent Sales

Things post-CES continue to look better and better for the Blu-ray Disc camp, according to a news story published yesterday by Home Media Magazine. The publication took a look at some of the most recent industry sales numbers as provided by Nielsen and noted HD DVD titles were not among the top selling items.

The magazine specifically reported all top 10 spots in the most recently reported sales data were taken up by Blu-ray titles. It was also noted the top HD DVD seller sold just 1/10 as many copies as the top Blu-ray title. Ouch.

Studio Shuffling Towards Blu-ray Continues

[UPDATE: Both Universal and Paramount have issued statements just now or recently declaring their intentions to stay with HD DVD. Get the full details over at HDDVDFreak.]

With all of the attention the Warner Bros. move has given to the war between HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc this week, some other moves have been happening as well in this arena. Some were expected and others are rumored, but like the Microsoft issue we covered earlier, they could sound strongly for Blu-ray if they become a reality:

• New Line Entertainment and HBO, as expected, fell in line with Warner Brothers in confirming they will be going Blu-ray only later this year.
• There is speculation right now that the other major studios backing HD DVD, Universal and Paramount, might be considering jumping ship. Though nothing has been confirmed, a report details ways in which the two studios could exit their HD DVD relationships and move to Blu-ray. Neither studio is publicly ready to do that yet though and remains focused on backing HD DVD.

[via Engadget]