NEW YORK, NY — It’s official: HD DVD is dead. On Tuesday, consumer electronics company Toshiba announced it no longer will manufacture players for the high-definition video format, effectively ending a running battle with rival technology Blu-ray, developed by Sony.“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,” Toshiba Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Atsutoshi Nishida said in a statement released Tuesday.
Toshiba’s concession represents a reversal of fortunes of sorts for Sony, which in the 1980s saw its proprietary Betamax videocassette format chased out of the market by rival VHS. VHS players and tapes were less expensive to produce and acquire than Betamax versions of the same products, although price doesn’t seem to have been the deciding factor in the race to dominate the next-generation DVD market. Blu-ray is more expensive than HD DVD for both content producers and consumers.
Of more interest to the adult industry: It didn’t get to cast the deciding vote, as it was credited with doing during the contentious VHS vs. Betamax fight. This time around, the decision was made by Hollywood. Toshiba’s cited the January decree by Warner Home Video that it would support solely Blu-ray as the decisive move leading to HD DVD’s abandonment.
Other companies recently dumped HD DVD, as well. In early February, Netflix announced it would phase out its HD DVD inventory, and Best Buy and Wal-Mart both announced a preference for Blu-ray.
After Toshiba’s announcement, Universal Studios Home Entertainment announced it also would be supporting Blu-ray alone.
Industry analysts said prior to Toshiba’s announcement, neither player had developed a devoted following among consumers. According to TVPredictions.com President Phillip Swann, about 30 million U.S. homes own high-definition televisions sets, but only about 1.5 million households have a standalone DVD player in either HD DVD or Blu-ray format. Although the lack of enthusiasm for high-definition formats may be indicative of bad marketing, it’s also likely consumers were reluctant to commit to either type of player until one format emerged as dominant.
Just as in the ’80s, when about half of consumers were stuck with suddenly discontinued Betamx videocassette players, “Now you have a lot of people who bought HD DVD players who wish they hadn’t,” Swann told The Washington Post.
