As you've probably heard by now, if you're the least bit tech-savvy, Toshiba has just pulled out of the HD-DVD market, handing the format wars trophy over to Blu-ray.
This is HUGE! Since Spring '06, people have been debating who was going to "win the war," with HD-DVD leading as the favorite among consumers, mostly because of it's lower price. It did launch a couple of months earlier than Blu-ray, but didn't have the giant behind it that BR had--the PS3.
Yes, folks, with each and every PS3 purchased, you get a blu-ray player. It's built into the drive--Sony's way of "future-proofing" their system. Think about it, as graphics continue to improve, and technology moves forward, that's going to need a much bigger storage medium than DVD's provide (it's pretty much 10-1, and could be 100-1 in the near future.) More storage capacity also means more "extras" for TV series and movies--more behind the scenes, alternate endings, commentaries, etc.
And, sorry to say it, Toshiba, but you didn't stand a chance, marketing wise, against a juggernaut like Sony (who partnered also with Mitsubishi, the owner of the Samsung brand. Raise your hand if you've heard of Samsung! Raise your hand if you've heard of Sony! Keep your hand up if you own a TV/DVD player/anything by them! Now, everyone who has a Toshiba-something-or-other, please raise your hand! Hello? Anyone? That's what I thought.)
What's kind of sad about this whole situation is that if you ask consumers, the people who buy this stuff, which they preferred, I would say at leat 70%, if not more, wanted HD-DVD to win. Why? It's cheaper. The players were cheaper (c'mon, you could buy an HD-DVD drive at Christmas from Wal-Mart for $99! $99!!!! The next closest in price for Blu-ray was $299!!) and the media was cheaper (though not by much, be enough for some people.) So what happened?
I'm not really sure... But I do know that Sony & Mitsubishi combined own A LOT of movie studios. So which format did they chose?? Duh. How many studios did Toshiba buy off?? Well, I can't think of any big ones that were exclusively HD (a few were both, like Fox and Warner.) Before Christmas, alliances began to change. Blockbuster announced it would no longer carry HD-DVD's in their stores (you could still rent them online, though.) Then Target dropped it (hey, these stores only have so much room!) A few others began following suit. And then a couple of weeks ago, the ball dropped--Warner is backing Blu-ray. Then Netflix stopped HD-DVD. And the biggest move of all, the writing on the wall was probably Wal-mart switching to Blu-ray only.
Poor Toshiba. I feel bad for 'em, I really do. They put up a good fight, but in the end, it's not about what consumers want, it's about what the industry will back. I mean, let's face it, if no one is going to stock and sell your stuff, it's never going to get to consumers. So they gracefully pulled the plug, losing hundreds of millions of dollars, but in the end, will probably end up more profitable as a whole.
So that's that. I'm glad we've got a PS3. As far as the HD-DVD drive we bought for the 360, well, it still upconverts nicely. And if we ever want to watch King Kong, we're set (didn't like it...)
On another note, it was absolutely gorgeous yesterday! 77 degrees at 11 am! CRAZY! Sadly, it's only about 52 today, with possible showers later in the day. But it's all good. Only 4 more weeks of winter, supposedly. Monday sure gave me something to look forward to (and I have a feeling that later today will add something else to that equation.... hmmmmmmmmmmmmm....... ;)
Okay, time to put Jemiah down for a nap! We've got a busy afternoon, and he needs to be up by one so we can go pick up Daddy! Will probably post something else tonight, but if not, soon.
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