Toshiba slashes HD DVD hardware sales forecast

Two bald men fighting over a comb

Whoever is ahead, the sales figures for both formats are dismal. It must be sinking in at Toshiba, Sony and Microsoft that *neither* format is making an indent on the DVD market, and nor will they if the current situation continues.

I'm amazed by the appalling quality of the titles being offered on HD (especially here in the UK). There are almost no 'must-have' movies, and no sign of HD being released ahead of DVD - exclusivity does drive people to adopt new formats. Right now, DVD releases come before HD - if people want the movie are they really going to wait and wait and wait for it to turn up - and then in the wrong format?

At the moment, having seen both, I think HD-DVD is *SLIGHTLY* better. It feels more finished - the menuing, options and interactivity I've seen is a lot better than those on corresponding BluRay titles. Image quality and sound are indistinguishable between the two in newer releases (no matter what the spec says) But perhaps the deciding factor is that the current HD-DVDs come without region coding; BluRay is being region coded - and the regions are different to those on DVD.

Whether HD-DVD can beat the Sony PS3 juggernaut is another thing. Until Sony produce some games for the PS3, BluRay's all many people are going to use it for - ahhhhhh - perhaps *that's* the reason for the games famine on PS3.

HD TV's

So, why would I want to buy an HD-DVD, when my TV won't show HD content??

I don't watch that much TV either. The only thing I use my TV for is to play my PlayStation 1 or watch DVD's.

And HD TV's, while nice, are too damn expensive for me to buy. I think the HD-DVD camp hasn't realized that??

I might, however, buy a PS3, so I would end up with BluRay anyway.

Re: HD TV's

All such kit takes years to establish itself - it's not until it's "cheap in tescos" that HD will get down to the hoi poloi.

Here's how companies work. Five, maybe ten years ago, marketeers and engineers get together and plan HD storage and playback. They scurry off and sell the idea to their CEO's who then finance the millions in designing the electronics and producing the players.

The cost is enormous and so the marketeers talk about amazing sales and fast adoption rates - it's the only way the budget to design the stuff will get signed off.

The kit gets made after arguments and licensing issues and technical difficulties...finally limping into the shops a few months late.

Everyone sits back and awaits the "Amazing sales and fast adoption rates". They don't happen. Predicted sales get adjusted downwards, shares slide, jobs get lost, technology improves and the kit gets cheaper, suddenly it's "cheap in tescos" and everyone lives happily ever after.

Sony should quit trying to make new formats.

The first time Sony released a format was the betamax it then failed. Then it produced the Minidisc that also failed. Then it produced the UMD that failed.

Now it’s got the blu-ray disk. Sony has always wanted its format to be used.

Sony in recent years has been failing to compete in Home entertainment against the likes of Panasonic and Samsung. It computer market barely made a profit (plus its batteries exploded). Their music label was the same.

Sony saw the only thing it had that was successful was the Playstation.

The reason the blu-ray player ended up in the PS3 was to try and get its share of everything else back.

If it makes blu-ray the leading format it gets control of the entertainment market again. Its computer line gets Blu-ray burners and that can't hurt.

The problem is its biggest supporter, the gamer takes the biggest hit. They are the early adopter. They pay for something so expensive and its barley needed.

This is just so Sony can boast the biggest share of next-gen media players.