Though some iffy poll
results & a Chinese
spinoff may have you thinking HD DVD is just on the cusp of a comeback, Toshiba president
Atsutoshi Nishida suggested today that the company might join the rest of the consumer electronics community and support Blu-ray. In the midst of
defeat last year he said it had "
no plans" to switch sides, focusing on flash memory and DVD upscaling tech instead, but after a
few billion in losses that might have changed, as the prez indicated just losing the format war wasn't enough reason to skip out on the Blu-ray market and that Toshiba "would like to keep our options open." Besides enjoying the good news that our exes have found gainful employment as executive speechwriters, we'll be keeping an eye out for another
Cell-based Blu-ray player to join the PS3, if not tomorrow, someday.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Z-45XG @ Jun 24th 2009 6:46AM
Final Nail in Da Coffin????
DVD4ME @ Jun 24th 2009 6:47AM
Maybe with HD DVD support!
squiggleslash @ Jun 24th 2009 8:08AM
Well, keeping their options open is one thing and any CEO would be stupid not to answer a question along of the lines of "Will you ever consider supporting technology X?" in the affirmative regardless of whether it's high definition TV, Blu-ray, or built-in baby mulchers, on the grounds that it's always possible it might become necessary to stay in the market.
But it sounds like Toshiba's words are measured enough to imply they're not jumping into this particular shark tank right away and almost certainly are going to wait for the technology to become popular, and profitable before taking the plunge - and have been holding off because they don't see either as particularly likely to ever happen.
Which is what most of us who aren't Darren Murph have been saying Toshiba is going to do for the last year.
ack154 @ Jun 24th 2009 8:43AM
Basically saying... "we want to get in on those BD monies."
Multi-format-mayhem @ Jun 24th 2009 11:35AM
Probably just as soon as there is any certainty of there being any 'BD monies'.
Blu-ray on-line movie prices are already being driven lower and stand-alones have come down a bit too.
I've yet to hear of anyone (besides the movie studios) making any money out of Blu-ray once R&D and production costs are taken into account.
So why would Toshiba bother?
Cory @ Jun 24th 2009 9:29AM
I just hope it matches my HD-A3 player, so they look nice together.
C
zargon @ Jun 24th 2009 10:22AM
Just rack your HT gear and hide it, problem solved... then you don't have to care about matching your gear.
Ricky @ Jun 24th 2009 11:30AM
Why bother, I think Blu-ray will be dead in 5 years I bet. Things are changing fast!
WebDev511 @ Jun 24th 2009 11:45AM
If they do, don't count on anything too fancy, maybe a couple of models with XDE upscalers and BD playback. One with analog audio out and one with just HDMI/Optical.
If they can pull off a player that rivals the PS3 in speed in for $200 (no analog audio), it might just have a chance.
Alex @ Jun 25th 2009 12:02AM
They can't be stupid enough to think they are going to be making money off Blu-ray in the next few years.
DrXym @ Jun 25th 2009 5:52AM
Yeah, enter the market in a few years when the margins have fallen through the floor. That'll do the trick. Meanwhile companies like Funai are cleaning up.
squeeg @ Jun 25th 2009 10:36AM
That photoshop.... Just priceless... =D