A NEW HOPE for unification (1 Viewer)

[Austan]

Just saw this today:
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsar...BA.xml&src=rss

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-...yer-183618.php

 

[EricRWem]

Yeah, you beat me to it.


Maybe there is some hope in the universe after all...

Dated June 26, 2006

http://news.com.com/Toshiba+wants+un...3-6088269.html



My response to this:

THEN DO IT!

Why are we even in this format war now, if this is really how they've felt about it? Or did something change?

If they really felt this way, why did they walk away from the negotiating table months ago?

What "oppurtunities" are they looking for? You either make it happen or you don't.



I've said all along: I would have rather not seen SQUAT in the year 2005 or 2006 if it meant a solid, awesome, unfied HD format with 100 percent support that everyone could count on, no questions asked. It would be worth the wait to get it done right, imo.

Even I would (would have) early adopt under that flag at the drop of a hat. And I'm someone who's never early adopted in over 30 years of this game.

THAT is the kind of potential customer this silly format war has turned off and turned away. I KNOW I'm not the only one, by far, that feels this way.


I still would if I see this format war put down and put to bed. If I can get high quality hardware from an A grade CE company with full studio support? No question about it. My money's on the table.


I won't get my hopes up, but damn it all if it doesn't feel kind of good to have some real hope...ANY kind of hope...

 

[Sam Davatchi]

OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! STAR WARS IS COMING OUT TO HD!!!!!!?

 

[Shawn Perron]

What a joke. If Toshiba wanted to do this, they could have last summer.

 

[EricRWem]

Indeed.

If I recall correctly, weren't they the ones that basically walked away from the negotiating table, saying "no", and assuring us all of the cycle of frustration and futility we're all in now?

To be fair: There's plenty of blame to go all the way around...

 

[Nick]

Maybe the Sales of the players is not what they (Toshiba) expected.
With Unification they both have a chance to stay afloat for awhile until some new format comes along.

 

[James D S]

That was my first thought as well. LOL Then I saw how many replies there were, so I knew that couldn't be it.

...I clicked the link anyway.

 

[Austan]

It's the only way I could get people to click the links

 

[Ryan-G]

I would guess that Tosh is having a very difficult time manufacturing Players and is finding them extremely costly.

We all know supply is tight, so tight that some Best Buys have sold their display models. We also know that visibility of HD-DVD is dropping now that BR is out, despite HD-DVD having better quality. Several members have reported that the HD-DVD displays at stores have been replaced with BR displays.

Plus, Intel's shifting production to Core processors leaving fewer P4's in the channels, making it harder for Tosh to aquire components if they intended to stay with the Laptop approach.

Tosh's hybrid discs are so expensive that no one will buy them over regular DVD's, they're usefull only to those who've adopted. They're also bumping their heads against the 30 gigabyte limit, and they haven't even done HD extras or one of the 3 hour+ movies yet.

Tosh might be feeling the pinch of trying to fight a format war alone. Components and Visibility could be getting tight, hybrids aren't what they were meant to be, and the space limitations may have studios concerned. They could be deciding it's time to cut losses and convert as gracefully as possible.

 

[Shawn Perron]

Toshiba wants to get 600,000 players into homes this year. At a $200 loss per unit sold that comes toa loss of $120,000,000. Unless they are getting serious support from other HD-DVD members, I'm sure they can't keep that up forever.

 

[Manus]

" Tosh's hybrid discs are so expensive that no one will buy them over regular DVD's, they're usefull only to those who've adopted. They're also bumping their heads against the 30 gigabyte limit, and they haven't even done HD extras or one of the 3 hour+ movies yet.

Tosh might be feeling the pinch of trying to fight a format war alone. Components and Visibility could be getting tight, hybrids aren't what they were meant to be, and the space limitations may have studios concerned. They could be deciding it's time to cut losses and convert as gracefully as possible "

There are an awful lot of ifs,buts and maybes in there I mean I dont think Bluray have done HD extras or a 3hour+ movie yet either , have they ? Maybe Sony's (tm) rootkit sin has come back to haunt them ? Or the PS3 really is just crap at playing everything else apart from games

Sorry, Im not into either format yet , I think Im suffering from 'speculation hypernausea syndrome' caused by the fact that there really is another treasure chest of gold there for all concerned if they'd just wise-up to a single format ! Hardware manufacturers can plan ahead and focus design energy, studios can make us buy Men in Black and the bloody White Album again, and we consumers can all say 'YES' , We're all in (eventually ) !! Money changes hands, nobody's unhappy !

Rant over ,
~M~

 

[Ronald Epstein]

...and I just ordered a Toshiba HD-DVD player.

Somehow I think I just made a HUGE mistake!

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I wouldn't worry about it too much Ron. Worrying takes the fun out of being the first on your block to have one.

 

[Cavan.B]

There's always a risk as an early adopter. Sometimes big, sometimes not. We'll have to wait and see what happens here, so don't freak yet Ron, just enjoy.

 

[Austan]

Congrats Ron!!! you wont be dissappointed...

 

[Dave H]

Ron,

The Toshiba is a very solid standard DVD player. Even if HD DVD fails, you can still use it for solid 480p component performance on your display......and if you do upgrade your display, it upscales commerical SD DVD very well.

Think of it this way.

 

[Larry Sutliff]

I don't think Toshiba is waving a red flag here, they're simply stating that they would like to unify if the "situation arises". The best we could hope for at this point would be a dual format player.

 

[Dave Mack]

Ron, all. Don't be upset! Look at the internals of the Toshibas!
http://www.highdefforum.com/showthread.php?t=25018
The later players will NEVER again be of this kind of build quality!

 

[Jeff(R)]

Toshiba says still wants unified DVD format
HD-DVD, Blu-ray rivalry similar to 80’s VHS, Betamax battle

Reuters
Updated: 7:38 a.m. CT June 27, 2006


http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13570777/

 

[Cees Alons]

Jeff,

Why are you repeating the first post? We all can read.


Cees