Blu-Ray beats HD-DVD in the format war

In a much-anticipated press release, Toshiba announced today that it is to cease manufacture of HD-DVD players. This means that the Blu-Ray format has emerged triumphant in the war between the two competing high definition disk formats. Let's all be glad that the war has had a swift conclusion and now disks and players can be brought to market without the uncertainty over their long-term viability.

Here is the full press release from Toshiba:

Toshiba Announces Discontinuation of HD DVD Businesses19 February, 2008

Company Remains Focused on Championing Consumer Access to High Definition Content

TOKYO--Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.
HD DVD was developed to offer consumers access at an affordable price to high-quality, high definition content and prepare them for the digital convergence of tomorrow where the fusion of consumer electronics and IT will continue to progress.
"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," said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality."
Toshiba will continue to lead innovation, in a wide range of technologies that will drive mass market access to high definition content. These include high capacity NAND flash memory, small form factor hard disk drives, next generation CPUs, visual processing, and wireless and encryption technologies. The company expects to make forthcoming announcements around strategic progress in these convergence technologies.
Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements. The company will continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives within the overall PC business relative to future market demand.
This decision will not impact on Toshiba's commitment to standard DVD, and the company will continue to market conventional DVD players and recorders. Toshiba intends to continue to contribute to the development of the DVD industry, as a member of the DVD Forum, an international organization with some 200 member companies, committed to the discussion and defining of optimum optical disc formats for the consumer and the related industries.
Toshiba also intends to maintain collaborative relations with the companies who joined with Toshiba in working to build up the HD DVD market, including Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, and DreamWorks Animation and major Japanese and European content providers on the entertainment side, as well as leaders in the IT industry, including Microsoft, Intel, and HP. Toshiba will study possible collaboration with these companies for future business opportunities, utilizing the many assets generated through the development of HD DVD.

SHARP Discount Codes - save £hundreds!

Here are the current discount codes from Sharp. You can save hundreds of pounds on the following Sharp Aquos Full HD LCD Tvs and the Sharp Aquos Full HD Blu-Ray Player.

These discount codes will be available until 31st January 2008.

Sharp Aquos LC42XD1EA 42 inch Full HD LCD TV
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Sharp Aquos LC46XD1E 46 inch Full HD LCD TV
Discount Code 0846XD1 <-- You will need to enter this code at the checkout
Retail price £1,799.00
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BDHP20H Full HD Aquos Blu-Ray player
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Sony launches PS3 - with a bonus for some lucky buyers

Sony's PS3 Games Console was launched in the UK today amid much fanfare and a give-away of free HD TVs to the first 100 lucky(?) punters in the queue at Virgin Megastore on London's Oxford Street.

Ray Maguire, head of Sony Computer Entertainment in the UK is quoted by the BBC as saying:

"High definition is very important to people.

"A lot of people have bought flat panel TVs and they want content to go on it and PlayStation 3 is one of the few places they can get that kind of experience."

The European launch of the PS3 has been delayed due to technical difficulties in manufacturing the components of the laser for the built-in Blu-Ray player. This is now in direct competition to the HD-DVD drive that is available as an add-on to Microsoft's XBox console.

The PS3 carries a hefty price tag - around £425 GBP at launch, compared to the current c£280 GBP price of the XBox 360 Premium Edition. Bear in mind though that to add an HD drive to the XBox 360 will set you back a further c£125 and the price gap narrows significantly.

In addition to re-igniting the war between competing games consoles, the release of the PS3 has stepped the format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD up a gear. The name of the eventual winner is still in the balance. Maybe, just maybe, both formats will be able to co-exist, with the wisest manufacturers producing an affordable range of players that will play both formats.

Find the best deals on Sony PS3s at ShopWindow.com