Toshiba is seeing the writing on the wall and has dropped plans to make its HD-DVD devices until sometime in 2006.
I had written about them before and the unfavorable comparison of this technology to the Sony Blu-Ray. Ars Technica has the story:
Toshiba pushes back launch of HD DVD
It looks like another small victory for Blu-Ray: HD DVD backer Toshiba has decided to postpone the launch of its next-generation optical disc player until after the holiday season. Originally slated to ship late this year, Toshiba's HD DVD players will now debut in 2006.
HD DVD and Blu-ray appear to be set for a format war reminiscent of the VHS vs. Betamax battle of the early 1980s. Supporters of the opposing formats had been in talks over the summer over a unified standard, but they ultimately didn't amount to much.
Toshiba is now reworking its HD DVD launch schedule.
And the closing paragraph says it all:
One hope that HD DVD had was to be first to market with reasonably priced players and a decent list of titles. The hope of having a strong library at launch has all but disappeared, and consumers are likely to steer clear of new players with nothing to play on them. Obviously, Toshiba is playing for time here, hoping that they'll be able to ship HD DVD players sometime in early 2006 with a substantial list of titles in support. But Blu-ray has the Big Mo' right now. HD DVD may not be dead yet, but I think it's just been moved out of the ICU and into hospice care.
Good riddance to poorly designed junk. The Blu-Ray was a technological advance built upon the prior framework of the DVD technology. HD-DVD took standard DVD technology and added more layers to the media (more expensive for the end user) and stepped up the compression (potential for poorer signal). Crappy quality, higher price for recordable media and less overall storage capacity. Say buh-bye...
