HDTV Popular but Blu-ray Adoption Lukewarm, HD DVD Still Growing!?

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According to Harris Interactive, the Blu-ray format may have won the format war, but consumers are still very slow to adopt the format. According to the firm 11% of Americans own a HD DVD player and 7% own a Blu-ray player while 9% own the PS3 meaning 16% of Americans can play Blu-ray films.

The strange fact from Harris is that HD DVD player sales are UP 11% in 2009. Sales are up on a format that's been defunct since late 2007? Harris claims that the increase in HD DVD player sales is about the same as the increase in Blu-ray sales. Read more

Posted on Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:09:34 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Shuttle Announces SFF Blu-ray & HD DVD PC

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Shuttle announced a new small form factor PC today called the XPC G5 6801M that features a dual format Blu-ray and HD DVD drive. The machine is powered by an AMD Athlon X2 6000+ and has 2GB of RAM. Storage capacity is 500GB and graphics are handled by ATI HD3450.

The combo optical drive is a LG GGC-H20L and a DVB-T. Analog Hybrid TV tuner is included. Other features include a 25-in-1 card reader, remote control and multi-function front display. The machine runs on Windows Vista Home Premium. Pricing is EUR 1,234 plus VAT. Read more

Posted on Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:42:23 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Best Buy Awards Over $10 Million in gift Cards to HD DVD buyers

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The end of the format wars between HD DVD and Blu-ray was good for most people, but for the early adopters out there who had backed HD DVD the failure of the format was not good news. To help appease customers that purchased HD DVD gear at Best Buy gift cards are coming.

Best Buy announced today that it will be giving out over $10 million in $50 gift cards to customers who purchased HD DVD hardware in its stores. The offer covers stand alone HD DVD players as well as HD DVD attachments, presumably for the Xbox 360. Read more

Posted on Wed, 19 Mar 2008 08:08:28 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Circuit City Lets HD DVD Buyers Swap for Blu-ray

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DailyTech is reporting that Circuit City is allowing people who bought HD DVD players from it to exchange them for Blu-ray players. According to reports shoppers can apply the complete purchase price of the HD DVD player to the purchase of a Blu-ray player.

If the customers don’t want a Blu-ray player gift cards will be given for the purchase price. The catch is that most HD DVD players cost less than Blu-ray players and there will likely be a difference that shoppers need to pay. Read more

Posted on Fri, 7 Mar 2008 16:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Xbox 360 HD DVD Player discontinued

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A Microsoft employee run blog issued a statement saying that Microsoft is discontinuing the Xbox 360 HD DVD player.

This comes as no surprise after Sony's Blu-ray format won last week. Microsoft could get a bit more official on this topic, as they have a responsibility towards their customers who paid $200 for the now worthless HD DVD drive. Read more

Posted on Sun, 24 Feb 2008 01:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

LG Says it Still Backs HD DVD

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With all the news today of Toshiba dropping the HD DVD format it’s a bit hard to imagine someone still actually backing HD DVD. Yet that is exactly what LG is doing. LG told Pocket-Lint that it would continue to back and develop HD DVD players.

LG issues a statement saying, "LG believes that at this present moment in time, it is necessary to provide a player which supports both formats and therefore create simplicity and convenience for the existing HD DVD consumer." Read more

Posted on Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:21:24 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Official: Toshiba stops HD DVD

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Toshiba just issued a statement that they have decided to stop HD DVD.

Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products. Read more

Posted on Tue, 19 Feb 2008 02:00:52 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Toshiba Press Conference soon, HD DVD Announcement expected

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Japanese AV Watch just posted a brief story confirming the Toshiba press-conference to take place in 1 hour in Japan.

Update:
Toshiba officially declares HD DVD for dead

Yesterday, the Nikkei News already reported about Toshiba holding a press-conference today. It is not 100% sure yet if HD DVD will be a topic. Read more

Posted on Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:02:08 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Onkyo to stop HD DVD Player Sales

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Onkyo has reportedly halted sales of their HD DVD players.

Reports say that Toshiba will announce the end of HD DVD today in Japan, I have also read reports that say Wednesday. There are not that many companies that actually made HD DVD players beside Toshiba. Onkyo introduced their first HD DVD player at the end of last year.
The Onkyo HD805 was selling in the U.S. and Europe. Read more

Posted on Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:34:58 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Toshiba says that it has not stopped HD DVD Production yet

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Toshiba issued a very brief statement on their site in response to Japanese media reports that Toshiba will discontinue its HD DVD business.

Complete statement: "The media reported that Toshiba will discontinue its HD DVD business. Toshiba has not made any announcement concerning this. Although Toshiba is currently assessing its business strategies, no decision has been made at this moment." Read more

Posted on Mon, 18 Feb 2008 09:05:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Why Blu-ray Won the War against HD DVD

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Rob Enderle over at our partner Digital Trends published an interesting analysis on the Blu-ray victory over HD DVD. He also puts his finger in the wound of early Blu-ray player adopters who cannot upgrade to Blu-ray Profile 2.0. Only Sony PS3s are in the clear.

Quote: "As we went into the 4th quarter of 07, Toshiba and the HD DVD camp was certain they had this wrapped up. Their player prices were well below the Blu-Ray offerings, they had picked up several new studios and Sony's PS3 was looking more like an anchor on Sony's future than a help to Blu-Ray. Read more

Posted on Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:46:13 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Toshiba announces new HD DVD Marketing Push

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The HD disc format war is not over yet as Toshiba announces a new HD DVD marketing push based on what the company calls "-breaking unit sales in the fourth quarter of 2007".

Warner's move to Blu-ray and the resulting cancellation of HD DVD media events at the CES 2008 are so far the low points in the HD DVD history. Read more

Posted on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 02:27:23 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

AVN 2008: No more Porn on HD DVD?

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What a difference a year makes. At the AVN 2007, we ran a story titled No Porn on Blu-ray?. Today, Prominent adult movie producer Digital Playground says that they plan to stop releasing porn on HD DVD probably by the end of 2008.

The statement was made by Joone the founder of Digital Playground in an interview with German Heise. Joone names two reasons for the planned drop of HD DVD. The first reason is the decision of Warner to switch to Blu-ray. Read more

Posted on Fri, 11 Jan 2008 03:01:40 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

HD DVD Throws in the Towel

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We have already talked about the big Warner announcement that it decided to go all Blu-ray after the HD DVD group came to CES expecting to announce Warner was an all HD DVD studio. This certainly isn’t a good thing for HD DVD.

However, I for one am very shocked at how they have handled the situation and believe that the HD DVD group itself has made the situation worse. Sure Warner going all Blu-ray could signal the end for HD DVD, but from a business side don’t you think HD DVD should at least be attempting to make it seem like business is going on normal? I do.

Rather than at least sucking it up and going on with the show, the HD DVD group literally threw in the towel and cancelled all of its meetings. Last night as I made my way to another event at the Venetian I ran across the room where the HD DVD group was supposed to be having their CES party and it was displaying the sign pictured here. Read more

Posted on Mon, 7 Jan 2008 10:15:04 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Toshiba and HD DVD Camp cry Foul over Warner's Move to Blu-ray

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Looks like the decision of Warner Bros to back Blu-ray exclusively came as a big surprise to Toshiba and the HD DVD Promotional Group on Friday. Both issued a press-release late that day responding to the decision.

Toshiba is quite surprised by Warner Bros.' decision to abandon HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray, despite the fact that there are various contracts in place between our companies concerning the support of HD DVD. Read more

Posted on Sat, 5 Jan 2008 00:15:32 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Buy One HD DVD and Receive a Second for Free on Amazon

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Amazon is pushing HD DVD again hard. Right now they are offering the 'buy one HD DVD and receive a second for free' promotion again as well as 30% off new HD DVDs.

The offer is limited to two of each title per customer and 20 free titles per order. The list of HD DVD movies you can choose from is not bad. Included are new movie releases like Hot Fuzz and Knocked Up. Read more

Posted on Thu, 27 Dec 2007 11:19:20 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Free Bourne Trilogy with Xbox 360 HD DVD Player

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Amazon.com has a great deal for Xbox 360 owners today. You get The Bourne Trilogy HD DVD collection free with the purchase of a Xbox 360 HD DVD player. Read more

Posted on Tue, 18 Dec 2007 05:05:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

New Toshiba Qosmio G40/97E first to feature HD DVD-RW Drive

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Toshiba already announced a HD DVD-RW drive for notebooks in June. Now they offer the Toshiba Qosmio G40/97E AV, a notebook that has this HD DVD writer built-in.

The Toshiba Qosmio G40/97E runs on an Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2Ghz CPU and Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics card. Read more

Posted on Mon, 17 Dec 2007 03:31:12 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Venturer Makes Low cost HD DVD Player More Appealing

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Home theater fans in the UK will have something to be happy about this holiday season with Venturer making its low cost SHD1000 HD DVD player even more attractive. The player is already packaged with a free HDMI cable and the HD DVD films Troy and Hulk.

The player will now include a voucher that allows customers to get five more HD DVD movies free via the European HD DVD Promotional Group. The deal sounds very much like what Toshiba does here in America. The Venturer player will be available exclusively through QVC in the UK starting on December 29th at an undisclosed price. Read more

Posted on Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:28:38 CST | by Shane McGlaun

LG BH200 Hybrid Blu-ray and HD DVD Player ships

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LG Electronics announces that their new hybrid HD player BH200 is shipping.

The LG Super Blu Player features the BD Standard Profile, and is also ready for BD Profile 1.1 when Blu-ray discs with the new profile become available in 2008. The LG BH200 supports Super access to web-connected interactivity available from a number of current HD DVDs. Read more

Posted on Mon, 10 Dec 2007 10:35:58 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Samsung Says BD-UP5000 BD HD DVD Hybrid Still on Track

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We have talked about the Samsung BD-UP5000 dual format HD DVD and Blu-ray player here on I4U before. Recently rumors and reports have been coming in that the player would not be available as originally expected in mid December.

Samsung has told Dealerscope that the player is on track to reach market in mid-December. Dealerscope says the representative for Samsung added that the player is shipping as we speak and you will see it at retailers later this month. Read more

Posted on Thu, 6 Dec 2007 09:04:22 CST | by Shane McGlaun