Despite its best multimedia intentions, Toshiba’s X205-SLi4 notebook is always now going to be criticized for having an HD-DVD drive rather than Blu-Ray; but is this a single chink in its vast armor, or a sign of disappointment to come? SlashGear squared up to the $2,499, 9.37lb monster to find out.
You also still get the 5 free HD-DVDs by mail in rebate. Sure, the format’s dead, but if you already have an Xbox 360, the $50 price would be worth it just for the Universal Media remote that comes with and the DVD upconverting that this drive can also do.
So the HD DVD format is officially dead, that’s old news. Unfortunately, there are companies out there still producing players for this now defunct format, including Microsoft. Don’t expect to see those HD DVD player add-ons for your Xbox 360 on store shelves much longer though.
So with the official death of the HD DVD format, there are quite a few gamers out there that have a nice little box sitting on top of (next to) their Xbox 360 that does very little for them now. Sure, you can still play your HD DVD movies, but don’t expect new titles any time soon. Were I such a gamer, I’d have gathered up my HD DVD player, movies and headed down to trade them in for some cash. Unfortunately if you haven’t done this already, don’t bother going to GameStop.
LG not like Samsung, will carry its rule to support HD-DVD with dual-format player despite Toshiba has decided to cease the HD-DVD business. They have, however, made no further announcement if the next LG would include HD-DVD capability.
It’s true folks, we all knew the slow death was coming and as of today, Tuesday, February 19, 2008, HD DVD is pronounced dead. According to Gizmodo Japan, Toshiba’s press release is out in wild. So there you have it, the Format War is finally over; long live BluRay. Jump over for the full press release.
Toshiba Announces Discontinuation of HD DVD Businesses
19 February, 2008Company Remains Focused on Championing Consumer Access to High Definition Content
Has anyone seen the movie DownFall? An International acclaimed and award winning movie tells the Hilter’s final days in the bunker. If you have not, rent it now! Well, we already know how the story ended with the Third Reich. Here’s the scene where Hitler went ballistic when he learned about the inevitable defeat but some genius has it redubbed as the Downfall of HD-DVD, pretty funny if you think of the situation with Toshiba right now.
If HD-DVD is still alive by June, they will lose the World’s largest retailers, Wal-Mart’s blessing to distribute HD-DVD products nationwide. Wal-Mart has officially confirmed phasing out HD-DVD by early Summer and continue to support Blu-Ray (no surprise there). The company also says changes will take place quickly in the next several months and store-shelves will be rearranged to promote Blu-Ray movies and products exclusively by June. So what’s left for Toshiba in retail sectors? We expect to see Amazon joining the the HD-DVD-Shutdown Anonymous Group… very soon.
[via blu-ray]
We know how much you like rumor, especially one concerns the Format War. The Hollywood Reporter has ruled the current affair is not a longer a Format War but a format death watch. They have reliable sources that saying Toshiba is expected to pull the plug on its HD DVD format in the coming weeks.
If you have not updated the new firmware posted yesterday, you might want to put a hold on it. The firmware update was successful, but introduced serious jaggies on Mpeg4 AVC material (Advanced Video Codecs) when used with 1080/24p. Keep in mind, it only affected 1080p out units like A30 and A35 with 24hz up-sizing on movie with mpeg4 AVC compression. No problem with VC1 material.
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SlashGear Japan
