So the format war is over.

Remember the whole Betamax vs. VHS thing? No? Me neither; I was born in 1987. But I’m told this is roughly the same thing. Toshiba, the leading producer of HD-DVD players, has announced its plans to stop entirely. Buy up those HD-DVDs; they might be collector’s items down the line. But probably not.

What sparked this decision on Toshiba’s part? The war wasn’t quite over yet; though major studio Blu Ray loyalties left HD-DVD with a small percentage of the exclusive production rights, many consumers were perfectly satisfied with HD-DVD. In the end, of course, it didn’t really matter. The future was looking too bleak for Toshiba to continue in their losing battle.

One of the final nails in the coffin was Netflix’s decision to discontinue stocking Blu Ray. As one of the major rental services, second only to Blockbuster, Netflix’s decision meant a major loss of revenue for HD-DVD. Similarly, mega-merchant Best Buy announced plans to showcase Blu Ray while keeping HD-DVD out of sight.

The Blu Ray format, due in part to its enhanced features, remains buggy and problematic. However, Harry Knowles of AICN - a former HD-DVD proponent - expresses the hopes of all DVD aficionados in a recent report on the state of things; that this will lead to an improvement in Blu Ray’s performance.

Does this news make you joyful, depressed, or indifferent? Share your feelings - unless you’re indifferent, in which case you probably don’t want to bother.

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Categories: Movie stories //