Blu-ray Wins High Definition Video Format Wars

-- Blu-ray the Winner --

February 18, 2008 — Sony has triumphed once again. The company that has until now held control of the dominant audio format, "Red Book" CD, and the dominant high-resolution audio format, SACD, will now dominate high-resolution video as well with its Blu-ray technology.

On Tuesday February 19, Toshiba announced that it will no longer develop, manufacture, or market HD DVD players and recorders. "We concluded that a swift decision would be best," Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida told the press at Toshiba's company office in Tokyo.

Nishida ascribed Toshiba's abdication to Warner Bros. Entertainment's January decision that the entertainment giant would abandon HD DVD, and only release high-definition movies in Blu-ray format. Warner had been the only remaining Hollywood studio releasing high-definition video in both HD DVD and Blu-ray formats. "They had tremendous impact," Nishida said. "If we had continued, that would have created problems for consumers, and we simply had no chance to win."  Stereophile >>More<<