Sony’s Big Win: Blue-Ray In, HD DVD Out.

You might want to exchange that recently-purchased ‘HD DVD’ player/recorder.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/02/19/toshiba.hdd/index.html

Remember when Sony’s Betamax technology lost out to VHS in the 1980’s? (My family had a Betamax, and it was the best VCR I’ve ever used). Well, Sony has won this round. Its Blu-ray high-definition technology has knocked out competitor Toshiba’s ‘HD DVD’ technology. The two formats used different hardware to provide high-def, and Toshiba has just announced they will discontinue all efforts at producing HD DVD products.

The final cards fell when Wal-Mart, Netflix and Warner Brothers all announced they would move exclusively to Blu-ray DVDs.

Winners: Disney, 20th Century Fox, MGM, Dell, Panasonic, and Philips, who backed Blu-ray.

Losers: Paramount, Universal Pictures, Microsoft, Sanyo, and NEC, who backed Toshiba’s HD DVD technology.

In a nutshell, Toshiba was unable to capture the world-wide retail space that Sony commanded. Consequently more consumers acquired Blu-ray technology, leaving HD DVD without a market.

Here’s a recent comparison contrast of the two technologies… now largely moot.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-8900_7-5600201-1.html

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