There’s more to HD than just Blu-ray, Says Toshiba Exec

[Attebery]

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...hiba_Exec/3240

[crazzeto]

"we won't be using anything from the HD DVD side apart from how to put together quality HDM players"

[ninesenshi]

They are supposed to be about making money, so I shake my head when companies pout. I would bar them from joining the Blu-ray association until they get this guy to apologize. If they don't believe in the format, why the heck are they signing on to make blu-ray players? Their loss in the format war isn't personal, it's business. I wonder if Toshiba is ever gonna grow up. I'm sure it will never happen with M$.
DC

[Blu-Dude1976]

Oh Toshiba, will the whining never end? Your company's become a punchline, deal with it.

[rainman208]

"what the company generally considers to be an unfinished technology."?

Maybe at launch but what exactly is it that HD-DVD could do if it were still around today that Blu-ray couldn't?

That's what I thought. The superior product won. Deal with it. It's no wonder I never cared for Toshiba products.

[aspertame]

A statement like that makes me wonder if they care about making a quality product in the first place. Are they going to enter the BD market with a half-assed product because they finally feel that they have to?

[ZaZeeMan]

Gotta love the fanboyism here! You guys are hilarious!

I have them both and just generally enjoy them but speaking of not making it personal; barring them for the BDA? Classic! Too many quotes to mention.

Why do you have to make everything so personal? Does it make you feel better in your choices in life to defend them with ever last keystroke? Anyways, keep it up! It makes for great entertainment. You honestly can' write this stuff......oh wait....you already did!

[rise2it]

I have them both, too - and the best format did win.

HD DVD wasn't cheaper until they were in desperation mode. Blu got a huge advantage with the disc coating, because at the time roughly half of the HD's that I rented either skipped or were unplayable - which I'm sure is the MAIN reason that Netflix pulled the plug.

No point in beating a dead horse, eh?

[GizmoDVD]

Hopefully they will integrate some of their online features that were nixed with the death of HD DVD.

I have a feeling the only reason they are producing a BD player is for bundling reasons with their Regza line. They are gonna lose far to much marketshare if they ignore that sector and try and dump a XDE player on people instead.

[GizmoDVD]

Originally Posted by rise2it

HD DVD wasn't cheaper until they were in desperation mode.

HD DVD was always cheaper - A1 launched at $499 the Samsung at $1,000. Typically HD was half the price of a BD player (not counting the PS3...which was still $500 at its cheapest for most of HDs life).

"Desperation mode" was the $99 Wal-mart special that Wal-mart did on their own - Toshiba did not subsidize that for them. The MSRPs continued to be $249 until Warner announced going Blu.

[Cochise]

Originally Posted by rainman208

"what the company generally considers to be an unfinished technology."?

Maybe at launch but what exactly is it that HD-DVD could do if it were still around today that Blu-ray couldn't?

That's what I thought. The superior product won. Deal with it. It's no wonder I never cared for Toshiba products.

C'mon, let's not turn this into Smackdown. First that "unfinished technology" he's referring to is High-definition Home Entertainment, not blu-ray. He's just saying "From SD cards to downloads, Toshiba is perusing a range of options". Second, Oliver van Wynedaele is a Brit, an exec at Toshiba Europe. I've read other interviews he's given and he can come off sounding pretty arrogant. Anything important Toshiba has to say about its commitment to blu-ray will come out of Tokyo.

[The_Doctor]

Originally Posted by Cochise

C'mon, let's not turn this into Smackdown. First that "unfinished technology" he's referring to is High-definition Home Entertainment, not blu-ray. He's just saying "From SD cards to downloads, Toshiba is perusing a range of options". Second, Oliver van Wynedaele is a Brit, an exec at Toshiba Europe. I've read other interviews he's given and he can come off sounding pretty arrogant. Anything important Toshiba has to say about its commitment to blu-ray will come out of Tokyo.

Not really. Not the HDD wrote it up anyway.

He did make clear though, that Toshiba wasn’t exactly excited to adopt the format, still holding out for another option to what the company generally considers to be an unfinished technology.

Besides Brits always sound arrogant

But what weird interview to give. I said before that Toshiba needs Blu just for their Cell processing scheme, since they want to roll out better than 1080p tv they need content for it and the easiest way is blu w/ their cell tv.

[Cochise]

Originally Posted by The_Doctor

Not really. Not the HDD wrote it up anyway.

Well, I guess the way it was written leaves it open to interpretation; I interpret "still holding out for another option", immediately followed by mentioning SD cards and downloads, as meaning he considers delivery of high definition entertainment to the home is "unfinished technology". Which of course it is - they CE companies will always come up with something new & better.

Originally Posted by The_Doctor

Besides Brits always sound arrogant

But what weird interview to give. I said before that Toshiba needs Blu just for their Cell processing scheme, since they want to roll out better than 1080p tv they need content for it and the easiest way is blu w/ their cell tv.

Well, the full interview at Cnet UK provides a better context for his thinking on the subject, like this excerpt:

What did become very clear is that Toshiba's attitude to the format hasn't really changed. It accepts Blu-ray is the consumer's format of choice and it respects that, van Wynedaele said, but it still believes as a company that there are other solutions to HD video on the horizon. The company's SD card research, for example, will ultimately yield storage so cheap it could eventually replace disc formats. Downloads too have massive potential, and with companies such as Microsoft behind video downloads, it won't be long before we start to see that market take shape.

[The_Doctor]

Originally Posted by Cochise

Well, I guess the way it was written leaves it open to interpretation; I interpret "still holding out for another option", immediately followed by mentioning SD cards and downloads, as meaning he considers delivery of high definition entertainment to the home is "unfinished technology". Which of course it is - they CE companies will always come up with something new & better.




Well, the full interview at Cnet UK provides a better context for his thinking on the subject, like this excerpt:

consumer's format of choice? Studio's choice more like (not the time or place for but I couldn't resist )

Well that excerpt is somewhat better but he still says they will be fully behind the next format, whatever form it make take. The HDD interpretation makes it clear that Blu is an unfinished format to them and the others are emerging.

Either way the Uk spokesman is less that flattering about blu and we have to assume that is the Tosh corporate attitude.

"If we were to make a move [on] optical discs," van Wynedaele told us, "we'd have to back Blu-ray, obviously. We did research and although it's [Blu-ray] a minor part of the market, it's reached the point where we should consider it."

We asked van Wynedaele why Toshiba was joining the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) now, and why it has decided to start making its own hardware. It's not surprising to hear that the answer is simply that Blu-ray is currently the only optical storage format capable of storing large amounts of computer data or HD video. That means if Toshiba wants to serve both computers and home cinema properly, it has to adopt an HD format.

The closest the Cnet interview comes to the HDD unfinished allegation is this

The fact is, when it launched, HD DVD was a completed format. Blu-ray, on the other hand, was not, and it's only now that we're at the final profile (2.0) that Toshiba is prepared to get involved.

Which is the writers opinion not Toshiba, but then the other Tosh comments aren't that great either.

[poddie]

Ya know, this company sure does know how to put their foot in it.

If they had just come out within a month or two and decided to support Blu-ray, with a positive statement, it would have done wonders for their image.

I just don't know who there thinks that this is the way to go... it just feels like all they are about at this point is endless whining and pouting. That may not be true, but image is everything and these guys have blown it (and continue to do so judging by these quotes).