Toshiba CEO on life after HD DVD

[Chau808]

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Toshiba CEO Atsutoshi Nishida said this:

...we're going to improve ["upconverting"] even more, so that consumers won't be able to tell the difference from HD DVD images.

http://www.dvdtown.com/news/toshiba-...er-hd-dvd/5299

Why did Toshiba even try to transition to HD DVD discs if DVD upconversion could match HD DVD?

[crazzeto]

I noticed that and I think he's beleiving a line of BS being fed to him from some bitter portion of the corperation. Upscaling will never be the equal of HD DVD.

[space-monkey]

Because it's a damn lie, that will surely be eaten up by the Red Army.

[aaronwt]

Originally Posted by crazzeto

I noticed that and I think he's beleiving a line of BS being fed to him from some bitter portion of the corperation. Upscaling will never be the equal of HD DVD.

No it isn't equal, but to your average person who is happy with DVD, it's a good way to get an easy sale when they replace their DVD player for another one.
And the technology he is talking about is better than anything introduced in the past for consumer up conversion.

[vp1]

Originally Posted by Chau808

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Toshiba CEO Atsutoshi Nishida said this:



http://www.dvdtown.com/news/toshiba-...er-hd-dvd/5299

Why did Toshiba even try to transition to HD DVD discs if DVD upconversion could match HD DVD?

It's basically either a big "F-U" to HD-DVD adopters or simply sour grapes. Take your pick.

[Beta-guy]

lol I'm certain they can improve the image quality after it gets stretched to 1080P but there is a lack of information that DVD has the HD DVD can correct, there is only so much you can do to a DVD quality image, and I don't think stretching it 6X it's designed resolution, and maintaining perfect or near perfect image quality image quality is a feasible option.

[vp1]

Originally Posted by aaronwt

And the technology he is talking about is better than anything introduced in the past for consumer up conversion.

If that's the case, then Toshiba was really screwing their HD-DVD adopters because there was no reason for them to even come out with HD-DVD in the first place if people won't be able to tell the difference.

[crazzeto]

Originally Posted by aaronwt

No it isn't equal, but to your average person who is happy with DVD, it's a good way to get an easy sale when they replace their DVD player for another one.
And the technology he is talking about is better than anything introduced in the past for consumer up conversion.

Yes, I'm familiar with super upconversion tech that's been getting discussed quite a bit recently. It's in no way going to be equal to true HDM, it'd be much better if bitter portions of the company would be forced to give up and the tech started getting licensed out to BDA members (and toshiba joined in and started making BD players).

[hdfan90]

Originally Posted by crazzeto

Yes, I'm familiar with super upconversion tech that's been getting discussed quite a bit recently. It's in no way going to be equal to true HDM, it'd be much better if bitter portions of the company would be forced to give up and the tech started getting licensed out to BDA members (and toshiba joined in and started making BD players).

They will never do that. I believe they will take a scorched Earth approach and undermine BD at every opportunity. However, they need the cooperation of the retailers, who want to see BD succeed. Could be a tough road for them.

[mgillespie]

Man HD DVD must have been REALLY crappy if DVD upscaling can match it.

Glad Blu-ray won...

[bganga]

These new players will be sitting in the aisle right next to their inexpensive DVD brothers.. With people confused about what "super upconversion" means compared to "upconversion".

Another Toshiba failure.

[Badger3920]

Agreed. All this means is that best buy is going to say "okay so you want this on our dvd shelves, which of your products would you like to have removed to make space?"

It's just going to be one more dvd player, with no more hype than any other one. Personally I'd start to get burnt out if I was in the market for a dvd player and saw "upconversion!" "super upconversion!" "triple ultra super duper upconversion!"

"almost like blu-ray!!!"


ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz. I'll just take the blu-ray, thanks.

[venk]

Isn't this their cell based super-upconverting technology? If that is the case, couldn't Sony develop something similar for the PS3 anyways?

[Aurora]

Originally Posted by hdfan90

They will never do that. I believe they will take a scorched Earth approach and undermine BD at every opportunity. However, they need the cooperation of the retailers, who want to see BD succeed. Could be a tough road for them.

They also need consumers to see the vast superiority of Super Upconversion over what most players do. This is hard to do if Toshiba is the only one making players with that technology. They are then relying on consumers to read reviews of products or talk with salespeople who know about all the products and discover the benefits admist a row of DVD players that all look the same otherwise.

The sell on HD DVD would have been far easier because it's a new product. People have an easier time accepting that an entirely new product is better than they would for a rehash on an existing product. That's the biggest problem trying to push Super Upscaling faces: they need to separate it from the legions of DVD players still out there, which is difficult to do. One manufacturer with the technology makes it look like a gimmick--you can label anything you want as "super," and it just looks like one manufacturer claiming their product is better than everything else out there (when is that not done?).

They could also try in store displays, but that seems like a tough sell: floor space is limited, and displaying Super Upscalers basically amounts to pushing old technology with a new face. When was the last time you saw a display for a rehash of old technology? Come to think of it, have you ever seen a display similar to the ones for Blu-ray and HD DVD for regular upscalers?

I just don't really see trying to get people to flock to DVD again. "But I already have a DVD player" or "But it's still DVD" seem like common rebuttal to super upscaling. Without that new, fresh appeal, the cause seems like an uphill battle. Consumers may or may not be willing to bite on Blu-ray, but trying to push Super Upscaling as a real alternative seems kinda doomed. People will just think of DVD as DVD. That might be fine for them, but this takes the ball out of Super Upscaling's court: Blu-ray will succeed or fail on its own.

[joey0480]

what rubbish...i can't see it being able to look like hd dvd. That is a pretty prick statement for them. Can't wait for the upconversion of sound too that they will have that matches TrueHd ... hmph