Toshiba announces HD DVD surrender: War is finally over!

The high definition disc format war that has raged for the last two years ended in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Toshiba announced it would stop development, manufacturing and marketing HD DVD players and recorders. The company says however, it will continue to fully support and service all existing HD DVD players.

The war is finally over! The HD DVD format has surrendered amid rampant speculation and overwhelming opposition. From retailers and rental services dropping its products to studios ending support for the format, it looks like Toshiba has wisely bowed out of a war it could no longer win.

“We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop,” said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality.”

With the announcement from Nishida, Blu-ray becomes heir apparent next-gen optical storage. Toshiba says it’ll begin reducing shipments of HD DVD players to retailers until March 2008 when it says its HD DVD business will be at an end. Toshiba’s first entrant into the format was the release of its HD-A1 exactly two years prior back in March 2006.

Within the March 2008 timeframe Toshiba will reduce production of HD DVD products for PC and notebooks. The company says it’ll continue to support computer related HD DVD products but makes no promises. Toshiba says its commitment to PC products is only relative to future market demand.

In other words it sounds like you’ll find blank HD DVD discs for the foreseeable future - so stock up now.

Toshiba has decidedly done the right thing if there is any chance at mainstream consumer adoption of high definition movie discs. With no ace up its sleeve in its war with Sony Toshiba could only drag it out and wait until the remaining studios inevitably cross the floor and begin producing Blu-ray discs and HD DVD would simply wither away slowly.