Blu Ray Disc : News/Infos

nicolas76 a écrit:

merçi ! Pour les 4 premiers HP je peux y aller les yeux fermés alors ? Vu que les DVD sont bof bof

AkamonRG a écrit:Bah ils veulent liquider les stocks avec des pigeons qui se feront avoir.

j-bourne a écrit:je crois que la FNAC a fait son choix, ça en fait 2 (dans 2 différentes villes) ou ils ont enlevé les HD, y reste plus que les BR

nicolas76 a écrit:

j-bourne a écrit:je crois que la FNAC a fait son choix, ça en fait 2 (dans 2 différentes villes) ou ils ont enlevé les HD, y reste plus que les BR

ds la mienne au Havre, samedi les deux étaient encore là en tout cas

Voilà une nouvelle qui pourrait mettre définitivement fin à la
guerre des formats disque haute définition opposant les HD-DVD et
Blu-Ray Disc. Toshiba, fervent défenseur du premier format, serait en
passe d'abandonner définitivement le support, des suites de la
défection des studios Warner et New Line et des ventes de titres jugées
bien inférieures au Blu-Ray Disc de Sony. La nouvelle n'est bien sûr
pas encore officielle.
Seul l'éditeur The Hollywood Reporter fait mention effectivement de
propos issus de sources proches qui mettraient toutefois la puce à
l'oreille. L'information est également aujourd'hui relayée par Reuters.

« Toshiba continuera à étudier les effets sur le marché et
l'avis des consommateurs en regard à nos propositions, en particulier
compte tenu de nos récentes baisses de prix portant sur l'ensemble de
nos lecteurs HD-DVD » a pu en outre déclarer Jodi Sally du groupe Toshiba America Consumer Products.
Rappelons que le groupe nippon avait dépensé la somme de 2.7
millions de dollars pour apparaître 30 secondes sur un spot de
télévision à l'occasion du dernier Super Bowl américain. L'ensemble des
lecteurs HD-DVD ont récemment connu une baisse fulgurante de prix,
entrainant une rupture de stock au sein de certains marchands.
Mais la décision commune de plusieurs grands de la distribution et
de la location de films à l'instar de NetFlix et Best Buy sur le marché
américain, n'a vraisemblablement pas aider le groupe nippon dans la
démocratisation de son format.
Pour l'heure, Toshiba défend toujours le HD-DVD d'un point de vue
officiel mais les rumeurs de défection semblent de plus en plus
prononcées.
Affaire bien évidemment à suivre et à confirmer...

Dans la rubrique ‘’La rumeur qui tue’’, 1080living.com fait fort en nous annonçant la sortie de lecteurs Blu-Ray chez Toshiba. Le géant de l’électronique japonais, ultime défenseur du format HD-DVD pourrait encore, si cela est vrai, accélérer la décrépitude de ce format.

Après le retrait brutal de Warner (leader de la distribution DVD et HD) qui a entrainé New Line dans son sillage et la pub HD-DVD du SuperBowl qui s’est montré contre-productive, il ne semble pas totalement illogique que Toshiba se plonge dans le bleu. Deux lecteurs Blu-Ray sont actuellement en chantier et devraient être commercialisés entre juillet et septembre à 250$ et 350$.

Si la rumeur se confirme et que le HD-DVD perde son dernier défenseur hardware, il n’y aurait plus aucune raison pour que Universal et Paramount se rallient également au format.

With HD DVD, things are just going from bad, to really bad, to worse, to car-crash-you-can't-stop-looking-at. You can file this one under that latter category, as Wal-Mart has officially announced its intentions to stop stocking HD DVD players and movies by June. According to reports, the retailer came to the decision after Netflix and Best Buy
made announcements concerning their position in the HD format war.
Susan Chronister of Wal-Mart wrote on the company's blog, "By June
Wal-Mart will only be carrying Blu-ray movies and hardware machines,
and of course standard-def movies, DVD players, and up-convert
players." Susan went on to deliver what we consider a total
burn by adding, "if you bought the HD [DVD] player like me, I'd retire
it to the bedroom, kid's playroom, or give it to your parents to play
their John Wayne standard-def movies, and make space for a BD player."
Look, we're not gonna say that this is it for HD DVD, but... uh, it
doesn't look real great.

Toshiba to drop HD DVD, sources say
By Thomas K. Arnold and Erik Gruenwedel
Feb 15, 2008

The format war has turned into a format death watch.

Toshiba is widely expected to pull the plug on its HD DVD format sometime in the coming weeks, reliable industry sources say, after a rash of retail defections that followed Warner Home Video's announcement in early January that it would support only the rival Blu-ray Disc format after May.

Officially, no decision has been made, insists Jodi Sally, vp of marketing for Toshiba America Consumer Products. "Based on its technological advancements, we continue to believe HD DVD is the best format for consumers, given the value and consistent quality inherent in our player offerings," she said.

But she hinted that something's in the air. "Given the market developments in the past month," she said, "Toshiba will continue to study the market impact and the value proposition for consumers, particularly in light of our recent price reductions on all HD DVD players."

Immediately after the Warner announcement, the HD DVD North American Promotional Group canceled its Consumer Electronics Show presentation. The following week, data collected by the NPD Group revealed Blu-ray took in 93% of all hardware sales for that week.


Toshiba subsequently fired back, drastically cutting its HD DVD player prices by as much as half, effective Jan. 15. But a hoped-for consumer sales surge never materialized; retail point-of-sale data collected by the NPD Group for the week ending Jan. 26 still showed Blu-ray Disc players ahead by a wide margin, 65% to 28%.

Software sales have declined as well. The latest Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales data show the top-selling Blu-ray Disc title for the week, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's "Across the Universe," sold more than three times as many copies the week ending Feb. 10 as the top HD DVD seller, Universal Studios Home Entertainment's "Elizabeth: The Golden Age." Blu-ray Disc titles also accounted for 81% of all high-def disc sales for the week, with HD DVD at just 19%.

Toshiba had been pitching its discounted HD DVD players toward the standard DVD crowd as well as high-def enthusiasts, noting in its ad message that the new players would make DVDs look a lot better as well. And as a last-ditch effort, the company ran an ad during the Super Bowl -- a 30-second spot that reportedly cost $2.7 million.

But in the end, sources say, the substantial loss Toshiba is incurring with each HD DVD player sold -- a figure sources say could be as high as several hundred dollars -- coupled with a series of high-profile retail defections has driven the company to at last concede defeat.

"An announcement is coming soon," said one source close to the HD DVD camp. "It could be a matter of weeks."

Microsoft is the other big player in the HD DVD equation. Last fall when Paramount Home Entertainment announced it was dropping its dual-format strategy and would release titles only in HD DVD, giving that side a brief resurgence, a pitch to journalists for interviews came from a Microsoft email address.

Several phone calls to Kevin Collins, Microsoft's normally accessible "HD DVD evangelist," were not returned. Nor were calls to Ken Graffeo, the Universal Studios Home Entertainment executive who doubles as co-president of the HD DVD North American Promotional Group.

When Warner abandoned HD DVD in January, the format was left with just two of the six major studios backing it, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment. Blu-ray support among independents is rising. ADV Films, Tai Seng Entertainment, Topics Entertainment and National Geographic have all confirmed they are going Blu-ray exclusive, while more than one indie that was releasing titles just on HD DVD, including Surround Records and Opus Arte, will now offer Blu-ray as well.

This week, two key retailers, Best Buy and Netflix Inc., both got off the fence and threw their support behind Blu-ray exclusively, citing widespread studio support and consumer preference. Both companies said Warner's decision was a turning point in their strategies.

"We've listened to our customers, and we are responding," said Best Buy president and COO Brian Dunn.

Netflix spokesperson Steve Swasey said it appeared the format war had been won by Blu-ray for the benefit of everyone.

"We wanted to put an exclamation point behind that," he said.

Industry observers are closely watching Amazon, but there's been no movement, other than a 50% off sale for 150 HD DVD titles, including "Transformers," "Zodiac" and "Stardust."

Blockbuster Inc. last summer already decided to offer only Blu-ray Disc titles at its company-owned rental stores.

Chris Tribbey, Home Media Magazine senior reporter, contributed to this report.