Toshiba Applies to Join Blu-ray Disc Association (http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2009_08/pr1001.htm)
Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502) announced today that the company has applied for membership of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) and plans to introduce products that support the Blu-ray format.

As a market leader in digital technologies, Toshiba provides a wide range of advanced digital products, such as DVD recorders and players, HDTVs and notebook PCs that support a wide range of storage devices, including hard disk drives (HDD), DVD, and SD Cards. In light of recent growth in digital devices supporting the Blu-ray format, combined with market demand from consumers and retailers alike, Toshiba has decided to join the BDA.

Toshiba aims to introduce digital products that support the Blu-ray format, including BD players and notebook PCs integrating BD drives, in the course of this year. Details of the products, including the timing of regional launches, are now under consideration. We will make announcements in due course.

This is awesome news.

It's good to see that Toshiba finally smelled the roses. Blu-ray is THE hi-def disc format and they realized that they could not sit it out any longer.

Well, looks like Toshiba has opened their eyes and have seen that blu-ray is here to stay and it's time get some of the revenue.
Some will never buy blu-ray and have come to the conclusion that MediocreHiDef content via upconverting, streaming, cable, satellite or OTA is adequate and they will wait for 4K HDM to be available for the home.

Those who have bought in to blu-ray are wasting their money...

welcome aboard Toshiba. I guess they (Toshiba) feel the need to add Blu Ray support to their product line.....does that imply that Blu Ray is succeeding?

I still think if Toshiba would have conceded on the physical disc structure that Sony would have accepted iHD/HDi which would have give MSFT little reason to object to the format. Though hindsight is 20/20.

Thankfully Toshiba finally sees the light, but I suspect that retailers were pushing Toshiba because they didn't have a total solution package like Sony, Samsung and some of the other major display makers.

I still think if Toshiba would have conceded on the physical disc structure that Sony would have accepted iHD/HDi which would have give MSFT little reason to object to the format. Though hindsight is 20/20.



Toshiba could only have agreed to a different disc structure if discs could have been replicated on excisting DVD production equipment.
Now we have the situation that the huge investments are needed to put up a new parallel production structure for BD. Which coupled with huge licencing fees, makes it too expensive for smaller companies to release their movies on BD.

Which coupled with huge licencing fees, makes it too expensive for smaller companies to release their movies on BD.I can confirm that this is the case for one small studio I've authored discs for. I badly want to create some BD titles for them, but with niche content, the various fees required to get started are often a fairly big risk.

The situation is improving, though. AACS recently lowered their fees, but this particular studio (not one you'll probably have heard of) seriously resents paying for a copy protection system that they do not want to include.

Off topic comments deleted and edited. Similar format war comments will result in the loss of ability to participate at AVS.

Toshiba could only have agreed to a different disc structure if discs could have been replicated on excisting DVD production equipment.
Now we have the situation that the huge investments are needed to put up a new parallel production structure for BD. Which coupled with huge licencing fees, makes it too expensive for smaller companies to release their movies on BD.

Personally, I don't really care about the smaller niche companies. BD probably needs to grow in installed units first so the possible revenue returns offset the initial investment in creating BD content.

The costs for producing DVD content was high initially as well.

Those who have bought in to blu-ray are wasting their money...

:D

I guess their XDE upscaling players didn't fly off the shelves.

So hopefully they'll release something like BD-XA2 which I would most definitely buy over Oppo.

According to a well known site that does "benchmark" tests, the XA2 ranked very high (95%), but was still behind the oppo 981HD (96%) and rated lower than the new Oppo BD83 player (which received a 98%).

While the XA2 was/is a great player, there are better performers for a lower price. So I wouldn't pass over Oppo for the Toshiba name.

I look forward to the first news and reviews of the new Toshiba players.

I own 2 Toshiba DVD players, but stayed away from HD-DVD because it seemed obvious it was not going to win.

I imagine it would not add too much to the cost of a player for Toshiba to release a combo (HD-DVD\Blu-ray), to accommodate past customers.

Who would have thought Toshiba would beat Apple to market with a Blu-ray Laptop? :D

I look forward to the first news and reviews of the new Toshiba players.

I own 2 Toshiba DVD players, but stayed away from HD-DVD because it seemed obvious it was not going to win.

Though I entirely agree with you, you better tread lightly from this point... ;)

I imagine it would not add too much to the cost of a player for Toshiba to release a combo (HD-DVD\Blu-ray), to accommodate past customers.

Who would have thought Toshiba would beat Apple to market with a Blu-ray Laptop? :D

It is not a trivial task to add HD DVD playback to a BD player. Just ask Samsung and LG how well they have been able to support their dual format players.

I look forward to the first news and reviews of the new Toshiba players.

I own 2 Toshiba DVD players, but stayed away from HD-DVD because it seemed obvious it was not going to win.

I imagine it would not add too much to the cost of a player for Toshiba to release a combo (HD-DVD\Blu-ray), to accommodate past customers.

Who would have thought Toshiba would beat Apple to market with a Blu-ray Laptop? :D

HP has been shipping higher end laptops with BD for a while now. I picked up and internal for my PC a few months back for well under $100.

It is not a trivial task to add HD DVD playback to a BD player. Just ask Samsung and LG how well they have been able to support their dual format players.

Plus the market is much more price competive today than it was 18 months ago. With their competition selling players under $100 I wouldn't think they could afford the extra cost to include a dual format player for the small number of HD DVD users out there.

Plus the market is much more price competive today than it was 18 months ago. With their competition selling players under $100 I wouldn't think they could afford the extra cost to include a dual format player for the small number of HD DVD users out there.

I would not consider sub $100 players competition for Toshiba. As they are more of a mid to high end player (usually). So Toshiba will want to add some value to their line-up. I know it's probably a tiny market, but there are still $1000 players out there.

Besides there is always this.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/betamaxhd.html

:D

This is, of course, good news for Blu Ray. It's also good news for consumers. Another manufacturer on board is another competitor and that is always a good thing.

If they have a wireless player with Blu Ray, Netflix and Amazon for around $250 they may have a good shot compared to Sony, Panasonic and the like. They could add the XDE feature for DVD upscaling as well.

A higher end model that post processes Netflix could also be nice.

There's some gushing about the XA2 in this thread. I have one. It's 'ok', but certainly not worth the price I paid for it. There are comparable/better Blu-ray players in the market now that cost less than the XA2 did.

There's some gushing about the XA2 in this thread. I have one. It's 'ok', but certainly not worth the price I paid for it. There are comparable/better Blu-ray players in the market now that cost less than the XA2 did.

How memories work!

I was talking with a friend and the subject of DVD and Blu-ray came up; I recommended Blu-ray to him, he of course has DVD.

Then he remembered visiting my house in 1991 (he lives in Iowa and I am in SF Bay Area) and seeing my LD system with Kloss projector. He asked me if they were still making those wonderful laserdisks, and wow, that was the best thing he had ever seen, did they still make those?

I had to explain to him that DVD quality was in fact better than LD by a fair amount. He did not want to believe this, so intent was he at thinking what I had showed him in 1991 was the ultimate.

People sometimes like to remember the past more fondly than we should.


On the other hand, sometimes memory is spot-on. I just saw Cleopatra in 70mm last week for the first time since the original release in 1963. Yup, 70mm is just as good as I remember.

Besides there is always this.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/betamaxhd.html

:D

:D Awesome! I can't believe I missed that one last year!

Please stay on topic and leave the China HD player out of the discussion.

no chance toshiba will release a dual format player. just the way they droped the format, not to mention the bad job promoting, one wonders why they did make hd dvd at all. following their actions and now them joining blu, you could probably see a panasonic dual format player around a possibility than a toshiba one.

I don't think you'll ever see another dual player from anyone. It's been gone for too long and the demand is just way too low.

:D Awesome! I can't believe I missed that one last year!

Ric-rolled again :p;)

Turning Point for Toshiba

Toshiba's decision to join the BDA marks a turnabout in the company's positioning, not only from the standpoint of supporting a rival format, but also from the physical media perspective. At last year's IFA, the consumer electronics show in Berlin, Toshiba said it didn't believe in physical media. The company reiterated its stance at The Home Entertainment Show in Denver in January and at the Japan Electronics Show. Toshiba was betting on the Internet as a content-delivery mechanism.

"Toshiba joining the Blu-ray Disc Association is a true turning point. The company is recognizing that consumers still include discs as part of their media choice," said Richard Doherty, principal analyst at the Envisioneering Group. Doherty expects Toshiba to make a Blu-ray product announcement at the 2009 IFA show in Berlin. Toshiba's press conference is scheduled for one hour before the BDA's.

"Toshiba is supporting Blu-ray because it has interactive features they'd like to see work with SD cards and the Internet," Doherty said. "If Toshiba hadn't joined the Blu-ray group, they would be on the outs of being able to produce products to capitalize on the growth of this format."

http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=022002HW5OLI

This is, of course, good news for Blu Ray. It's also good news for consumers. Another manufacturer on board is another competitor and that is always a good thing.I dunno. It's not like the BDA was about to fall over or anything. Cause if it were, Toshiba's throwin' their hat into the ring wouldn't change a thing. In fact, they wouldn't even bother to join. More than anything, this is good news for Toshiba.

Toshiba just needs to make decent products again!

It's certainly a great day.

There's some gushing about the XA2 in this thread. I have one. It's 'ok', but certainly not worth the price I paid for it. There are comparable/better Blu-ray players in the market now that cost less than the XA2 did.
And how many BD players were competitive or better at the XA2's price at the time of it's release?

I personally welcome the fact that Toshiba is joining the BD crowd, the more the better for the consumer.

And how many BD players were competitive or better at the XA2's price at the time of it's release?

1?

Brandon

And how many BD players were competitive or better at the XA2's price at the time of it's release?

I personally welcome the fact that Toshiba is joining the BD crowd, the more the better for the consumer.

One.

I'm sure Toshiba will make a bangin Blu-ray player.

I'm pleased to hear this news. I've got two Tosh HD-DVD players and love them. I won't be buying one of their Blu-ray machines any time soon though because I already have 3 Blu-ray players. I sincerely doubt that they'll be bringing out a combo player.

It appears the Toshiba Blu-ray player has made it to market sooner than some of us thought.

Toshiba’s BDX2000 Blu-ray Player Hits Best Buy (http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Best_Buy/Toshiba/Toshiba%E2%80%99s_BDX2000_Blu-ray_Player_Hits_Best_Buy/3678)

Wed Oct 28, 2009 at 02:00 PM ET

At long last Toshiba has a Blu-ray player on store shelves, at $50 cheaper than announced.

Toshiba’s BDX2000 isn’t an especially unique Blu-ray player, but the circumstances around its creation and release certainly were. Toshiba of course was the driving force behind HD-DVD, and a long time Blu-ray holdout. After the end of the format war, Toshiba made a lot of statements that downplayed the importance of Blu-ray, but as time went on, the Blu-ray market became too strong to ignore.

With blu-ray shelf space for ever increasing at B&M and disc availability online pretty much everywhere, I'm not surprised that they want their peice of the player market.

And with sales like this title, who can blame them.


The Paramount Home Entertainment release hit stores Oct. 20 and within a week had become the top-selling home entertainment release of the year, with first-week sales of 7.5 million units, according to Home Media Magazine market research.

The sequel also became the biggest-selling Blu-ray Disc release of 2009, with first-week sales of 1.2 million units.

Transformers also takes the cake for day-one sales, having moved 2 million discs its first day in stores, 500,000 of them on the high-definition Blu-ray Disc format.


http://www.homemediamagazine.com/research/transformers-2-tops-charts-top-selling-title-year-17428

.

With blu-ray shelf space for ever increasing at B&M and disc availability online pretty much everywhere, I'm not surprised that they want their peice of the player market.

And with sales like this title, who can blame them.



http://www.homemediamagazine.com/research/transformers-2-tops-charts-top-selling-title-year-17428

.

It's just to pair with their Regzas. The price and features just scream laziness.

To be fair, most BD players these days have similar featuresets and price points. That's why I still /hug my phat PS3, it's a unique snowflake in a world of identical plastic slim set-top players.

I do believe the P.C. term is "big-boned."

Brandon

To be fair, most BD players these days have similar featuresets and price points. That's why I still /hug my phat PS3, it's a unique snowflake in a world of identical plastic slim set-top players.There's a reason it's shaped the way it is.....;)

Hi folks,

Toshiba has been selling laptops with Blu-ray drives for quite some time (about 8 months that in the pc world, an eternity) in thier Tecra and Satellite Pro line.

Thier BR players are nothing fancy, I don't think they even have online access.