CES 2008: Toshiba's response to Warner's Blu-ray allegiance, and what it means for the future of HD DVD

In light of the recent announcement that Warner Bros are backing Blu-ray in the high definition format war (and the subsequent cancellation of the HD DVD press conference) it's no surprise the press packed into the Toshiba press conference this morning to hear what they have to say about the supposed 'death' of HD DVD. After a quick intro from Toshiba CEO Akio Ozaka, who stressed he was "suprised by Warner Bros' announcement", the 'lucky' person who had to face the crowds and defend the format was Jodi Sally, VP of marketing for the Digital A/V department. We got it all on video for you…

Warner dumps HD DVD and goes Blu-ray exclusive! Format war over? Blu-ray triumphant?

warner-bros-dumps-hd-dvd.jpgUh-oh. Set the internet to RED ALERT – the nasty HD DVD and Blu-ray war might just be about to end, thanks to Hollywood heavyweight Warner deciding to go Blu-ray exclusive in 2008.

In a press release over on its official portal, Warner Bros. has kicked all HD DVD owners to the kerb – and announced it’s going Blu-ray exclusive from May of 2008.

The world-ending press release starts like this:

Blu-ray Disc Association makes wild claims of 2.7 million players sold, forgets 74% of figure are PS3 sales

PS3-Blu-ray-sales.jpgI do feel a bit sad for perking my ears up every time I see the words ‘Blu-ray’ and ‘HD DVD’ mentioned in the same breath. There’s nothing I love more than a good ol’ fashioned format war.

Whilst the HD DVD camp is actually fairly transparent with their sales statistics (recently claiming to have sold 750,000 players), the Blu-ray Disc Association has always been cagey, never actually releasing figures on actual players sold.

The story being bandied about the playground today is that 2.7 million Blu-ray Disc players have been sold in the US so far, but of those 2.7 million? Yep, most of them are just PS3 sales…