Comments on: Toshiba abandons HD DVD

By: Just my two cents

Just my two cents — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 03:51:57 +0000

The biggest shame, is that Toshiba, along with Hitachi, had developed an interesting capability on their HD DVD recorders, which allow for the users to record up to two hours of HD video on a single DVD-R (H.264+AAC, using the HD DVD format). Th initial problem with this idea, was that you could only play the DVD-R on compatible players, but there were some talks that people had been able to play the disks on PCs with HD DVD players.

This would have brought about an important go between from SD to HD, yet it looks like it will be killed off for a anti-consumer product, which looks like it may flop before it “really” flies.

No matter what happens, it looks like the consumer is going to be left on the side of the road, while the few content holder mess it up for the rest of us.

Just my two cents.

By: CCCP

CCCP — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 02:38:40 +0000

Blu Ray is the technically superior format. The number of regions has been reduced which is a good thing. I think that the studios will probably over play the DRM hand and eventually give it up like the music industry when it came to DRMed digital downloads.

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 01:53:23 +0000

Here are all people from the Copy Protection Technical Working Group, many of them were involved in creation of the AACS and other C.R.A.P. content protections:

list is coming from the web site of Copy Protection Technical Working Group.

Ted Abe
Panasonic
tedabe@arl.drl.mei.co.jp

Sandra Aistars
Weil, Gotshal & Manges
sandra.aistars@weil.com

Kosuke Ajima
Pioneer
kosuke_ajima@post.pioneer.co.jp

Takao Arai
Hitachi
takao-arai@em.tookai.hitachi.co.jp

Michael Ayers
Toshiba
michael.ayers@tais.toshiba.com

Al Baker
Thomson Multimedia
bakera@tce.com

Mary Jean Barr
Warner Bros.
mbarr0648@aol.com

Alan Bell
Warner Bros.
alan.bell@warnerbros.com

Patrice Birot
Canal U.S. Technologies
pbirot@CanalUS.com

Glynis Brooke
Cache Vision Inc.
gbrooke@cachevision.com

Jim Burger
Dou, Lohnes & Albertson
jburger@dlalaw.com

John Card
Echostar Communications
john.card@echostar.com

Jeff Carr
Broadcom Corp.
jcarr@broadcom.com

Jong Jin Chae
Mark Any
chaejj@markany.com

John Choi
MarkAny
juchoi@markany.com

William Coats
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe
wcoats@orrick.com

Jeffrey Cunard
Debevoise & Plimpton
jpcunard@debevoise.com

John Dawson
Arcam
johnd@arcam.co.uk

Maddalena DiGiura
ST Microelectronics
maddalena.di-giura@st.com

Richard Ditzik
Panasonic
ditzikr@panasonic.com

Louis Domshy
Aiwa
Ldomshy@adt.aiwa.com

Robert Finger
Matsushita Electric
Fingerr@Panasonic.com

Yoshihisa Fukushima
Matsushita Electric
fukucima@isl.mei.co.jp

Takekazu Fukuzawa
Thomson Multimedia
fukazawat@tce.com

Brett Gaines
Silicon Image
bgaines@siimage.com

Seth Greenstein
MWE/Hitachi
sgreenstein@mwe.com

Jeff Hamilton
CableLabs
jeff@hamiltondtv.com

Stephen Heil
Microsoft
sheil@microsoft.com

Jun Hirai
Sony
jun.hirai@jp.sony.com

Mark Hollar
Macrovision
mark@macrovision.com

Ikuko Horikawa
Sony
ikuko.horikawa@jp.sony.com

John Hoy
LMI
john.hoy@lmicp.com

Brad Hunt
MPAA
cbhunt@mpaa.org

Jordan Isailovic
Advanced InterActive
jordan@advancedinteractive.com

Solen Jaboulet
Thomson Multimedia
jaboulets@thmulti.com

Whit Jackson
Secure Media
wjackson@SecureMedia.com

George Joblove
Sony Pictures
joblove@imageworks.com

Taku Katoh
Toshiba
taku.kato@toshiba.co.jp

Junichi Kawahara
Toshiba
junichi.kawahara@toshiba.co.jp.com

Jong-Weon Kim
MarkAny
jwkim@markany.com

Kirby Kish
Macrovision
kkish@microvision.com

Donald Leake
IBM
leakede@us.ibm.com

Marty Levine
iVast
mlevine@ivast.com

Assaf Litai
Vidius, Inc.
assaf@vidius.com

Dale Mohlenhoff
Thomson Multimedia
mohlenhoffd@tce.com

Yoshiaki Moriyama
Pioneer
mori@crdl.pioneer.co.jp

Marc Mueller
Toshiba
marc_mueller@toshibatv.com

Takahiro Nagai
Matsushita Electric
tnagai@mei.co.jp

Maryann Nicoletti
MPAA
maryann_nicoletti@mpaa.org

Noriko Ninoseki
Sony
noriko.ninoseki@jp.sony.com

Seamus O’Sullivan
Irdeto Access
sosullivan@irdetoaccess.com

Akio Ogawa
Toshiba
akio1.ogawa@toshiba.co.jp

Lyn Oswald
Secure Media
loswald@SecureMedia.com

Jean-Jacques Raynal
ST Microelectronics
jean-j.raynal@st.com

Mike Ripley
Intel
michael.ripley@intel.com

Hugo Sakkers
Philips
hugo.sakkers@philips.com

Moto Sato
NEC
m-sato@media.sj.nec.com

Bob Schwartz
McDermott
rschwartz@MWE.com

Alex Scott
Digital Media on Demand
ascott@dmod.com

Mitch Singer
Sony Pictures
mitch_singer@spe.sony.com

Robert Smith
Viacom
Roberti.Smith@viacom.com

Glenn St. Marie
License Management International
glenn.st.marie@LMICP.com

Michael Stelts
Thomson Multimedia
steltsm@tce.com

Joop Talstra
Philips Electronics
joop.talstra@philips.com

Kouya Tochikubo
Toshiba
kouya.tochikubo@toshiba.co.jp

Geoffrey Tully
Geoffrey Tully, Inc.
geoffrey@tully.com

Bruce Turnbull
Weil, Gotshall etal
bruce.turnbull@weil.com

Hisashi Yamada
Toshiba
hisashi.yamada@toshiba.co.jp

By: D

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:00:17 +0000

1) Blu-ray has only 3 region codes, the entire Western Hemisphere + Japan included in region 1
2) BD+ protection has already been broken
3) Blu-ray does support features such as picture-in-picture, early incompatible players aren’t the discs’ fault

Sony is the lesser of two evils. I for one don’t want Microsoft anywhere near my content.

By: WIIHD

WIIHD — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:25:33 +0000

It was toshiba’s greed that hurt hd dvd. The whole point of HD DVD was that it cost the same to produce as regular DVD. So when they put msrp’s of 35$ or more of course no one’s going to buy. It should be the same price as a DVD. HD DVD is in the hands of the indie and foreign film industry now. Maybe if toshiba learns from its mistakes and gives free HDDVD licences to Nintendo’s Wii, they might have a chance in the future.

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:59:17 +0000

Yep, HD DVD should be taken over, because it is cheaper to produce.

Then we can use it, sans DRM (because unmaintained)

By: benq

benq — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:46:22 +0000

now lets all wait 6 months for a upgradable full spec full compatable blueray player
other than an overpriced console
ohhhhhh we already had that it was called hd dvd
bunch of sony morons