As predicted by many, our most recent media format war was decided by a single corporation and not the market. We all know what anointed the shittier, cheaper format of VHS and killed consumer Beta machines… it was porn. (And Beta evolved into a format that pros still use today.)
This time, Wal-Mart gave Blu-Ray the thumbs up and dumped HD-DVD, then Toshiba officially abandoned the format. It’s been a short and boring battle that few consumers even care about or could tell the difference.
Tim Wilson, Associate Editor of Creative Cow called it early.
TAGS: obituary, warIronically, when I wrote my blog post about the power of Wal-Mart last April, the word was that Wal-Mart had invested heavily in HD DVD: $100 million, for 2 million players from the Chinese manufacturer Fuh Yuan at $50 a pop. Sell ‘em for $99 each, the rumor went, and game over.
Needless to say, Wal-Mart and Fuh Yuan vigorously denied the rumor. But you can be sure the folks from Toshiba and the Blu-ray camp have been all over Wal-Mart for a long time. Everyone involved has to have seen this coming for a while.
In fact, it appears that Toshiba had been planning their announcement for a while. The only question was when.
Wal-Mart’s announcement was the nuclear anvil that blew the camel and its back into oblivion, but it came on the heels of others: Target (the #2 US retailer), Blockbuster, Circuit City, Best Buy, Netflix…
SUBSCRIBE TO RSS
February 20th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Shit doesn’t matter. If you have been buying physical media of any format with the thought that you are investing in a permanent, (or even near-future), collection you are in for a bummer. HD DVD owners are bummed now, Blu Ray owners will be bummed in two years. The model that is going to succeed is the digital download iTunes/Apple TV model. I’m not saying that particular vendor/product will be the dominator, but that is the model for sure. iTunes rentals and HD content pretty much locked that shit up for me. I for one am just psyched on the prospect of less shelving in my life.