According to Japanese newspaper Yomiuri, Toshiba will release their first Blu-ray Disc Player - rumored to be named the BD-18 - by the end of this year. After admitted defeat in the high definition format war, Toshiba initially distanced itself from Blu-ray, with a promise to focus on their XDE DVD-upscaling technology. With those plans failing to gain consumer support, and a rumored $1B financial hole caused by the HD DVD failure, Toshiba now appears to be shifting support to its former rival.
No technical details have been released regarding the player, though it is expected that Toshiba will focus on the larger budget Blu-ray Disc player market. With a rumored late 2009 launch, it appears that they will try to capitalize on holiday shoppers looking for the perfect high definition gift.
Albeit somewhat delayed, Toshiba's eventual move to Blu-ray is not unexpected. Many retailers encourage consumer electronic companies to bundle their products, and Toshiba was definitely at a disadvantage with no high definition player available under their name to pair with their line of HDTVs.
Look for more information regarding this player later this year.
I've always liked Toshiba's products. All of my TV's have been Toshiba's, including my new 52" Regza. It was too bad about the HD DVD debacle, but focusing on the upscaling DVD player was just plain stupid. It is good for them to get into Blu-ray sooner rather than later. I would be interested to see the product. You usually get a good bang for buck with Toshiba.
I wasn't suprised by Toshiba's delay in entering BD. What we have to remember is that Toshiba gets a royalty from DVD, so why would you help eliminate your royalites by cannibalizing your product with BD.
Now's the right time for them to step in and i'm sure they'll release an excellent product.
Sony lost the Beta Max battle, and they still make quality products. Good to see Toshiba get into the mix. As mentioned by jimmybobo, hopefully this will help the price of products go down with more manufacturers tinkering with the technology to make it more affordable.
+from that very same info :
"From a technology point of view, the production of a Blu-ray player has never been an issue
for Toshiba. Back in January of 2006 we reported that Samsung would be producing Blu-ray
players through Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Korea (TSST Korea), a joint venture
between Toshiba and Samsung. Toshiba holds 51% of that business, Samsung the remaining
49%. TSST Korea was founded in April of 2004 as a subsidiary of TSST.
Back in 2006, we were told that TSST is an "independent company" that Toshiba understands
as being a developer of both formats in a "neutral position." But TSST has been focused on
products that were in line especially with Toshiba's product strategy: For example, the
company announced a slim HD DVD drive in September 2005, long before the actual
introduction of HD DVD players. Even if TSST Korea seemed to have catered to Samsung's
needs with Blu-ray players, it was clear that Toshiba is covering its bases just in case HD DVD
would fail. By the way, Sony did the same through a joint venture with NEC, which guaranteed
the company access to HD DVD manufacturing equipment.
Toshiba has come a long way and may enter the Blu-ray market when there is still room to
claim its stakes. According to the Consumer Electronics Association, unit shipments of Blu-ray
players will jump 112% this year, reaching nearly six million. Even as prices drop, revenues are
expected to top $1 billion for the first time, representing an increase of 48% over 2008. "
It's about time they grew up and moved foward. I too like Toshiba products and would like to see a quality Blu ray player from them. Sony lost their battle with VHS and didn't wait they made plenty of great players for that format and it's time for Toshiba to do the same.
It's not about giving in for Toshiba, it's a smart business decision. They would be stupid not to jump on the Blu-Ray bandwagon. For their business, they pretty much had no choice.
imo i could care less what toshbia does.i don't miss them at all.there lots of brands of bd players out there.a toshbia bd player isn't going to do anything better then current players.the way i see it they should have had a bd player ready to go after the format war was over.the impact would have meant more.this reminds me of george lucas,the longer he holds off starwars on bd the less impact it will have.
My current laptop is a Toshiba, and I love it. If they have one with a blu-ray drive when I'm ready to upgrade in a year or two, I'll buy another one. But it has to have a blu-ray drive for me to want to bite...
Toshiba HD DVD players were very good; not sure where some of you guys think they were junk... I'm sure their BD players will be great as well, but after their "Upscaled DVD's look just as good as Blu-ray's" comments I've lost all respect for them...
"Toshiba HD DVD players were very good; not sure where some of you guys think they were junk... "
Experience with multiple HD DVD players (two of my own and others as well). 3rd Generation players as well.. Clunky, slow as molasses.. Disc Read Errors frequently..
thats good to see Toshiba joining the crowd i am happy with my ps3 but if they release a player under a 100 believe me my bedroom will have a new blu player right next to my last year 32in Toshiba Regza. I like Toshiba products and honestly was completly happy with my regza until 120hz was brought to my eyes attention. i love my 42in sharp aquos and near equally love my regza
It must be pretty much completed if they'll have it avaialble for xmas. Didn't they just deny they were making one recently? In any event I'll never buy from Toshiba again after all the dirty tricks, lyin' and cryin' they did over this elective format war. I WAS a loyal fan but am no longer.
I have Blu-ray and I love it, but I still don't understand why there's so much animosity toward Toshiba and lingering bitterness over the format war, as if it was personal and those who bought/supported HD DVD are bad people. Some of you guys are way too serious about this. I've even seen comments where people claim they're boycotting studios that initially chose Red over Blu, and to me that's just stupid. Toshiba makes good products, and if I'm looking for a new Blu-ray player in the future, I'll consider them right alongside Sony, Samsung and anyone else.
Shit i still buy some of the old hd dvd due to the fact i have the xbox add on , no doubt i like blu ray way more but when i can get a cheap hd dvd and still get a great 1080 picture for between 6.00 to 10.00 why the hell not . toshiba need to do blue ray but like penthouse said in his post the need to make one that plays both formats why not do something with the tech.
Never had a problem with Toshiba before, but after all of their underhanded, dirty dealings during the format war, well I wouldn't buy an egg timer from those losers now.
I always love reading the predictable comments from the peanut gallery. Can't believe there are so many sore WINNERS a year and half later. Let it go already. Anyways - If Toshiba's Blu-ray players are anything like their HD DVD players, these will be very solid machines. I just hope they boot-up a bit faster. Not sure if catering towards the high-end market is a smart move though. Toshiba should really aim for the $199 and under consumer.
"Can't believe there are so many sore WINNERS a year and half later. "
I know you were on the HD DVD side during the format war Rhoq but still have to ask what you consider a "sore winner". I certainly don't see boycotting a product as being a sore winner, especially when there are plenty of great alternatives to buying a Toshiba blu-ray player.
I was useing a Toshiba DVD player before I bought my Sony Blu-Ray player, and my daughter still uses it. I think there are plenty of options when it comes to players, to each their own. When it comes time to add or replace my current player, i'll check reviews, prices and player options to make a decision. If it's Sony, Samsung, Toshiba, it doesn't matter as long as it's dependable, AQ & VQ are great.
Do you mean to say the same dirty, underhanded dealings that Sony made as well to WB to back their format, when WB had the track record for giving HD DVD the better discs? You guys obviously bought BD just because it sounded cool and didn't do any research about what Toshiba, and Sony for that matter, did.
Haha, you joined blu-ray.com just to post nonsense. I love it
"
@nathanp and Tempest
Do you mean to say the same dirty, underhanded dealings that Sony made as well to WB to back their format, when WB had the track record for giving HD DVD the better discs? You guys obviously bought BD just because it sounded cool and didn't do any research about what Toshiba, and Sony for that matter, did."
Monkey: All you have to do is read through a lot of the posts on the forum. A "sore winner" to me are all of the usual suspects who still post FUD about a format that's been dead for a year and a half now. Yes, I was an HD DVD supporter and I hopped right onto the Blu-ray bandwagon a few days after Warner's CES announcement. I never blasted Blu-ray the way a lot of Blu-ray supporters have and still do hold a grudge against Toshiba and the HD DVD format. It's just ridiculous. As far as there being plenty of great alternatives to a Toshiba Blu-ray player, I agree. I own a PS3 and a Sony BDP-S350. BUT - I also think it's unfair for anyone to condemn Toshiba's upcoming line of Blu-ray players because of the format war. My Toshiba HD-A2 is a solid machine (which now serves as an upscaling DVD player in my bedroom). Based on the build quality of that unit, I have faith that Toshiba will also make quality Blu-ray players. Had Toshiba been a company known for unreliable crap there would be a reason for concern, but some people still carry around the HD DVD chip on their shoulder and are just talking shit out of bitterness.
I'm not bitter that I was an HD DVD supporter and the format I chose, lost - so I don't understand how anyone that backed Blu-ray from the start and didn't waste thousands of dollars (like I did) on a now dead format could be a bitter, "sore winner". Those folks really need to let it go already and grow up.
LOL it's hilarious that some people are offended by this and saying how they hate Toshiba still when Toshiba's finger prints are all over the PS3, the BD player many of you have LOL.
Silly people!!! Sony and Toshiba have been in bed with each other for years and never stopped the affair.
According to thedigitalbits, after XDE exploded like a bug on a windshield Toshiba was going to try and leapfrog Blu-ray. That explains why they were talking up 4K a little while ago. Eventually somebody over there grew a brain and realized they were being whiney babies. Maybe it was their shareholders.
Just for the record I bought into HD DVD at launch and was fairly happy with it. Once I bought into Blu-ray, which at that time was the only way to get 5.1 lossless audio, I began to see the light. Once HD DVD's limitations got more and more apparent as Blu-ray not only grew as a format, but in number of releases and electronics partners, the writing was on the wall.
For the entirety of 2008 HD DVD was on life support provided by Universal just throwing all their old DVD transfers onto disc and churning them out sometimes 5 a week! What was going to be a national ad on the Superbowl was scaled back to LA only....and it was broadcast in SD! In the end only 26% of HD DVD's achieved "the sound of perfect".
Toshiba, having been handed the DVD patents by Sony who had been working on their own movie disc format, wasn't content with handing back to Sony for the next generation. They didn't even want to share.
During the negotiations prior to the format war they wanted Sony to go back to the drawing board and work in Toshiba's patents. If Toshiba had their way, we'd possibly JUST NOW be getting HD discs. All so they could make their money.
Instead they started a massive disinformation campaign against Blu-ray. They insinuated that BD players couldn't play DVDs, a perception that still lingers to this day. They talked about the inlayed film information being too close to the surface (the depth was one of Toshiba's patents) and risked destroying the disc. Then they just couldn't shut up about their players being launched with a full spec. Of course the FACT was that the HD-A1 couldn't even play a movie all the way through when it launched. Luckily a quickly released update fixed that, but it would be months before they could decode 5.1 TrueHD audio and of course it was several months later before HD DVD could even play back a 1080p disc in 1080p.
We heard endlessly about the "web-connected content" which ended up being almost entirely HIGHLY compressed SD trailers. That is because HD DVD players only had 256kb of cache storage. Hardly the machine of the future.
Their combo discs were a disaster. They often didn't work, resulting in thousands of customers resorting to boiling their discs to try and get them to spin up. This problem was not only never fixed, it wasn't ever even acknowledged by Toshiba.
There were other problems too such as restricted colorspace over DVI connections and it took them nigh on a year to get 720p to work on the HD-A1. And they were never able to get the HD-A1 to decode DTS HD MA or play back in 1080p.
And of course the XBOX add-on, which was almost as big a mess as the early Toshiba players. It had many problems playing discs and still can't decode lossless audio.
In 2006 they said that a 45GB disc was on the way. They later ammended that to a 51GB disc. Neither ever materialized.
Let's call a spade a spade. Despite Toshiba's claims that Blu-ray launched unready, it was quite the opposite. HD DVD was a patchwork of decade old technology made for one, and only one, purpose. It was created to defend Toshiba's patents. If you think a 30GB disc with no scratch protection was created to help out the consumer, well think again. During almost the entirety of the format war HD DVD discs averaged higher retail price than Blu-ray discs. And although, in desperation, HD DVD players dipped well below the market value, labeled "dumping" in most states making the sale actually illegal, all that did was drive away CES companies who considered making HD DVD players themselves. Denin and Onkyo being prime examples.
In short, they tried to screw you and you'd better be damn glad it didn't work or you'd be saddled with lossy audio, glitchy discs and SD special features (or few features at all) for the foreseeable future. You want to support Toshiba, go ahead. But do so IN SPITE of the sham they tried to foist on the public, not because of it.
Rhoq, I read all the posts in this thread prior to your post. I didn't read any FUD, maybe I missed it? Who are the usual suspects posting FUD?
"Monkey: All you have to do is read through a lot of the posts on the forum. A "sore winner" to me are all of the usual suspects who still post FUD about a format that's been dead for a year and a half now"
Monkey: I was referring to many posts found on this site's forum, not this particular thread. Many people get worked up around here as soon as "HD DVD" is mentioned. That's all. It's never going to stop. 10 years from now, people will still be bitching about an antique high def video disc that came in a burgundy red colored box.
HD DVD cost a lot of people a LOT of money, all to line executives pockets. It was a ploy to trick people into thinking less was more. Unfortunately a lot of people bought into it. That alone is psychologically interesting.
HD DVD also did something else though, it divided home video enthusiasts into a needless war over profits none of them had anything to do with.
People still talk about DIVX because it was a similar "hoax" on the public. At least only a few people bought into that though.
HD DVD was a pretty good format. At times, it was great. But it could never EVER hope to hold a candle to Blu-ray. The tragedy is that so many people bought into the propoganda and ultimately got bitterly divided from fellow enthusiasts. That should have never happened. You can thank Toshiba for the whole mess.
But HD DVD supporters don't want to hold Toshiba accountable. That puts them in the uncomfortable position of admitting they picked the wrong side. That those years of flame wars saying how HD DVD would blow BD out of the water were all nonsense like the BD supporters said all along. So instead, this concept of "sore winners" is born to try and salve the wounds. Yes, it's BD supporters fault that HD DVD had lots of problems and was inferior out of the gate. BD supporters DID something to you. Not Toshiba who hoodwinked you into buying an inferior product that had no chance of surviving.
And now they are demanding that we all clean our memory of the whole affair because it's just too painful to admit how wrong they were from the beginning. Well sorry but the world doesn't work that way. We're still talking about all kinds of historical events and HD DVD vs. BD was the mother of all home video format wars. That tale is not likely to die down, like EVER.
According to Japanese newspaper Yomiuri, Toshiba will release their first Blu-ray Disc Player - rumored to be named the BD-18 - by the end of this year. After admitted defeat in the high definition format war, Toshiba initially distanced itself from Blu-ray, with a promise to focus on their XDE DVD-upscaling technology. With those plans failing to gain consumer support, and a rumored $1B financial hole caused by the HD DVD failure, Toshiba now appears to be shifting support to its former rival.
