Sony upbeat in HD format battle

[Doc Evils]

Sony says shipments of its Blu-ray high definition DVD players in the US could jump sixfold this year, to 600,000.
It attributes the growing demand to some films coming out on its format and not the rival HD DVD technology, according to Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, Toshiba has lowered the sales target for its HD DVD devices in the US to 1 million from 1.8 million.

The battle of next generation DVD formats has been likened to the competition between VHS and Betamax.

Sony's Playstation 3 games consoles come equipped with a Blu-ray drive while Toshiba plans to put HD DVD drives in all its laptop computers next year.

Sony is relying on exclusive films to spur its growth, after selling fewer than 100,000 units in 2006.

Out of the top 20 blockbusters "there were 14 or 15 that were exclusive to Blu-ray", Sony's Randy Waynick told a meeting in San Francisco, according to Bloomberg.

Blu-Ray is also promoted by Matsu****a (Pansonic) in the US.

The 44% cut in predicted sales of HD DVD devices in North America is attributed to a Toshiba executive, quoted by Reuters, who also said the global target would be cut.

"Obviously we are going to have to lower our previous global estimate," Toshiba's Yoshihide Fujii said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6744335.stm

Gee, I wonder why Toshiba. I heard HD-DVD is doing greeeat!

[Raunchy™]

And the reason why Sony should be upbeat about HD format battle, is because they are outselling HD-DVD everywhere ~ Simple!

And good on Toshiba for putting HD-DVD drives in their laptop computers... I'll stick to Blu-ray on my 42" 1080P Full HD Plasma, thank you very much!

[bobtheduck]

Oh NOES! HD-DVD on Toshiba laptops, whatever shall we do, oh right! Sony Laptops have bluray drives on them, too!

*phew*

I thought we were doomed, what with PS3s continuing to push Bluray into supremacy.

[pizzanerd5643]

this format war is so irritating. Give me one reason why HD DVD is better besides a marginally cheaper player? All I want is Children of Men on Blue Ray!

[Xerious]

a cheap player with very few exclusives to play on it? hmmm, doesn't quite cut it. i'd rather have my disneys, mgms, lionsgates, foxes, rather than a handful of universals, warners, and paramounts (of the former will undoubtedly appear on BD just the same, if not delayed)