Toshiba to fold HD-DVD 'in a matter of days'

Fanning the flames of intrigue, Japanese electronics giant Toshiba is expected to officially announce that it is pulling the production plug on its ailing HD-DVD format “within a few days” and is abandoning its ongoing resistance against Sony’s surging Blu-ray alternative. R.I.P.? Apparently so before the end of this week. Credit: Toshiba.

R.I.P.? Apparently so before the end of this week. Credit: Toshiba.According to a report on videogame Web site PSX Extreme, Japanese public broadcaster NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai) has revealed that Toshiba’s production of HD-DVD hardware and software is to come to a grinding halt and that the company will finally concede defeat in the long-running high definition battle it has waged with Sony’s rival Blu-ray platform.Weight of credibility is added to the rumour thanks to similar reports of Toshiba’s impending withdrawal popping up online through a number of news sources, which also outline that Toshiba is indeed in the final stages of folding its HD-DVD business.“Toshiba said on Monday that no decisions had been made on HD-DVD,” reports the Reuters news agency before adding that “a company source” commented on Saturday that Toshiba “was in the final stage of planning its exit.”With most commentators indicating that Toshiba’s format defeat is all-but imminent, it is believed that the electronics company will attempt to recover incurred losses (expected to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars) by scrambling aboard the Blu-ray gravy train via the introduction of its own range of Blu-ray players. The twilight of HD-DVD has come about following January’s high-profile Blu-ray defection of media giant Warner Bros., and the resulting fallout that saw leading American retailers Wal-Mart and Best Buy throwing their support behind Blu-ray.NPD Group figures for the week following the HD-DVD departure of Warner Bros. show that Blu-ray amassed some 93 percent of total hardware sales in North America; while researcher BCN has outlined that Blu-ray recorders accounted for around 96 percent of the Japanese market in the final quarter of 2007.