Toshiba has told the market that it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders.
This effectively ends the high definition DVD format war and leaves the market clear for Sony’s Blu-ray high definition DVD format which has steadily been gaining ground ahead of HD DVD in the market.
The key moment for the future of HD DVD came in January when major film company Warners opted for Blu-ray over HD DVD for future high definition film releases.
“We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop,” said Atsutoshi Nishida, president and CEO of Toshiba.
"While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped,” said Nishida.
The company will now start to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008.
Toshiba said it plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe.