Toshiba to tout HD DVD format in Super Bowl ad
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Jan 29, 2008 at 12:10pm
Toshiba has purchased a Super Bowl sport for US$2.7 million to convince the world that HD DVD is still in the next gen, high def game despite evidence that Blu-ray is winning the race. The ad will tout the dramatically reduced prices of Toshiba’s HD DVD players, according to a Wired report.
“Gartner also decided to weigh in on those HD DVD player price cuts on Monday—yup, the ones that Toshiba is going to spend 2.7 million advertising—and concluded that they amount to nothing more than ‘useless resistance’ in the battle against Blu-ray, at best prolonging the format’s life by a few months,” Wired adds.
Blu-Ray has been backed by Apple, Samsung, Sony, Warner, Dell, Disney and 20th Century Fox. HD-DVD has been backed by NEC, Microsoft and Universal.
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
Jon Says:
Persistence can be an admirable quality, but his is just kind of sad.
Not that I expected Toshiba to do anything else other than hang on till the bitter end. On the other hand, Universal’s dogged determination is just more evidence of the same old corporate cluelessness that appears to (mis)guide the company’s direction in the 21st century. As for Paramount, I can only figure that agreement to go HD-DVD only must have come with a “stupid pill.”
Less expensive media (not cheaper players) was HD-DVD’s only real marketplace advantage and it was never utilized. Like the old story of the painter who painted himself into a corner, Toshiba’s hardware pricing prevented them from being profitable with players, leaving them with only avenue of profitability - media sales, and consequently, the only area where they couldn’t cut prices.
Posted on January 29, 2008