Related Articles
In the great hi-def format war of 2007, Toshiba lead Team HD DVD into second place as Blu-ray‘s minions claimed victory. Today, the Japanese giant has confirmed to CNET UK that it has applied to join the Blu-ray Disc Association.
“Toshiba aims to introduce digital products that support the Blu-ray format,” the company said, “including BD players and notebook PCs integrating BD drives, in the course of this year.”
As an enormous fan of Toshiba’s HD DVD format, Ian Morris — our resident home cinema expert — isn’t pleased. He doesn’t think we need another generic Blu-ray player, and Toshiba doesn’t stand a reliable chance of making any cash from supporting the format.
“The one thing the world really could use is better non-disc-based entertainment,” Sergeant Morris said in a constructive rant we published the other week. “We all know that, sooner or later, everyone is just going to download things from the Internet. If Toshiba could make a DVD player with access to a massive online library of both standard- and high-definition movies, we’d bite its arm off to buy one.”
What do you think? Is this a dumb move to copy a company with tanking profits, or a wise move by a manufacturer needing to compete in all arenas? Let us know in the comments.
