I have to disagree. Unless Toshiba really sorts out their volumes and gets new support from Hollywood, I think this war will be over in 12 months, and HD-DVD won't prevail. You're talking about headstarts, but in the scheme of things, given the numbers involved, that's meaningless.
The problem is, Toshiba does not seem willing to take a gamble and invest a lot in putting many more machines out at the prices they're currently offering, or less. To do so in any meaningful way would cost them an arm and a leg given the per-unit losses involved, and frankly, they don't seem too ready to make that leap. Especially with recent comments that almost look like a white flag ("still seeking unification opportunities" etc.). If Toshiba isn't willing to bank on this format in a serious way, why should anyone else? They couldn't be more at odds with Sony et al, who seem to be betting the farm on Blu-ray, and I think that will pay off for them.
“An engineer explained to us that hundreds of ear impressions were gathered in the name of research, and while each one obviously boasted its own unique shape and size, one single characteristic remained uniform across the board: the entrance into the ear canal is not a perfect circle, it's an oval.”
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
I have to disagree. Unless Toshiba really sorts out their volumes and gets new support from Hollywood, I think this war will be over in 12 months, and HD-DVD won't prevail. You're talking about headstarts, but in the scheme of things, given the numbers involved, that's meaningless.
The problem is, Toshiba does not seem willing to take a gamble and invest a lot in putting many more machines out at the prices they're currently offering, or less. To do so in any meaningful way would cost them an arm and a leg given the per-unit losses involved, and frankly, they don't seem too ready to make that leap. Especially with recent comments that almost look like a white flag ("still seeking unification opportunities" etc.). If Toshiba isn't willing to bank on this format in a serious way, why should anyone else? They couldn't be more at odds with Sony et al, who seem to be betting the farm on Blu-ray, and I think that will pay off for them.