Early June a rumour emerged that Toshiba would be launching a new attack on Sony, via the magic of new 'upscaling' technology. Of course, this is nothing new, with Toshiba themselves working on similar products for "some considerable years, at least 3-5 years", with DVD players, TVs and now laptops containing the upscaling chips, plus with their 'Super-resolution' imagery where SD-content is upscaled via an interpolation algorithm to 1080p.
However, today at a London event, Toshiba formally announced upscaling would be their next plan of attack on Sony, claiming they would be focussing on "taking standard content, and displaying in HD format". This technology, upscaling standard definition content, such as a DVD, to a higher resolution, has long been controversial for not even comparing to the real high-def experience that comes via Blu-ray, or HD DVD.
Toshiba explained to the assembled press at today's event that their technology would "add resolution", and "fill in the gaps", providing stronger colours and clarity where it was missing. They showed two TVs both displaying the same content, one at standard definition, and one using their upscaling device, and whilst the latter did look more impressive, it would pale in comparison if shown next to a true HD source. Which Toshiba obviously didn't do, as they're no longer endorsing HD DVD and will never support Blu-ray.
After receiving some far from publishable questions and insults from the assembled journalists ("fanciable nonsense" was one of the kinder remarks from a journalist during the Q&A session), the representatives, including Emily Shirley, Head of Product Marketing at Toshiba Europe were obviously getting irate. "Blu-ray is only a storage medium", they retorted, explaining it was not the only way to view high-def content on your TV.
Digital downloads are proving to be a lucrative business for all concerned, particularly Microsoft, and it was obvious from today's meeting that Toshiba will be supporting that side of the new format war for the foreseeable future. "The fact that Bill Gates and everyone in the industry is talking about downloads is illustrious", one of the panel members responded with, when asked about the worth of downloads in comparison to Blu-ray, however they hastened to add "we're not necessarily saying anything negative about Blu-ray".
It's unclear as to what products Toshiba will be launching in the next few months with the upscaling chip, however the Qosmio laptops announced today all feature the technology. All eyes will be on the IFA technology show on August 20th in Berlin, where Toshiba is expected to introduce their new Blu-ray 'killer'.
Wow. Thanks for that post, JDS. So much for the idea that super-upscaling would somehow rival true HD quality. Today we all see that the emperor has no clothes, and Toshiba's moves can now only charitably be described as the corporate equivalent of "eccentric." They're obviously just trying to stuff the high definition genie back in the bottle to continue their DVD patent income by rolling out a little razzle dazzle B.S. and a quick "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"
I mean, after losing all that money in the format war, they won't even take advantage of selling Blu-ray to early adopters at today's higher profit margins? It's just sad, really, to witness the undoing of a company like this.
Toshiba will continue to gain patent income from Blu-ray. This argument "Toshiba wants to kill Blu-ray because it doesn't make any money from it" is ""fanciable nonsense".
All Blu-ray players will, for the forseeable future, be DVD compatible. Toshiba will continue to reap the royalties it always has. In the mean time, it wants to make money from a low cost, popular, proven technology instead of investing millions in a technology that's far from proven and looks likely to be displaced by online services in the next few years. Good for it. If I were a Toshiba shareholder, that's exactly what I'd want them to do. And I don't blame them for comparing to Blu-ray (or HD DVD) - that's what people want to know - and most people, honestly, have enough difficulty telling the difference between a DVD and a Blu-ray disk that I can honestly see Toshiba's upscaling as being "good enough" for the vast majority of consumers.
And until I read the other day that Engadget is owned by WB, I didn't know why Engadget continues this hate-on it has for Toshiba. WB wants to push Blu-ray. It knows that the technology only has a few years of life in it, and it wants it to at least live as an alternative once an online-based system has become standardized and made to work. If Blu-ray fails to make any impact - and, let's be honest, 80-90%+ of Blu-ray players are games consoles, the market for standalone players is virtually non-existant - then the investments WB and the rest of Hollywood have made in the technology are simply pointless.
So we see the once respectable HD blog whore itself to the point that it will not criticize any aspect of the technology, even the show-stoppers - such as BD+ - that'll make it fail. It's a beautiful thing that their lead story at the time of me posting this is about AnyDVD's BD+ support - you might not be able to play that BD disk in your standalone player because of the flawed copy-prevention system, but at least you'll be able to download a copy someone ripped from the same damned disk! Rather than hammering on Toshiba for doing the right thing, it's time they told their corporate parents to MAKE BLU-RAY WORK. Because no amount of advertising disguised as journalism is going to save Blu-ray if its supporters aren't willing to fix it.
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Here are some comments from a reporter that was at the demo:
http://techdigest.tv/2008/06/toshiba_controv.html
SRT demoed, kindest remark: "fanciable nonsense"
Early June a rumour emerged that Toshiba would be launching a new attack on Sony, via the magic of new 'upscaling' technology. Of course, this is nothing new, with Toshiba themselves working on similar products for "some considerable years, at least 3-5 years", with DVD players, TVs and now laptops containing the upscaling chips, plus with their 'Super-resolution' imagery where SD-content is upscaled via an interpolation algorithm to 1080p.
However, today at a London event, Toshiba formally announced upscaling would be their next plan of attack on Sony, claiming they would be focussing on "taking standard content, and displaying in HD format". This technology, upscaling standard definition content, such as a DVD, to a higher resolution, has long been controversial for not even comparing to the real high-def experience that comes via Blu-ray, or HD DVD.
Toshiba explained to the assembled press at today's event that their technology would "add resolution", and "fill in the gaps", providing stronger colours and clarity where it was missing. They showed two TVs both displaying the same content, one at standard definition, and one using their upscaling device, and whilst the latter did look more impressive, it would pale in comparison if shown next to a true HD source. Which Toshiba obviously didn't do, as they're no longer endorsing HD DVD and will never support Blu-ray.
After receiving some far from publishable questions and insults from the assembled journalists ("fanciable nonsense" was one of the kinder remarks from a journalist during the Q&A session), the representatives, including Emily Shirley, Head of Product Marketing at Toshiba Europe were obviously getting irate. "Blu-ray is only a storage medium", they retorted, explaining it was not the only way to view high-def content on your TV.
Digital downloads are proving to be a lucrative business for all concerned, particularly Microsoft, and it was obvious from today's meeting that Toshiba will be supporting that side of the new format war for the foreseeable future. "The fact that Bill Gates and everyone in the industry is talking about downloads is illustrious", one of the panel members responded with, when asked about the worth of downloads in comparison to Blu-ray, however they hastened to add "we're not necessarily saying anything negative about Blu-ray".
It's unclear as to what products Toshiba will be launching in the next few months with the upscaling chip, however the Qosmio laptops announced today all feature the technology. All eyes will be on the IFA technology show on August 20th in Berlin, where Toshiba is expected to introduce their new Blu-ray 'killer'.
Wow. Thanks for that post, JDS. So much for the idea that super-upscaling would somehow rival true HD quality. Today we all see that the emperor has no clothes, and Toshiba's moves can now only charitably be described as the corporate equivalent of "eccentric." They're obviously just trying to stuff the high definition genie back in the bottle to continue their DVD patent income by rolling out a little razzle dazzle B.S. and a quick "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"
I mean, after losing all that money in the format war, they won't even take advantage of selling Blu-ray to early adopters at today's higher profit margins? It's just sad, really, to witness the undoing of a company like this.
Toshiba will continue to gain patent income from Blu-ray. This argument "Toshiba wants to kill Blu-ray because it doesn't make any money from it" is ""fanciable nonsense".
All Blu-ray players will, for the forseeable future, be DVD compatible. Toshiba will continue to reap the royalties it always has. In the mean time, it wants to make money from a low cost, popular, proven technology instead of investing millions in a technology that's far from proven and looks likely to be displaced by online services in the next few years. Good for it. If I were a Toshiba shareholder, that's exactly what I'd want them to do. And I don't blame them for comparing to Blu-ray (or HD DVD) - that's what people want to know - and most people, honestly, have enough difficulty telling the difference between a DVD and a Blu-ray disk that I can honestly see Toshiba's upscaling as being "good enough" for the vast majority of consumers.
And until I read the other day that Engadget is owned by WB, I didn't know why Engadget continues this hate-on it has for Toshiba. WB wants to push Blu-ray. It knows that the technology only has a few years of life in it, and it wants it to at least live as an alternative once an online-based system has become standardized and made to work. If Blu-ray fails to make any impact - and, let's be honest, 80-90%+ of Blu-ray players are games consoles, the market for standalone players is virtually non-existant - then the investments WB and the rest of Hollywood have made in the technology are simply pointless.
So we see the once respectable HD blog whore itself to the point that it will not criticize any aspect of the technology, even the show-stoppers - such as BD+ - that'll make it fail. It's a beautiful thing that their lead story at the time of me posting this is about AnyDVD's BD+ support - you might not be able to play that BD disk in your standalone player because of the flawed copy-prevention system, but at least you'll be able to download a copy someone ripped from the same damned disk! Rather than hammering on Toshiba for doing the right thing, it's time they told their corporate parents to MAKE BLU-RAY WORK. Because no amount of advertising disguised as journalism is going to save Blu-ray if its supporters aren't willing to fix it.