The Wall Street Journal has a very interesting Q&A with Toshiba’s Chief Executive Atsutoshi Nishida—the man behind the plan to pull HD DVD.
There are a some neat nuggets in there, and I’m not talking about Nishida’s list of hobbies. It seems that the company has no plans to pile on to the Blu-ray bandwagon anytime soon. Instead, they plan to push standard DVD players, claiming that’s still where the action is at. They will also continue their TV and PC businesses.
If you watch standard DVDs on our players, the images are of very high quality because they include an "upconverting" feature. And we're going to improve this even more, so that consumers won't be able to tell the difference from HD DVD images."
So you're saying your HD DVD product wasn't even any good?
Do I sense a little bit of "The Fox and the Grapes"?
seriously though... so instead of accepting a loss they're going to try and discredit BD by offering better upscaling?? so again confusing consumers and detering people from investing in BD, therefore dragging things out AGAIN!
seriously though... so instead of accepting a loss they're going to try and discredit BD by offering better upscaling??
no, the same up-scaling they just added super to the term, way easier :)
though I found this extremely funny
so again confusing consumers and detering people from investing in BD, therefore dragging things out AGAIN!
I was saying they did not care about HD or their consumers it was all about stalling HDM so they can continue with their DVD royalties. Some liked calling me a fanboy for pointing it out
Some liked calling me a fanboy for pointing it out
i speak with all due respect as you obviously knew what you were talking about. that being said i'll go on record as saying i NEVER disagreed with your standpoint... i only bantered with you because you were just SO DAMN RUDE AND INSULTING toward anyone who did disagree with you that i just couldnt help but land myself on the HD-DVD bandwagon simply out of spite! LOL
again though, at least you knew what you were talking about.
You know I always liked Toshiba products and often recommended some of their products, but this interview really knocked them off of my list. Their original press release was professional and classy by graciously bowing out of the fight and simply diverted their focus to other products and technologies. At that point I saw them as a good company that made a determined fight. I would have certainly bought from them again.
Then this interview trying to discredit Blu-Ray with some statements that clearly make them look like sore losers. I'm so sick of the "upconverting" scam the entire industry has thrown on the public. If we follow their logic that an upconverted 480i signal is as good as HD-DVD then we never need to buy another DVD player either since any display already "upconverts" to it's native resolution anyway.
I'm surprised everyone is knocking Toshiba so heavily on this. Makes good business sense to me. Although yes, HDM may be the lastest and greatest. If you can't have your share of the new pie, why not get a bigger piece of the old one, (which is much much larger). If studio support killed HD-DVD then they won't have the same issue this time around will they?
It's been said since day one of the release of Toshiba's HD-DVD players, that they make outstanding SD upscales as well. Why not attack the exsiting market with the technology they already have in place. The statement of it not being distinguishable from HDM is simply marketing. Joe Sixpack won't be able to tell the difference on their Visio anyway.
Only the educated on the topic will know that they are trying to pull the wool over people's eyes. I look at this as no diffferently than any other marketing strategy done by any other company trying to make a buck. They've all done it at one time or another.
....Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
i speak with all due respect as you obviously knew what you were talking about.
Just to be clear, it was not meant as a jab at you.
because you were just SO DAMN RUDE AND INSULTING
Do you still think it is a coincidence that bookaroni only posted in HDM discussions and disappeared with HD DVDs demise? You can call it rude and insulting if you want, but there where people here (and at other sites) purposely trying to mislead others and others that intentionally or not where helping them spread the BS. I am sorry, unlike smokinghot post, I personally don’t think there is any excuse for trying to pull the wool over less informed peoples eyes and I further don’t believe people doing that should be treated with anything but contempt. The worst part that the primary deception was coming from people trying to kill HDM, something that I have been waiting for a long time.
I was under the impression that what people liked was Silicon Optix's HQV processing. Which I'm pretty sure isn't Toshiba exclusive.
Wasn't just the HD-XA2 that utilized the Reon HQV processing? I think in the third gen they went the way of the Anchor Bay chip. Not sure about that... I believe that's why, (despite the incredibly long load time) the value of the XA2 has stayed as high as it has.
On March 5, 2008 at 19:34, Anthony said...
unlike smokinghot post, I personally don’t think there is any excuse for trying to pull the wool over less informed peoples eyes and I further don’t believe people doing that should be treated with anything but contempt.
Whoa.... Hold on... I'm not saying it's right to lie to the public. However I agree with Mr. Nishidato that the regular joe comsumer, with the low to mid tier HD display will not notice a difference, or care even if they do. The only reason I even posted was in response to people condemning Toshiba for doing what every manufacturer does. Shame on the comsumer for not educating themselves before making a purchase. It happens everyday in ever aspect of life. I could list countless claims by various manufacturers that imply some feature or capability of their product that isn't actually true.
Is it wrong... yes of course.
Apparently if a buy and wear a certain ionically charged bracelet, I'll play better golf. Do I believe it..?...hell no, but that doesn't mean I'm boycotting every company affiliated with the damn thing.
....Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
Whoa.... Hold on... I'm not saying it's right to lie to the public.
then we agree on that one thing :)
However I agree with Mr. Nishidato that the regular joe comsumer, with the low to mid tier HD display will not notice a difference, or care even if they do. The only reason I even posted was in response to people condemning Toshiba for doing what every manufacturer does.
I don't think people are disgusted by Toshiba's reply because they said that some might not see the difference, I think they are condemning them because for 2 years they said they cared about consumers, they cared about HDM, that everyone should get an HDM player because HDM is so much better then DVD but now all of a sudden no one can tell the difference between DVD and HDM. The funny thing is that a couple of weeks ago (just before the original announcement of the end of HD DVD) I was still pointing out to brain dead HD DVD fanboys that there was no way that Toshiba would continue making HD DVD players (even as dual players) and their response was that Toshiba is not like other companies and they won't abandon their customers.
I think people should not hold a grudge wrt companies, there are different divisions, different employees and things are in constant flux. So if company A is good at X then get X from them and if it is bad at Y then get Y from somewhere else. On the other hand I think Toshiba really screwed themselves with this war and in the AV biz if they ever come out with a new format their name will most likely be mud, so I would be more reluctant to pick a Toshiba backed format in the next war (unless there are many other backers), but not because Toshiba backed HD DVD but just because they POed most if not all the studios. They POed Fox in 2005 when they called them retards for wanting BD+ because AACS is unbreakable. They POed LG which was why the CEO pre-announced in Dec 2007 Warner will be dropping HD DVD in Jan. They POed Viacom (Paramount and DW) by not holding up their part of the bargain and not paying the rest of the bribe they offered for exclusivity.
Shame on the comsumer for not educating themselves before making a purchase
But think about it, I agree Toshiba's (or anyone else’s) job is to market their product and a PR statement by default will highlight the pros while downplaying the cons (though I think in this case that some of it has gone beyond good taste. But the issue is that how is the consumer supposed to educate them selves and make an informed decision if there are supposed reviewers, analysts, journalists and knowledgeable enthusiasts on forums, purposefully and malignantly trying to misinform them?
On the other hand I think Toshiba really screwed themselves with this war and in the AV biz if they ever come out with a new format their name will most likely be mud, so I would be more reluctant to pick a Toshiba backed format in the next war (unless there are many other backers
I think every comsumer will agree with that one.
the issue is that how is the consumer supposed to educate them selves and make an informed decision if there are supposed reviewers, analysts, journalists and knowledgeable enthusiasts on forums, purposefully and malignantly trying to misinform them?
I didn't say it was an easy thing to do, but it certainly can be done. Generally speaking, the masses simply don't make the effort to begin with.
....Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
I didn't say it was an easy thing to do, but it certainly can be done. Generally speaking, the masses simply don't make the effort to begin with.
agree, but the discussion was not about the masses but the person doing research, goes to the internet and sites dedicated to the topic and then gets mislead and misinformed.
Toshiba, with the internet upgrade features of all it's HD-DVD players, should create a firmware upgrade that would turn them into network/internet media boxes. Let me use mine to access shared music, photos and video off my home network. Let me access and view web based videos. Add a web browser and let me use it to view the WWW on my HDTV.
Now THAT would be a way to save face. I'd even spend extra money on an upgrade remote with some keyboard/mouse features for web browsing.
Toshiba, with the internet upgrade features of all it's HD-DVD players, should create a firmware upgrade that would turn them into network/internet media boxes. Let me use mine to access shared music, photos and video off my home network. Let me access and view web based videos. Add a web browser and let me use it to view the WWW on my HDTV.
Now THAT would be a way to save face.
And then within months we'd have another thread complaining how Toshiba marketing strategy lead comsumers to believe their HD-DVD players would make good HTPCs.
There's no saving face for Toshiba. I hate to say it but early adopters are paying the price on this one. That is of course is the risk you take.
....Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
Please read the following: Unsolicited commercial advertisements are absolutely not permitted on this forum. Other private buy & sell messages should be posted to our Marketplace. For information on how to advertise your service or product click here. Remote Central reserves the right to remove or modify any post that is deemed inappropriate.
