TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan’s Toshiba Corp surrendered in the high-definition home movie war on Tuesday, giving up on its HD DVD format after losing the support of key studios and retailers to the Blu-ray technology backed by Sony Corp.The Blu-ray win means consumers no longer have to choose between rival incompatible formats and run the risk of being stuck with a 21st century equivalent of Betamax, Sony’s videotape format that lost out to VHS in the 1980s.

Lucky consumer! It is very hard to be a good consumer in this bad bad world full of choices from two products. Coke or Pepsi, Mac or PC, Intel or AMD, Republican or Democrat… aaaaaaaaaah my head spins..

But the Blu-ray win comes just as digital movie downloads appear on the market, rolling out movies and TV shows on high-speed Internet connections and bypassing the disc altogether. That could limit growth for Blu-ray, analysts said.

Oh No! Downloadable movies? Who would think of that? Maybe you can spend some quality time with your kids to see what they were doing with ‘em computers last five years.

CEO Nishida said Toshiba has “absolutely no plans” to make or sell Blu-ray players.

Well, even Apple now include drivers for Windows and they would never ever let third-party OS on MAC…

“We are going to have to work extra hard to make up for these two years,” said a Matsushita official who declined to be named.

Wow! It took only two years to develop HD DVD? Or is the R&D in Japan now so cheap that you can simply ignore the cost of 10+ years? Do they have some scientists sweat shops over there?

Sonic Solutions has announced it will no longer sell the HD DVD version of its Scenarist professional authoring software, focusing instead on Blu-ray and digital distribution.

{source engadgethd}

 11:30 am ET January 31, 2007 - Sonic Solutions this morning clarified its position regarding its apparent switch from HD DVD to Blu-ray, telling BetaNews that initial reports that the company abandoned HD DVD altogether were not quite accurate.Sonic spokesperson Chris Taylor said that the decision is only specific to its professional authoring suite. Other divisions, such as its Roxio consumer arm and ATG licensing group would remain format neutral. Even within the professional division, HD DVD would still live on through its CineVision authoring application.

 Despite the denying the deny above, I take it as confirmation, the HD DVD is officially dead. The industry put their hands off. Nobody is going to make HD DVD players just so people can make their own movies.

Toshiba is expected to pull the plug on its HD DVD format in the coming weeks, after a rash of retail defections that followed Warner Home Video's stunning announcement in early January that it would support only Sony's rival Blu-ray Disc format after May.Officially, no decision has been made, insists Jodi Sally, vp of marketing for Toshiba America Consumer Products. “Based on its technological advancements, we continue to believe HD DVD is the best format for consumers, given the value and consistent quality inherent in our player offerings,” she said.

It depends from which side of the fence you are looking at the consumers. If you are one or you are looking at one. Consumers have no horses in this race. Consumer task is exactly as name suggest to “consume”. It is believed in industry consumers can “consume” more with BD since BD has stronger restriction on playing user recorded material.

But she hinted that something's in the air. "Given the market developments in the past month," she said, "Toshiba will continue to study the market impact and the value proposition for consumers, particularly in light of our recent price reductions on all HD DVD players."

What is there to study? That Sony owns also the movie studios, but toshiba don’t?  I could tell you that without much study.