hd dvd

Toshiba reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss, as the company reduced costs by exiting the high-definition video market but failed to offset slumping television sales. Toshiba’s digital-products unit for the quarter ended March 31 had an operating loss of 15.6 million yen

HD DVD fans, we hate to do this to you, but it's time we called it. HD DVD is now officially on Engadget deathwatch. We haven't put anything important on deathwatch since TiVo in 2005 (which, as you may recall, still stands); but just as then, we have to step back from our personal preferences and investments in media and gear, ignore the rumors and hearsay, and take a close look at where things stand. We don't need Michael Bay to tell us the writing's on the wall.

Toshiba has scheduled a 30-second commercial for HD DVD during the Feb. 3 Super Bowl. That's according to an article in this week's Home Media Magazine.

The commercial will highlight Toshiba's HD-A3, HD-A30 and HD-A35 players, all of which received sharp price cuts in the last week. (The HD-A3 HD DVD player is now available for $127 at Amazon.com.)

In the week after the studio’s surprise early-January announcement that after May it will support only the rival Blu-ray Disc format, sales of HD DVD players ground to a virtual halt, giving Blu-ray hardware a whopping 93% sales advantage, according to data from The NPD Group.