Blu-ray now on Niveus... no more HD DVD support!

[kennyt]

Todays press release from Niveus. One more nail in the coffin for HD DVD. I think if Toshiba was smart they'd rush a combo player to market to at least keep their early fans buying something from them!

Customer demand and format war influences Niveus to add support for Blu-ray Disc playback and to cease production of HD DVD-based servers.

Milpitas, CA – February 15, 2008 – Niveus Media, the leading manufacturer of high-performing digital entertainment solutions for the connected home, announces support for Blu-ray Disc playback on Niveus Media Servers. Additionally, Niveus announces that new production of HD DVD-based servers will be phased out in the next 30 days.

“Incorporating Blu-ray into our offering has always part of the plan but the demand from our customers, market trends, and recent announcements expedited our decision to come to market with Blu-ray support sooner rather than later,” states Tim Cutting, CEO and Co-Founder, Niveus Media. “While we have stood behind HD DVD as a viable high-definition platform, Niveus engineers have been running Blu-ray in our testing facilities and are very impressed with the performance and integration with our servers.”



Blu-ray is available now on Niveus Media’s 2008 line of Windows Vista Ultimate-based Media Servers including the Summit Series Sierra, Rainier, and Denali Editions, and Pro Series models. Customers who have been shipped an HD DVD-based Niveus Media Server within the past 90 days are eligible for upgrade to a free Blu-ray drive (other fees may apply). Further details, upgrade plans, and pricing will be available to Niveus Authorized Dealers next week.

[rlpiii]

An HD DVD/Blu-ray combo player is a great idea for Toshiba. Especially if they could make something with both 5.1 or 7.1 analog and HDMI multi-channel sound capabilities.
I would probably buy it just because I don't care for LG, and would like to see them have some competition in that market.

[kennyt]

Samsung already has a combo player out as well that is supposed to be very good.

[HT Junky]

Why would Toshiba want to put research into a new combo player? That seems absurd to me. They need to abandon it all of the way, and step into the Blu-ray market, as they are already behind. Consumers who have a considerable investment in HD-DVDs have a player already. They obviously have to support their current customer base, but they need to focus on getting into the Blu-ray game.

Additionally, I feel combo players always compromise performance for the dollar. I don't see, at a given price point, produced by the same manufacturer, how a multi task machine could be produced that will outperform a machine dedicated to a single task, not to mention be more stable. The companies that produce the best performing player for the dollar are going to profit the most from the Blu-ray player market. Making a combo play to support a dead format is bad business.

I also wonder what impact a combo player would have on extending the time frame for movies like the Bourne trilogy to be reissued in Blu-ray.

[kennyt]

IF Toshiba makes combo players they could keep what share of the market they already have for hardware as most every one else will go exclusively Blu-ray

[1shotstudios]

I got this news today in my email and was just checking to see if anyone has heard that the format war is really over? Is blue-ray the winner? Is HD-DVD really stopping production? View the link for details.

http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/2598.html