Toshiba down US$1 billion in HD DVD bid

Mike Bantick
Sunday, 16 March 2008 04:01

Your IT - Entertainment

How much does losing the high definition disc format war cost.  Toshiba reckons on blowing close to US$1 billion on the HD DVD fight against the Sony Corp backed Blu-ray format.

From a Reuters report , Toshiba Corporations failed bid to win the high definition disc format war with HD DVD looks like costing the company 100 billion yen.

This equates to around US$986 million

"The company is currently assessing the possible losses," a Toshiba spokeswoman said. "If we need to revise an earnings report, we will make an announcement at an appropriate time."

According to the report, the decision to drop out of the technology race will double the expected 50 billon yen loss for the electronics group.

Many have attributed the Sony backed Blu-ray triumph over HD DVD to burgeoning sales of PlayStation 3 game consoles.  The PS3 comes with a built in Blu-ray drive.

Though more expensive to produce, simply having a larger install base of disc players (largely driven by the PS3) and perhaps a better marketing campaign led to a consumer drop off and subsequent plug-pulling by Toshiba on the HD DVD project.