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Welcome to the world of High Definition DVD! February 19th 2008 Sadly, HD DVD has ceded the battle. It is with a heavy heart that I bring you the sad news that many of us have been expecting since the shocking Warner decision of early January.
Toshiba has retired the HD DVD format from the battle. Since the Warner decision, there was just too much ground to be made up, and an HD "win" was almost impossible.
So Toshiba has made this decision in the best interests of HD media, as a whole, in order to help HDM have the best chances of being a success in the marketplace.
I certainly saw this as the outcome once Warner made their shock decision to back Bluray, but I could not rightly give up the fight when so many of you were counting on us and emailing us every day. However, now that Toshiba themselves have made their official statement, I hope you will understand if we climb wearily down from the palm trees.
Your trusty HD-NOW campaign site will be updated in the next few days to basically just a home page. A tribute page to our favourite format will be loaded also. Give this a little time.
Now that the format war is officially over, we will re-dedicate our efforts to helping to ensure the very best HDM for consumers like ourselves. I will buy a Bluray player, but not one of the "interim" spec BD 1.0 players, due to their lack of features. This year, I have nearly 200 movies on the HD DVD format, and will certainly be keeping these films, as there is no point in getting rid of them, as they will not go "poof" and disappear. HD DVD easily equals the quality of Bluray, so I will continue to enjoy these films in the future. I will be looking out for a reasonably priced BD 2.0 player, with DTS-MA 7.1 decoding - Samsung's 5500, Dual Format player is looking very good to me right now. With about a million HD DVD owners out there, I hope you'll join us in asking that Samsung and LG remain committed to dual format players for the next couple of years, to help owners become Bluray adopters if they choose.
Hopefully Bluray player models will drop in price, even though the competitive pressure from HD DVD has been removed. Sony and the BDA will have to show that they are committed to making Bluray a mass-market format by doing the right thing in terms of standardising the format's players to one "profile" and making them affordable. The market should reject BD 1.0 ("interim spec") and BD 1.1 ("bonus" view) players entirely and demand that all BD players meet the full BD 2.0 spec. We also hope that the movie selling prices will not now suddenly increase due to the lack of competition. There are, of course, many deals available now on HD DVD movies, so you may want to fill out your library while you have a chance. I will likely add BD titles that are reasonable, and where there is no HD DVD release available.
So, in closing, I'd like to say it was great joining forces with all of you over the last year or two. And thank you for all your regular emails of encouragement. We fought a good fight, but unfortunately we reportedly seem to have been a few hundred million dollars short at a critical moment! :)
We'll continue to help fight to make affordable HD Media accessible to all of you and, above all, enjoyable!
My very best regards to you all,
Edward | | | Please note - This website was started and is maintained entirely by individuals who just love HD DVD. Unlike most "fan sites" on the Bluray side, we are NOT sponsored or bought by any of the companies involved in the "format wars". Your email address will not be given to any other party at any time. 
We promise to notify you of any exciting developments regarding more support for HD DVD, as well as send you "Contact" links for you to let the studios know just how you feel. Any updates that we send you will have an "Instant Opt Out" link and your email is strictly private. Feel free to view our privacy policy.
A few Testimonials:
William - "Nothing but good things to say about HD-DVD. Keep the movies coming!"
Alesha - "I love HD DVD, they need more studio support! Plus Blue-ray is way over priced, nobody wants to pay $1000 for a dvd player!"
Terry - "HD DVD is growing much faster than Blu-Ray. Release your films, and I will purchase."
Tony - "HD-DVD gives us a realistic - reliable affordable way to enjoy movies in HD... Give us full support! Thank you."
Steven - "I own the Toshiba HD DVD player XA1 and it is amazing.I work part-time at Circuit -City (2 years) and it is a significantly better picture than the Samsung Blu-Ray player."
Eric - "Blue-Ray didn't deliver what it promised and HD-DVD has delivered in every area it was supposed to. In practice it's the better, more stable format."
Mischa - "Don't withold those great titles, bring them at least to both formats. Let the consumer decide!"
Dan - "I've compared both versions, and quality is better than blu-ray. But what appeals to me is how much more affordable it is.."
Nolan - "I am a large consumer of movie software and would love to increase my library with tittles on HD DVD. Please release tittles and let the consumer decide which format should win."
Charity - "Please end this now. Look at the sales numbers.The consumer has clearly sided with HD DVD."
Tom - "Its the only way forward. It Works..."
Have any news, feedback or ideas for HD NOW? Email us here
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