Jason Curtis, Museum of Obsolete Media · CC BY-SA 4.0
Lost Technology
HD DVD
2006 CE2008 CE
Toshiba's high-definition disc that lost a brief, bitter format war to Sony's Blu-ray when Warner Bros. defected in January 2008, and died at two years old.
Born
2006 CE
Died
2008 CE
Lived
2 years
Dead for
18 yrs
At its peak
Discontinued less than two years after launch
Cause of death
Replaced
Replaced by
Blu-ray Disc
The Obituary
HD DVD, launched by Toshiba in 2006, was one of two rival successors to the DVD for high-definition video. Backed by Toshiba, NEC, and Microsoft, it fought Sony’s Blu-ray for studio and retailer support in a war that confused consumers and stalled both formats. The decisive blow came in January 2008 when Warner Bros. announced it would release exclusively on Blu-ray; retailers and studios followed within weeks. Toshiba ended HD DVD production in February 2008, making it one of the shortest-lived consumer formats on record.
Worth remembering
It was backed by Toshiba and Microsoft, with an add-on HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360.
Warner Bros. switching to Blu-ray in January 2008 collapsed the format within weeks.
Gallery
Close-up of the disc drive of a Toshiba HD-EP30 HD DVD playerWilliam Hook · CC BY-SA 2.0The Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on drive, released 2006 and discontinued after the format warPublic domain
Sources
HD DVD launched in 2006 and Toshiba abandoned it in February 2008 after losing to Blu-ray Wikipedia
Warner Bros. dropping HD DVD in January 2008 effectively ended the format war Wikipedia
Toshiba ended HD DVD development on 19 February 2008, weeks after Warner Bros. dropped support, conceding the format war to Blu-ray after barely a year. NPR
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.
Buried nearby — by shared fate or a neighbouring lifespan.
