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R.I.P. HD DVD: Toshiba reportedly ends the war

Toshiba plans to withdraw from HD DVD production, according to a report on Japan's NHK. This follows announcements by Netflix, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart to favor Blu-ray Disc format.

We have a winner.

Well, that's it. Toshiba appears to be pulling the plug on HD DVD. Toshiba has not commented publicly, but a report on Japan's NHK says Toshiba has made the decision to withdraw from next generation high-definition DVD production.

This news certainly doesn't come as surprise to anyone remotely following HD DVD's format war with rival Blu-ray. HD DVD had suffered a string of defections, with Warner, Netflix, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart all recently pledging their alliance to Blu-ray.

The NHK report says existing HD DVD products will remain on the market for a while, but Toshiba will stop further development of HD DVD. The report also estimates that Toshiba will take a hit to the tune of "hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars" and will close factories in northern Japan.

Elsewhere this weekend, Sony and its Blu-ray buddies are going to make like VHS and party like it's 1989.

Source | Via

UPDATE: Reuters now points to an unnamed company source who says, yep, we're done. An official announcement from Toshiba could come next week.