Toshiba’s HD DVD Format To Be Pulled?

We’ve been covering the HD DVD/Blu-Ray battle for the last few weeks now, with Sony delivering a few key blows to Toshiba’s baby, the HD DVD. We also may have, in passing, made a few jokes about Toshiba pulling the plug and, you know, killing aforementioned baby.

So far, Toshiba hasn’t listened and kept on fighting vehemently — however, rumors are coming from someone close to the HD DVD faction at Toshiba says the company is expecting to let the HD DVD die in a few weeks.

Well, now that it may be real, it’s just not funny anymore.

According to the source which is more than likely someone who just reads the news, Toshiba was struck hard by several major retailers — such as Best Buy — marginalizing the HD DVD format. Also, their massive price cuts for the DVDs in their format didn’t quite yield the results they were looking for (while losing them some major money) — why didn’t they, you ask? Mostly because everyone but Toshiba knows that the HD DVD is done for. It’s almost like buying a VHS tape without the nostalgia.

Publicly, Toshiba is still issuing their slightly sad but resolute statements saying that the HD DVD is superior to Blu-Ray and that the battle will still be won on the land, on the sea, and in the air — just not in Best Buy.

The slow death of the HD DVD is also affecting Microsoft — one of Toshiba’s closest non-studio supporters. Microsoft has long been selling an HD DVD add-on for its Xbox 360 console, in fact, it even cut the price of the HD DVD drive add-on (to mirror Toshiba’s price cuts) to $130. Most other companies, however, such as Apple, Lenova and so on, haven’t committed to one HD DVD brand, rather they are trying to offer both formats to satisfy and slightly irritate users.

Is the rumor true? We can’t be certain, but we can only assume it is. Toshiba needs to pull the plug before it loses anymore money on a race that’s all been lost. Let’s just say that Sony is the McCain of the fight, and Toshiba is the Huckabee — at this point, they’re just burning money.

Watch the Toshiba site for the inevitable statement about the burying of the HD DVD.