Jason Unger

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Man, do I love stupid headlines.

Toshiba losing money in HD DVD business - Associated Press

I can remember when I was up late enough to actually watch Jay Leno … "Headlines" was my favorite segment.

Look for more stupid tech headlines soon.

In case you were wondering, Hillary Clinton is your new HD DVD player.

Honestly, I'm not quite sure what that means, but Hillary Clinton …

• is not the new betamax
• remains focused on championing consumer access to high definition content
• would like to remind you that hd-dvd is still the only way to enjoy ʻchildren of menʼ in high-def from the comfort of your living room … unless youʼre peter guber and your living room is an actual movie theater
• wishes michael bay would reconsider his stance re hd-dvd vs blu-ray
• is not your fucking khakis (just sayinʼ)

Chuck Norris, you have competition.

Too bad he's supporting Mike Huckabee.

Amazon to support Blu-ray format

Amazon.com Inc announced its support for Sony Corp's Blu-ray format on Wednesday, days after Toshiba Corp pulled the plug on the rival HD DVD format, as key studios and retailers also took Blu-ray's side.

The online retailer said it would continue to sell HD DVD products for customers who already use that format.

In other news, Amazon.com still sells Beta cassettes. "Brings out the full potential from your Beta(R) VCR"!

Toshiba Officially Drops HD DVD, to End Shipments in March

Gaming Pushing Blu-ray/HD DVD Market, Research Finds

Gaming hardware is driving the adoption of both Blu-ray and HD DVD, according to new research from DisplaySearch.

According to “Quarterly Global Next Generation DVD and Game Platform Hardware Shipment and Forecast Report,” high-definition DVD gaming hardware—Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360’s external HD DVD drive—had revenue growth of more than three times that of standalone players from the second to third quarters of 2007.

This isn't shocking. Why would someone on the fence about the format war invest their hard-earned money in a player that could eventually be useless?

(The exception here is when the price of the units competes with current DVD players, as HD DVD's $98 Wal-Mart special did back in November.)

The only reason I'm considering a PS3 is that it would provide two entertainment options — Blu-ray and gaming. While it's looking more and more likely that Blu-ray will win the format war, at some point digital downloads will be the norm.

One of the big problems with Blu-ray research and the PS3 is that everyone uses it at their convenience. The HD DVD side doesn't include it when discussing "standalone" players — I would consider it one — and the Blu-ray side uses it when totaling their market share.

For all intents and purposes, the PS3 should be included in all Blu-ray statistics. Obviously, it's questionable just how many PS3 owners use it as a Blu-ray player — some studies say a lot, some not a lot.

But it has a Blu-ray drive in it, so it's a Blu-ray player. That doesn't mean that Toshiba should be trying to compete against it — it shouldn't — but you can't ignore its presence.