Cupertino (CA) - During next week's Super Bowl, viewers will be treated to an HD DVD commercial, but won't see any mention of the competing Blu-ray format.

The ad will feature Toshiba's three lowest-priced players, the HD-A3, A30, and A35, and is the biggest advertising move for any high-def disc medium to date, reports Home Media Magazine.

According to industry reports, the 30-second TV spot is expected to run Toshiba nearly $3 million.  It is a crucial move that Toshiba hopes will bring consumers to HD DVD instead of Blu-ray, which has a significant early lead in the format war.

"It has always been our strategy to reach HDTV owners, using advertising on football is just one vehicle," said Toshiba to Home Media.  Within the last part of 2007, an estimated two million people bought an HDTV specifically because of the Super Bowl.  A 30-second advertising slot during the game this year is estimated to cost $2.7 million.

The Blu-ray Disc Association will not be represented during the huge sporting event because it was not able to create an ad in time, according to the magazine.  BDA spokesperson Andy Parsons put down the move by saying, "Running a Super Bowl ad is not likely to convince consumers that HD DVD will win the format war."

Yikes....

Jan 28, 2008 10:37     

The demise of HD-DVD is going to be painful to watch isn't it? Just give up guys.
Cam report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Plus for Hd-DVD

Jan 28, 2008 11:24     

Since there will be a huge number of people watching the Superbowl, it will reach a huge number of viewers (who might or might not be watching the commercial depending on whethere they take a break at the time or need to use the facilities or do something else). :) I think it will be a plus for HD-DVD
TomLeeM/BigWarpGuy report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Not able to create an ad in time?

Jan 28, 2008 12:50     

Jeez, I see a stupid ad every time I fire up a BluRay disc (and I'm tired of it!) Couldn't they just use the same one?
Roger report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Woolworths to Support Blu-ray Exclusively

Jan 28, 2008 13:01     

After analyzing Christmas season sales data, UK retailer Woolworth's,(Largest retailer in the UK), has decided to drop their support for HD DVD, and will be featuring Blu-ray players and discs only beginning in March. Blu-ray titles held a sales advantage of 10-to-1 over its rival at Woolworth's 820 retail locations, and as the largest retailer of high definition discs in the UK, they are taking a stand against the format war. "Sales figures clearly show that the market is moving towards one format of high definition DVD," commented Steven McGunigel, Woolworth's DVD buyer. "Switching to Blu-ray only will provide one clear offer to customers in the format they want to watch high definition movies in."

Shark report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

HD spending money.

Jan 28, 2008 15:29     

Toshiba is trying to spend some money to squeeze out very last dollar they can get from selling this dead format as much as they can. If you buy one now, you are a sucker. Too bad for Toshiba. They should had try to merge with blue ray back in the early days.
yo report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Response to yo

Jan 28, 2008 16:57     

Toshiba did try to merge with Blu Ray before they even released their first HD DVD player in April 2005. In January or February 2005 Toshiba said that they didnt want to have a format war and were willing to work with the other companies to further progress on a unified format. Panasonic laughed at them and said to Toshiba to bring it on for the format war.
kevin report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Hd dvd is a much better deal!

Jan 28, 2008 19:37     

When a format (blu ray) that has more DRM, regional encoding, and self-executing exe's embedded in them wins , we all lose. Hd dvd is best for the consument.Why pay double the price for the blu.Dont get fooled people .Hddvd is really a great deal!!
Emil report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

"Plusses" won't change sales numbers now...

Jan 28, 2008 21:32     

Sure, the commercial will be a plus, but will it change the fact that Blu-ray players have accounted for 93% of all HDM players since Warners went BD exclusive? This is a classic example of too little, too late... Blu-ray is the clear winner, the numbers don't lie... http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=storage&articleId=9059058&taxonomyId=19&intsrc=kc_top

CerberusRMG report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

HD-DVD is a bit too small

Jan 29, 2008 02:04     

HD DVD max can only hold 150 GB for now due to the size of the read laser. We know that if all the movies go to 1080P or better like 2160P, it isn't a lot of space for anything else. On the other hand, BD company did able to put 250 GB in 6 layer into a Blu-ray Disc. Which mean that Blu-ray 1080P movies can have all the content in 1080P. Also, in the Asia market, they already have 2160P with is 4 times more picture information compare to 1080P. Therefore, the format war will be design by the total data capacity of the technology. HD DVD think consumer don't care the quilaty, do anyone remember the Video CD? At the end the one have better picture and bigger capacity will be the winner. Therfore right now is Blu-ray Disc.

Lawrence report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Re: HD-DVD is a bit too small

Jan 29, 2008 10:53     

You talk about the demise of the Video CD, right after talking about trends in Asia? :O Sheesh, Lawrence! VCDs -still- sell in Asia. I sincerely doubt if the U.S. is going to have market saturation in 2160P (!!!) within the next three decades. Obviously there is a level of quality below which would be unacceptable, but HD-DVD is nowhere near that. Combined with the (built-in from the start) Internet capabilities of HD-DVD players, I really don't think that it's that cramped a format. Agreed, it doesn't have -that- much room to expand, but for this generation at least it's sufficient. I agree that it's probably not going to be the "winner" of the format wars, but not because of its lack of capacity or any inherent quality of the format itself.

Steve report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

@ SHARK

Jan 29, 2008 14:48     

Shark, I swear you must be a blew-ray exec or something. every time any HD news comes out you blabble some useless, mindless and ignorant information on how blew-ray is god's gift to man. what in the hell does the comment you made have anything to do with the article???
i eat sharks for dinner :p report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

VCD's Online

Jan 29, 2008 15:27     

One can still get VideoCD's online. One just have to Google it. :)
TomLeeM/BigWarpGuy report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

$

Jan 30, 2008 09:55     

It wouldn't surprise me if the cash for the add came from Microsoft.
drew and not u report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

blew-ray,,?

Jan 30, 2008 12:26     

Why do people purposefully misspell Blu-Ray? Do you people think spelling it 'blew-ray' or 'bl00-ray' makes you witty or clever? It doesn't... It makes you look like a moron and completely under minds any legitimate argument you may (or may not) have for why HD-DVD is better. =)
P report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

2.7 or 3.0?

Jan 30, 2008 18:16     

So can we say the cost of 30 seconds is 3 million? I can't keep up: http://bytheboxes.com/boxes/94...ii-economy
roanne report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Lose with dignity

Jan 30, 2008 23:17     

I think they're just trying to unload the rest of their players. I can't believe anyone in their right mind would go out and by an HD-DVD player for HD Movie playback after the Warner announcement. I don't care how cheap they get, if the majority of content providers are going Blu-Ray, I'll go Blu-Ray. I'm sure Paramount and Universal will jump ship as soon as their legal obligations to Toshiba are ended.

Pragmatic report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

RE: blew-ray,,?

Jan 31, 2008 22:01     

"Why do people purposefully misspell Blu-Ray? Do you people think spelling it 'blew-ray' or 'bl00-ray' makes you witty or clever? It doesn't... It makes you look like a moron and completely under minds any legitimate argument you may (or may not) have for why HD-DVD is better. =)" Agreed... but I think the same applies to other products and companies as well eg. Micro$oft.
Mr Comment report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

re:blew-ray?

Feb 01, 2008 14:33     

why you ask? because its fun ?is there any better reason¿
blow-me-ray report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

What's Woolworth?

Feb 03, 2008 21:03     

Oh that's right, it's a store that existed here in the U.S. but FAILED miserably. LOL!
wool report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Yeah?

Feb 04, 2008 00:39     

Where the hell was it? Someone gave you some bad info... Wasn't a single mention of HD-DVD during the superbowl. If they paid that 2.7mil in advance, I sure hope they get a refund! -_-
wtf report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Woolworth: Huge Retailer in America's History

Feb 09, 2008 10:24     

Woolworth was one of the most successful and influetial retailers in America's history. Woolworth was THE retail chain in the U.S. for almost 100 years. Continued to compete and restructure. Have you ever heard of Kinney's Shoes, Foot Locker, Champs Sports??? Woolworth is still alive and doing business world wide.
Umberto Z. report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Buy Both Formats

Feb 09, 2008 10:39     

The 2 5 free movies is such a good deal, and the awesome support it has, that buying the Toshiba HD DVD player is a no-brainer. The Blu-Ray isn't going anywhere either. I'm still not convinced either will win outright. I'm going to buy a Blu-Ray also. My home theater will be that much more comprehensive by supporting both formats. This way we can watch whatever my friends want to bring over, and be happy, not grumpy.

Umberto Z. report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0