Toshiba are to cut the estimated year end estimated sales of HD-DVD players by 44% it has emerged, lowering sales expectations from 1.8million standalone devices to 1 million in the US. Speaking about the impact on global sales, Toshiba"s Yoshihide Fujii said, "Obviously we are going to have to lower our previous global estimate".
On the other side of the format wars, Blu-ray chiefs have said that standalone players will increase sixfold this year, with expected sales of 600,000. Convergence is the key in this war, with Toshiba expected to introduce HD-DVD drives in all new laptops in 2008, while Sony includes a Blu-ray player in every PS3 console.
Sony"s Randy Waynick was keen to promote the formats exclusive titles to an audience in San Francisco saying Out of the top 20 blockbusters "there were 14 or 15 that were exclusive to Blu-ray".