One of the fears of investing into technology is that it would become obsolete as soon as it is purchased. This is especially so when pursuit of the technology is ceased instead of it dying a natural death or being superceded by newer technology. With Toshiba flying the white flag now, many consumers will be stuck with HD-DVD players with a very slim chance of seeing more movies produced on the media.

This is worse than having a mature technology dying because there may still be libraries of movies that are already available on the old media. In this abrupt pull back of technology, there is a high chance that companies will stop investing in this technology and hereafter move on to producing movies on the Blu-ray disc - the Sony technology that HD-DVD lost to.

One would then wonder what happens to the consumers then? Well, the HD-DVD player will probably go the way of the LD player, except that there’s still a chance of finding old movies and Karaoke discs on LD than on HD-DVD discs. To add salt to the wound, if the HD-DVD player is white and huge, it’d indeed be a white elephant.

TOKYO–Investors cheered an impending end to a format war for next-generation DVDs on Monday, pushing up shares of both Toshiba, on the verge of abandoning its HD DVD discs, and Sony, the leader of the rival Blu-ray camp.

Toshiba shares jumped 5.1 percent as analysts praised its decision to cut its losses, while Sony, whose technology is set to become the industry standard for the next generation of high-definition home movie DVDs, rose 2.7 percent.

"It doesn’t make sense for Toshiba to continue putting effort into this," said Koichi Ogawa, a chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments. "It needs to cut its losses and focus its resources on promising businesses."

A source at Toshiba told Reuters on Saturday that the electronics conglomerate was planning to give up on the HD DVD format after losing the support of key retailers and several movie studios including Warner Bros.

Toshiba, which led a consortium promoting HD DVD, would suffer losses of hundreds of millions of dollars to scrap production of its equipment and other steps to withdraw from the business, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.

But analysts gave high marks to Toshiba’s seemingly quick decision to pull the plug on HD DVD because of the heavy costs involved in promoting the format.

Nikko Citigroup raised its rating on Toshiba to "buy/high risk" from "hold/high risk." JP Morgan maintained its "overweight" rating while predicting the elimination of sales promotion costs would add $280 million to Toshiba’s operating profit in the next business year from April.

"Since the business has no growth potential without video software, we think the company will probably withdraw completely rather than just partially," JP Morgan analysts Yoshiharu Izumi and Masashi Hayami wrote in a note to clients.

While keen on a new format DVD that can hold more content and produce higher-quality pictures, movie studios, and retailers want a single format that would avoid the cost of producing and stocking two different types of DVD.

Shoppers, faced with two formats and movies that might only play on one or the other, have tended to buy neither at a time when the entertainment industry was hoping the new generation discs would revive the $24 billion home DVD sector.

An end to the war means consumers can now be sure they won’t be stuck with a 21st century equivalent of Betamax–Sony’s videotape technology that lost out to VHS in the 1980s.

The defection of Time Warner’s Warner Brothers to Blu-ray from HD DVD in January was a heavy blow to Toshiba’s plans. It took Hollywood’s biggest film library into the Sony consortium’s camp and meant 70 percent of Hollywood movies would be in the Blu-ray format.

When the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores, said Friday it would quit stocking HD DVD movies in its 4,000 U.S. stores, both consumers and pundits said the war was over.

The decision matched earlier ones by consumer electronics chain Best Buy and online video rental company Netflix.

"Blu-ray won. It’s fantastic and I trust Sony," said one customer who was browsing the DVD player aisles at the Best Buy Co Inc store on New York’s Fifth Avenue.

Tania Bonetti, who works in the home theater section of the store, where DVD players cost from $399 to almost $1,000, said, "Blu-rays are flying off the shelves, but we have to order if you want HD."

Wal-Mart’s own movie and gaming blogger put the future of HD DVD in stark terms.

"If you bought the HD player like me, I’d retire it to the bedroom, kid’s playroom, or give it to your parents to play their John Wayne standard def movies, and make space for a BD (Blu-ray disc) player for your awesome Hi Def experience," Wal-Mart blogger Susan Chronister wrote in a posting.

Stephanie Prange, editor in chief of Home Media Magazine, said the war’s end should boost high-definition DVD adoption.

"It would definitely help. The two formats, though both were good, have confused consumers and prevented them from moving into the high-def future," she said.

Article obtained from ZDnet at http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6230980.html on 19th February 2008

Lydia Sum passed away early Tuesday morning (this morning) in Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong. The cause of death was not known, but it was known that she was suffering from a bile duct condition. Lydia had been a childhood favourite because of her funny antics in movies. She also acted in a sitcom, Living with Lydia, where she played a mother to 2 children and runs a Dim Sum restaurant. As with most HongKongers in real life, she is particular about her food in the sitcom and enjoys it to the fullest.

Her passing on leaves behind a legacy that the next generation can only hear of.

VETERAN Hong Kong actress Lydia Sum, known for her iconic black-rimmed glasses and heavy build, died early on Tuesday, news reports said. She was 60.

The cause of death wasn’t immediately clear, but Commercial Radio reported on its Web site that Sum had been suffering from a bile duct condition. Radio RTHK reported on its Web site she suffered from liver cancer.

Shanghai-born Sum passed away in Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong.

The star had been suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure. She was admitted into hospital in August last year for an operation.

Affectionately known to peers and fans as Fei-fei, Sum made her movie debut at age 13, according to the Commercial Radio report.

In 1960, she joined Shaw Brothers. Her stardom began with the widely televised TVB variety show Enjoy Yourself Tonight, first singing with the Four Golden Flowers in the 1970s.

She acted in more than 100 movies in Hong Kong and hosted more than 5,000 episodes of variety shows. Kung fu fans will remember her as Yuen Cheung-Yan’s dominating wife in the film Drunken Tai Chi. She also appeared as Richard Ng’s wife in the all-star comedy Millionaire’s Express and in It’s a Mad Mad World in a major role.

Sum starred in Mediacorp’s Channel 5 sitcom ‘Living with Lydia’ and her performance in the Singapore programme won her the ‘Best Comedy Performance by an Actress’ award at the 2003 Asian Television Awards.

It was the first time she had acted in an English drama in her 40 year career.

Sum married actor and singer Adam Cheng Siu Chow in 1985 after 11 years of cohabitation. They had a daughter, Joyce Cheng Yan Yee, in 1987. Eight months after Joyce was born, Cheng and Sum divorced.

Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang mourned Sum’s death. ‘Hong Kong grew up with her laughter. She brought us a lot of joy,’ Mr Tsang told reporters.

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 19th February 2008