Ouch: even Samsung abandons ailing HD DVD now

Take a close look because sooner, rather than later, HD DVD will be gone from Samsung's line-up

Nothing has gone well for Toshiba or HD DVD over the past few months. Instead of fighting valiantly against Sony's Blu-ray platform, the company has been hammered with loss of support from practically every major player in the war. And to make matters worse, it needs to add another to the list today.

According to reports, Samsung has decided that it will strengthen its support for Blu-ray, while pulling the plug on its efforts with HD DVD. "Samsung is expected to show more interest in Blu-ray products than rival HD DVDs," a company official said on Sunday.

No love for HD DVD

Samsung declined any further comment. Some believe the company may attempt to prolong the inevitable and allow support for HD DVD until Toshiba reads the obituary to the world, but one market analyst thinks otherwise.

"Samsung, which has been adopting a dual-strategy for both Blu-ray and HD DVD products," the analyst said,"is likely to cut the HD DVD portion because of aggressive marketing and closer industry connections over the technology."

It seems the end of HD DVD's run is finally upon us - although it has yet to be confirmed, Toshiba may announce the end of the war as early as Tuesday. Watch this space.

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