Toshiba smartens up, plans to release Blu-ray player in Q4 2009

Remember HD DVD? Yeah, neither do I. But way back when, in the Wild West era (relatively speaking :)) of home theater, it actually existed. Toshiba was the shotcaller behind the high-def optical disc format which competed head-to-head with Blu-ray--and eventually lost. But while virtually every other name in home theater has released some sort of Blu-ray player in the days since, we've heard nothing from Toshiba. Until now.

PC World is reporting that Toshiba will release a Blu-ray player, and possibly a Blu-ray recorder, by the end of 2009. It's obvious that Toshiba has no choice. Blu-ray market share in Japan sits around 50% and worldwide, while not entirely mass market, is growing fast enough that Toshiba is losing big dollars everyday. Also, as most of us have full-blown home theaters these days, Toshiba really needs a Blu-ray player to complement its HDTV lineup or it'll risk losing market share in the TV market.

Details are minimal at the moment, but it's good to know that another player will be entering the Blu-ray market. Why? The competition should help drive down prices even more!

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