It’s something that’s bothered me for years. Why does Amazon still have a category for HD DVD discs and HD DVD players? The format has been obsolete for years following the hi-def disc war that Sony’s Blu-ray Disc won handily. But Toshiba’s HD DVD format, which clearly had the more practical brand name, still lingers.
There aren’t actually that many HD DVD players when you come down to it, and the products are from third party sellers, not Amazon. After searching through the first 3 pages I could only find the Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD Player and the HD AX2 HD DVD player. The rest of the results were mainly portable DVD players, media players, and projectors. Perhaps the search term “hd dvd” is still used frequently on Amazon, so vendors load up their keywords to display items that aren’t actually “hd dvd” products.
The HD DVD players are really old too. The HD-A1, for example, was first available in May 2006. Just read the Amazon description of this once, top of the line hi-def disc player:
“Get ready for the next generation of DVD entertainment with the Toshiba HD-A1 DVD player… It combines the superior image and sound quality of high-definition images and multichannel surround sound with the convenience of DVD disc playback.”
Are there still HD DVD players functioning out there? Because there are still HD DVDs selling on Amazon like 2001 – A Space Odyssey (which, coincidentally has just been announced for 4k Blu-ray release), Battlestar Galactica Season 1, and The Ultimate Matrix Collection. Granted, the discs are from third-party vendors and not actually Amazon stock items. But HD DVD just feels like old tech that should be selling on eBay rather than Amazon.
Personally, when the audio stopped working on my Toshiba HD-A1 several years ago, I tossed it along with about 30 HD DVDs which were watched once or never at all. They were just taking up space in my media closet anyway.
I guess the fact HD DVD is still listed on Amazon shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise, after all, you can still pick up Lethal Weapon 2 on laser disc and the original Star Wars Trilogy on VHS.
Contributing Author: Josh Henderson
