Toshiba chops $100 off HD DVD player
Ah, the art of blogging. Today, AOL's Engadget reported that according to some alleged retail insiders who frequent the AVS Forum message boards, the much-rumored price drop on HD DVD players is about to become a reality. According to said blogger, on April 1 the HD-A2 will be repriced at $399 MSRP (down from $499) and the $799 HD-XA2 will also shed $100. That all may be true, but the fact is a quick check over at Amazon would reveal that the price cuts are already in effect. The HD-A2 is $356.99 and the HD-XA2 is sitting at a cool $599.99.
The HD-A2 is now only $356.99 at Amazon.
(Credit: Toshiba)Lazy reporting aside (we are all guilty of it at one time or another), the big question is whether the price cuts will actually make a serious difference. At this point, the majority of sales of next-gen DVD players appear tied to the game consoles (the PS3 has a built-in Blu-ray, and the XBox 360 has an add-on HD DVD player for $200), and neither format stands to make big gains in the standalone market until the players get down below $250--and maybe even less.
I don't want to call Toshiba desperate, but when it's offering five free HD DVD movies with the purchase of a player, that sounds like the company is having trouble enticing folks to buy in. (If my memory serves, in the early days of DVD, some companies were offering three free DVDs, but not as many as five.) It also doesn't help when the New York Post is writing articles that quote analysts saying retailers will be pulling the plug on HD DVD in 2008. True, it's the Post. But people make a bad habit of believing what they read.
Via: Engadget
Hunkered down in New York City, Executive Editor David Carnoy covers the gamut of gadgets and writes his Fully Equipped column, which carries the tag line "The electronics you lust for." He's also the author of "Knife Music," a novel. E-mail David. Follow David on Twitter. 
Just get below $200.
Until then, the switch just isn't worth it to me, and a lot of people out there. Above $200, and it's an audio/videophile niche product.
Once Universal sees the light and starts offering movies on blu-ray format it's will really be over for HD-DVD. And they will. Money talks and when you are going to have 10 times the amount of blu-ray players out there vs HD-DVD players they are going to want some of that market.
Considering the total lack of interest in both discounted BluRay and HD-DVD discs at the closing sale of a local CompUSA I saw recently (but still priced higher than the standard DVD version at regular, off-sale prices), I'd say at this point the HD market is still very much up in the air.
As for who wins the format war...BluRay does have its definite advantages in terms of potential for storage, but no one looking strictly as a home theater consumer really cares about that. Moreover, it costs money to create hi-def content; to fill either a BluRay or HD-DVD to its capacity with hi-def content only goes to DECREASE the amount of PROFIT the particular movie studio clears with any given release. And the studios can't have that now, can they? At least not until the [b]'Super Mega Ultimate Son of Director's Cut Courtesy of the Producer's Vision by way of The Financial Backer's Money Grubbing Dream'[/b] version, which should be about the 10th or 12th generation release of any said film, I'd wager a guess upon.
I'd say the first format to have a $100 machine on the market will likely get my support. But even then, if the media still carries a significant premium over standard DVDs, I'd guess that I'm going to be extremely selective on which HD movies I buy no matter how good my flat panel TV is.
Unlike Blu-Ray, most of their discs are combo discs with HD-DVD on one side, and HD-DVD on the other. That means you can still use the disc in your portable DVD player. You can't with Blu-Ray. Also, as stated before, the players cost at least half as much. HD-DVD also offers 1080p, and HDMI 1.3 - all at a lower cost.
Don't forget that some disc manufacturers are going to be releasing discs in both formats on the same disc. Blu-Ray one side, HD-DVD the other. If a disc has both formats, why buy the more expensive player?
Sony is continuing it's technology trend. Just give it time. Pretty soon Blu-Ray will be added to the list with the Betamax, UMD, Minidisc, Memory Stick, etc.
i wont be watching in hi-def at home for a whiiiile
- The lower price machine will survive
- by yoon shay choo March 27, 2007 8:57 PM PDT
- I totally agree with usadingo. The lower price machine will always win. Most people don't care about the marginal superior quality in performance of either machine. Correct me if I am wrong, most people who own HDTVs or SDTV don't play video games either. Which ever machine hit below $200 mark Canadian will get my dough. For the time being I am still for Toshiba. Viva Toshiba! Come to think of it, Viva Blu-ray just doesn't sound right.
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