Comments on: When will Toshiba put out a Blu-ray player?

Toshiba Chief Executive Atsutoshi Nishida lays out Toshiba's plans to combat Blu-ray with cheaper--and better--upconverting DVD player.

[robertorosco]

I should feel sorry but I just don't.

Poor Toshiba, but hey at least they can continue making their pricey TVs. Even if they do decide to make Blu-rays it is still a huge embarrassment to them. God even I get a little flushed just thinking about it.

[iamwho]

Sony caved... eventually

I bought several Sony VHS decks, so obviously Sony didn't feel embarrassed about accepting my money. (Beta is still better, but I digress.) Toshiba can (and should) take their accumulated knowledge after producing three generations of HD-DVD players to make a better Blu-Ray player.

BTW, supposedly, Toshiba was willing to go Blu earlier, but it was Microsoft who encouraged them to keep on fighting.

[robertorosco]

I should feel sorry but I just don't.

Poor Toshiba, but hey at least they can continue making their pricey TVs. Even if they do decide to make Blu-rays it is still a huge embarrassment to them. God even I get a little flushed just thinking about it.

[iamwho]

Sony caved... eventually

I bought several Sony VHS decks, so obviously Sony didn't feel embarrassed about accepting my money. (Beta is still better, but I digress.) Toshiba can (and should) take their accumulated knowledge after producing three generations of HD-DVD players to make a better Blu-Ray player.

BTW, supposedly, Toshiba was willing to go Blu earlier, but it was Microsoft who encouraged them to keep on fighting.

[disco-legend-zeke]

PLAYS bad DVD's that no others can play.

Possibly because 0f the ultra precision if the laser and optical system, my TOSHIBA HD-DVD player plays home recorded DVD's that freeze and pixellate on every conventional DVD player i have tried.

I have also experimented with burning HD content on conventional DVD discs with great success. I am able to drop .m2t transport streams into ULEAD (now COREL)Media Studio Plus DVD burner software and get about 23 minutes per single layer disk.

By rendering (in Sony Vegas) program stream .mpg files about 40 minutes can be recorded.

And, yes, the up conversion of standard DVDs is the bvest i have ever seen.

If you see any out ther at discontinued prices, it might be worth grabbing one.

[disco-legend-zeke]

PLAYS bad DVD's that no others can play.

Possibly because 0f the ultra precision if the laser and optical system, my TOSHIBA HD-DVD player plays home recorded DVD's that freeze and pixellate on every conventional DVD player i have tried.

I have also experimented with burning HD content on conventional DVD discs with great success. I am able to drop .m2t transport streams into ULEAD (now COREL)Media Studio Plus DVD burner software and get about 23 minutes per single layer disk.

By rendering (in Sony Vegas) program stream .mpg files about 40 minutes can be recorded.

And, yes, the up conversion of standard DVDs is the bvest i have ever seen.

If you see any out ther at discontinued prices, it might be worth grabbing one.

[AnthonyNYC]

Toshiba is in business to make money, period!

You guys act as if winning a format race is a prize. Making money is the prize. Toshiba tried making money with HD-DVD but because Sony went all out with the big bucks to Studios to make sure it doesn't suffer a Beta vs. VHS fiasco again, Sony has to sell a heck of a lot of BluRay machines just to get back the money it cost them to win this war.
So this might be the first war that is won yet a company never recoups or ends up making any money with the format.

Today, in Costco, i seen a stack of about 600 Toshiba upconverting players, 1080P quality using plain ol DVD discs which people know and love, and can play everywhere even in peoples homes who have no HD. They were selling at $69, next to the Sony upcoverting model selling at $79, nect to the HD-DVD units also selling for $79, with free hdmi and 2 movies, LOL
Then there were a few BluRay machines, just sitting there for over a month with dust on them priced for $379, not actually selling.
So if you ask me, Toshiba might have lost the format war, but by making Sony spend so much, it can now afford to undercut Sony on other products while Sony struggles to just get people excited about BluRay to sell millions of units to recoup the half a billion payoff to Warner Bros.
I think Toshiba will come out making more money in the long run without an HD format player and isn't that the point of business, to make more money?

[AnthonyNYC]

Toshiba is in business to make money, period!

You guys act as if winning a format race is a prize. Making money is the prize. Toshiba tried making money with HD-DVD but because Sony went all out with the big bucks to Studios to make sure it doesn't suffer a Beta vs. VHS fiasco again, Sony has to sell a heck of a lot of BluRay machines just to get back the money it cost them to win this war.
So this might be the first war that is won yet a company never recoups or ends up making any money with the format.

Today, in Costco, i seen a stack of about 600 Toshiba upconverting players, 1080P quality using plain ol DVD discs which people know and love, and can play everywhere even in peoples homes who have no HD. They were selling at $69, next to the Sony upcoverting model selling at $79, nect to the HD-DVD units also selling for $79, with free hdmi and 2 movies, LOL
Then there were a few BluRay machines, just sitting there for over a month with dust on them priced for $379, not actually selling.
So if you ask me, Toshiba might have lost the format war, but by making Sony spend so much, it can now afford to undercut Sony on other products while Sony struggles to just get people excited about BluRay to sell millions of units to recoup the half a billion payoff to Warner Bros.
I think Toshiba will come out making more money in the long run without an HD format player and isn't that the point of business, to make more money?

[Wes#1]

Can Blu-ray be beat by cheap upconverting players?

To quote the Toshiba exec: "And we're going to improve this [upconverting feature] even more, so that consumers won't be able to tell the difference from HD DVD images."
If he REALLY believes that, then it speaks volumes about Toshiba's concept of TRUE High Definition. The day an electronically reprocessed 540-line DVD matches the image of a 1080-line Blu-ray on a large screen HDTV will be a cold day in hell. Why waste the R&D?

Obviously, Toshiba is still hurting from the loss of their expensive HD-DVD effort... and this guy is lashing out in frustration. We need a High Definition format; Blu-ray is it. Period. Toshiba should set a new direction to beat Sony at making better AND cheaper Blu-ray machines, not sulk over the loss with pointless rants about upconversion.

[poptopvw]

You obviously haven't seen Toshiba upconverting. Very hard to tell the difference between blu-ray. If Blu-ray is a 100, my Toshiba SD-6100 is a 98. The detail is incredible.

[Wes#1]

Can Blu-ray be beat by cheap upconverting players?

To quote the Toshiba exec: "And we're going to improve this [upconverting feature] even more, so that consumers won't be able to tell the difference from HD DVD images."
If he REALLY believes that, then it speaks volumes about Toshiba's concept of TRUE High Definition. The day an electronically reprocessed 540-line DVD matches the image of a 1080-line Blu-ray on a large screen HDTV will be a cold day in hell. Why waste the R&D?

Obviously, Toshiba is still hurting from the loss of their expensive HD-DVD effort... and this guy is lashing out in frustration. We need a High Definition format; Blu-ray is it. Period. Toshiba should set a new direction to beat Sony at making better AND cheaper Blu-ray machines, not sulk over the loss with pointless rants about upconversion.

[5errr]

i want one.