Toshiba Deploys New Marketing Initiatives Based On Strong Fourth Quarter Unit Sales

[TheMoose]

Originally Posted by 1more4HDDVD

Well then, perhaps the Blu-ray side should match HD DVD prices. Right?

When you have several companies making players the prices will naturally go lower as the tech matures.
When your the only one making players you can subsidize them & get artificially lower prices.
You all assume that Blu-Ray players will go up in price if they win but I know HD-DVD players would go much higher with no competition since their prices were artificially low.

[TheMoose]

Originally Posted by 1more4HDDVD

Show me where I can get a blu-ray player for a little more than $100 over the cost of a $150 HD DVD player. The lowest I can find is $346 for a BDP-S300 on Amazon, which is more than double the price and nearly $200 more.

Originally Posted by merv46

aah well do a google search or pricegraber and you can see a samsung 1200 for $229 or a 1400 starting at $249. I know bb had a player for around $280 not to long ago, not sure if thats still going on or not. My point is spend a little more even if you have to save for an extra month or two and get a player that might just have new software available longer than a few months or a year. I can not honestly direct anyone I know to buy one of these players knowing that the format's time is near the end. I have both a tosh hd dvd player and a panny bd player, I hate to see hd dvd die out but one format would be better for all, imo.

And the $149 player is only 1080i so you should compare the $199 HD-A30, with 1080p output & that makes it a $30 difference with the 1200.

[1more4HDDVD]

Originally Posted by TheMoose

And the $149 player is only 1080i so you should compare the $199 HD-A30, with 1080p output & that makes it a $30 difference with the 1200.

For the +75% of HDTV owners with 1080i/720p that is not a valid argument.

If you want to play that way, then we should be comparing only 1.1 profile Blu-ray players.

[1more4HDDVD]

Toshiba is offering an HD DVD player, with 7 free movies, for $150. I can walk into Best Buy and buy it today. In addition to over 300 HD DVD movies available today, the machine will also up-convert my DVDs to look better on my HDTV. In the near future, I will be able to purchase Beowulf, Bee Movie, Into the Wild and other hits that are only available in high-def on HD DVD. So it’s got some hits coming, not the same as Blu-ray, but it has some.

To me, that seems like a good option to replace a DVD player while the format war plays itself out. A minimal risk for $150.

[1more4HDDVD]

Look, I admit that on its own, this move is likely not going to be enough to overcome Blu-ray’s overwhelming studio support.

This is a good and very necessary first step by Toshiba. The next step is to go hard at additional studio support (which Lotus seems to think they are doing). If they can get one or two more studios to start supporting HD DVD, then the game changes dramatically. If not, then $150 for a good up-converting player and seven free movies isn’t the end of the world for most people anyway.

Let’s see how it plays out.

[TheMoose]

Originally Posted by 1more4HDDVD

Look, I admit that on its own, this move is likely not going to be enough to overcome Blu-ray’s overwhelming studio support.

This is a good and very necessary first step by Toshiba. The next step is to go hard at additional studio support (which Lotus seems to think they are doing). If they can get one or two more studios to start supporting HD DVD, then the game changes dramatically. If not, then $150 for a good up-converting player and seven free movies isn’t the end of the world for most people anyway.

Let’s see how it plays out.

I just don't understand how this can attract a studio, they say they sell more standalones already but have lost every week in software sales for over a year now.
Even after the $99 sale they still couldn't sell more movies than Blu-Ray did.