Toshiba's HD DVD price cuts? Brilliant? Or like cuts on Betamax before it died?

Question

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9849870-7.html?tag=nefd.top

So will Toshiba's HD DVD player price cuts make HD DVD more competitive? Or has the ship already left, and this is a way to sell as many as quickly as possible before the format dies, like Betamax?

Answer 1

This latest move by Toshiba et. al. smacks of fire-sale desperation, if you ask me.

Hopefully 2008 will mark the END of this HD format war stupidity.  At least that would make the whole HD thing easier for non-technical, non-geek consumers to deal with.

Answer 2

I am with XtremeD on this, although lawsuits would be ridiculous. There is a good way to gain an ally.....attack him!

They want to revive HD DVD after the Knockout punch but actually they have no choice but to lower the price. Who is going to buy an HD DVD player when even people who prefer the format can't honestly recommend it anymore. No, price cuts will help get rid of some inventory but quite frankly the retailers are tired of trying to convince people that they should buy a High Definition player and explain why there are 2 formats and reassure customers that yes they don't have to worry about movies being available.

If 1 horse is 5 lengths back after the last turn you don't bet on the horse in back. You bet on the winner! (if of course betting is still open)

It was also reported that Target is getting rid of HD DVD after months of shrinking the formats shelf space. By giving their customers 1 choice the help the customer to be less confused which will help sales. Which helps profit. And I hope we all agree that gaining profit is all these companies care about.

Answer 3

It is specifically because its a dying/dead format.

This years Consumer Electronics Show (CES) started with the surprise announcement by movie giant Warner Bros. that they would no longer support Toshiba's HD DVD format. Previously they had been sitting on the fence releasing movies in both HD DVD and Blu-ray formats.

The eve-of-show decision "was based purely on consumer preference for Blu-ray," says Warner.

The announcement was literally a show stopper. Toshiba and its partners were forced to cancel their grand-slam HD DVD party on the show's opening night and scrap private briefings scheduled throughout the show.

All the HD DVD Promotion Group would say was that it was "discussing the potential impact of this announcement ... and evaluating next steps".

Industry insiders now expect legal action, both between the companies involved and from consumers who have bought players for which there will now be a much narrower selection of discs.

Answer 4

Its just a desperate attempt to make an impact on Blu-Ray.  It doesn't matter, they're gonna lose eventually.

Answer 5

I guess we should ask a Toshiba exec!

I feel this is actaully an attempt to control the losses by selling off the inventory and getting unsuspecting consumers to eat a chunk of the costs of writing off all the gear.  They will however do this under the disguise of a legitimate effort to save the format.  This is just my opinion, and have no facts to back this up.  

If anyone knows anyone working at the Toshiba factories producing the A3 and A30, then it would be very useful to know if production has halted or is halting when component and obligations to vendors are done.

I would rather like a new DVD player in the $100 range and movies around $15, so I hope this is actually a winning blow to Blu-ray.  If this is the end of the line for HD DVD, then I suspect players and movies will be very expensive for a long time.  Unfortunately.

Answer 6

last battle for survival. The movie industry decided to stick with blu-ray -- too bad for HDTV.

"At the end there can only be the one"

Answer 7

I'm fairly convinced that they were planing on announcing the price cuts before Warner Bros surprised everyone.  Toshiba's HD DVD players are some of the best upconverting DVD players I've ever seen and are totally worth it just for that.  I don't see HD DVD going away in 2008 although people keep saying it.

Answer 8

We shall see.  If the player runs around the same price as a basic upconvert dvd player then it's a much better deal (than just an upconvert dvd).  This could get a lot more HDDVD players into homes and if HDDVD should somehow convince a studio(s) that is exclusive BR to support HDDVD in the near future - the fight would be back on.

What Sony has going against it still is profile 1 vs. profile 1.1 vs profile 2 (for full interactive functionality) that isn't even out yet.  Region coding that prevents discs from one region playing on a box from a different region (this is not the case with HDDVD.)  Oh yes, and there's still the ridiculously overpriced BR disc player $500 for a standalone that outputs 1080/24p vs $200 for the HDDVD player that does the same - without the profile version or region code problems.

Answer 9

I don't care who wins because I have a dual format player.....when profile 2.0 becomes available I will upgrade to another dual format player that is compatible with the new Blu-Ray profile since I don't plan to re-buy and HD DVD discs that get re-released on Blu-Ray when HD DVD Dies.