Toshiba plans aggressive HD DVD push at CES

[dmiller68]

Toshiba Corp. is planning an aggressive push for the HD DVD format at next month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a senior executive said last week.

A group of companies supporting the HD DVD format will hold a news conference on Jan. 7 on the eve of the massive consumer electronics exhibition to announce their plans for 2007, Yoshihide Fujii, president and chief executive officer of Toshiba's digital media network company, said Thursday.

Toshiba, which is the biggest backer of the format, will join the news conference and plans an announcement but Fujii wouldn't disclose what it will be.

The company launched its first HD DVD players at CES in January 2006. One player, the HD-A1, was priced at US$500 and a second player, called the HD-XA1, cost $800. Two second-generation players, the HD-A2 and HD-XA2, hit shelves this month at $500 and $1,000, respectively.

When asked if Toshiba would be announcing cheaper players Fujii remained tight-lipped on the company's plans but said, "At first I though the price threshold is $499. Maybe coming next is $399 and after that is $299." He didn't give a timeframe for this possible drop in prices.

While both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc have appeared in stores during 2006 sales of both formats remain relatively low. Prices of compatible machines are high and the formats continue their battle. That means consumers buying either format risk being left with a machine on the losing side that could end up being nothing but an expensive door-stop in a few years.

Companies backing the Blu-ray Disc format plan their own joint announcement at CES on Jan. 8.

Source

[GoatMother]

Love the competition, bring those prices down down down.. My main complaint is software prices are just too much at MSRP.

[dmiller68]

So I'm finding... I went to buy a couple titles and ouch. I decided I couldn't do it.

The $39 dollar combo versions are WAY too expensive. I have a hard time paying $20-$40 dollars for a title I already own. I haven't founf any of the titles I don't own. I may have to switch to renting, although the Block Buster I stopped at didn't carry them... Was this a good present after all...

[alter_ego_trip]

I agree that the studios need to eliminate the combo discs. This is a huge waste of money and is unfairly penalizing us Hi Def owners. I also feel that Toshiba needs to really pick up the pace if they want to win this format war. I have been an HDDVD supporter from the beginning, but I hate to say it is not looking good for HDDVD. Sony just has too many good titles coming out with no response from the HDDVD camp. CES is going to make a huge impact this year.

[GoatMother]

I've been renting from Hollywood video ($1 more than a DVD rental) as my Blockbuster doesn't carry HD-DVD or Blu-ray. Even so, their selection is very limited.

I agree, it's hard justifying $20-40 for a movie when the DVD version can be had for $5-15.

[Jon Liu]

yeah, for the most part, I've tried to buy only movies I've not ever owned (of course, it doesn't help when I hear such fantastic reviews on some of them). But, I worry HD-DVD is in a world of trouble because of the studio support the Blu-ray has. At the rate that Blu-ray is pumping out great titles as well as great PQ and AQ, they are going to win the war, no matter how cheap HD-DVD players might get. And they especially need to get rid of their combo disks. Those people who buy them, for the most part, are certainly not people who are "wanting to get the HD movies even though they don't have the HD player yet". Those people who don't have HD players are going to see the the price and say "WTH..." compare the two prices 34.99-39.99 to the regular DVD 14.99-19.99 and make the latter choice.

They've got dropped the combo disks all together. Playing 20-30 dollars is hard enough...

[BrewCityUpstart]

Goat, you might wanna try out Netflix.

[GoatMother]

Yeah, I've been meaning to sign up for it. Just haven't got to it yet (I don't even have TV yet in my place, haha).

Their selection does look to be pretty good!

[Peench]

As a recent Netflix convert I have to give them props. They have HDDVD and BluRay titles and their selection is tops. Their service over the past month has been great and we've seen enough movies to totally justify the price. And we've been happy when watching movies that were only marginal since we didn't shell out the cash for them. I've got my Netlflix now to send me HDDVD or BluRay of titles as first choice and then DVD if no other choice is available. Definitely well worth the $15 a month.

[BrewCityUpstart]

It was a matter of $ to me. We used to get 3 titles a weekend- thats $15 a week. Nextflix is $18 a month, which comes out to about $4 a week. Granted, we watch less movies lately (seems we're always busy all the sudden), but its still a bargain. It takes 2 days to get the movies, and two to return them.

[GoatMother]

Cool, that's a pretty good deal.

[Peench]

Yeah, I'm a cheap arse too so saving money on purchases was a great deal! Plus its so easy to add things to your queue and add titles around, etc. And then they just deliver them to your mailbox. Awesome.

[CamDawg]

Another vote for Netflix. I just tried it for the first time in Oct when I jumped on the HD-DVD bandwagon; you can't beat the price.

[JohnW]

Originally Posted by Jon Liu

yeah, for the most part, I've tried to buy only movies I've not ever owned (of course, it doesn't help when I hear such fantastic reviews on some of them). But, I worry HD-DVD is in a world of trouble because of the studio support the Blu-ray has. At the rate that Blu-ray is pumping out great titles as well as great PQ and AQ, they are going to win the war, no matter how cheap HD-DVD players might get. And they especially need to get rid of their combo disks. Those people who buy them, for the most part, are certainly not people who are "wanting to get the HD movies even though they don't have the HD player yet". Those people who don't have HD players are going to see the the price and say "WTH..." compare the two prices 34.99-39.99 to the regular DVD 14.99-19.99 and make the latter choice.

They've got dropped the combo disks all together. Playing 20-30 dollars is hard enough...

I dunno, Jon--take a look at this:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=774092

Have to wait and see which format the porn producers choose.

From Sony to Microsoft, to Toshiba, to producers to consumers, I think everyone's standing around waiting for someone else to make a move.

[BrewCityUpstart]

I suppose porn would make an impact (at least for those that can't download it for free...).

[Peench]

I dunno tho - do we really wanna see pron in HD? I mean, that whole "more realistic than life thing?" *eeeeewwwwww*

[BrewCityUpstart]

Originally Posted by Peench

I dunno tho - do we really wanna see pron in HD? I mean, that whole "more realistic than life thing?" *eeeeewwwwww*

I suppose your wife wouldn't be to happy about cleaning lick marks off the screen every day lmfao!

<insert joke about BLars/gay pron here>

[Jon Liu]

hahahahahahaha

As sad as it is and as much as I do not actually support Porn, I agree that it probably will play a factor on who wins.