AfterDawn: News

Toshiba lowers HD DVD player prices

Toshiba Corp. has responded to Sony's previous announced of the BDP-S300 Blu-ray player, which will cost $599, by making further price cuts to its standalone line up. Begining April 1st (not a joke), the HD-A2 will sell for $399 and HD-A20 will sell for $499, meaning that Toshiba is now selling the lowest price next-gen, stand-alone high definition disc player on the market (below $400).

The company has also made a price cut to the HD-XA2, which will cost $799, down from $999. Price cuts for HD DVD were expected with the launch of the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console and the BDP-S300 Blu-ray player. Deputy General manager of HD DVD at Toshiba, Olivier Van Wynendaele, said recently that it is far too early for either side to declare victory when so few players are being sold, but promised to undercut any forthcoming Blu-ray price drops.



Source:
Hi-Def Digest

Written by: James Delahunty @ 22 Mar 2007 12:10

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• 9 comments

• SGSeries2

  It's nice to see HD becoming more and more viable to the mainstream. Prices are still a bit up there, though.

  22.3.2007 13:36 #1

• rihgt682

  The war will never be over.

  22.3.2007 15:17 #2

• tony2toes

  Good news, now if they lower the prices of there dvd's I will buy more. I have the xbox add on but have not bought many dvd's cause the good ones are dual format and range from 29.99-34.99. They don't need the dual format. I want the dvd in hd if I planned on watching the standard version I would have bought it.

  22.3.2007 17:07 #3

• hade

  the only problem here is the fact that there is about to be another 2 MILLION Blu-ray players sold within the next week or so. HD-DVD is really going to be fighting an uphill battle soon.
  
  im not sure if the sales ratio of Blu-ray and HD-DVD are on a global scale or just by region. i'll say if its globally, well i think that number is going to spike a bit which would inturn make HD-DVD look even more inferior to Blu-ray.

  22.3.2007 18:39 #4

• error5

  HD-DVD's problem is not hardware pricing or availability.
  
  It's the slow trickle of mediocre US releases coming in the next few months. Just look at the HD-DVD release dates on highdefforums and there's really no major titles that pop out at you (except maybe one or two):
  
  http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/releasedates.html
  
  On the other hand, the BluRay list of upcoming releases has several titles that you'd look forward to.
  
  http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/releasedates.html
  
  Thanks to Studio Canal and amazon.fr the slowdown is a little less painful:
  
  http://amazon.fr/gp/new-releases/dvd/294..._rd_i=294296011

  22.3.2007 18:59 #5

• akkuma

  cmon HD-DVD, you can do it! lol sorry, just dont like sony trying to corner and control the market!

  23.3.2007 00:16 #6

• RNR1995

  The VHS Bata war was won on the porn market
  For some reason they chose HD DVD this time?
  It does not matter to me as the prices are way too high either way!

  23.3.2007 05:05 #7

• eatsushi

  Originally posted by error5:HD-DVD's problem is not hardware pricing or availability.
  It's the slow trickle of mediocre US releases coming in the next few months.error5: You're absolutely right. I've gotten some titles from playasia and amazon UK but they have to get their act together here in the US and give us more blockbusters. The good thing is maybe now you can upgrade to the XA2.

  23.3.2007 05:42 #8

• apaullo

  I'll tell you all, once and for all, EXACTLY how this is going to end right now: In due time, give it another, maybe 2 years, all new hardware available, including standalone players, computer readers, writers, combo drives - will be completely compatible with both formats, as simply as DVD-R and DVD+R are compatible with all hardware available to you right now.
  
  Everybody now that remembers the Betamax vs. VHS format war, and the burdens of the purchase decisions therein, represent the majority of the group of people that don't know what the outcome will be here, and deservedly so - I stuck with Betamax myself, long after it was dead! What the bulk of these people seem to be forgetting, is that we were dealing with an analog, size-dependent technology in this VCR format war. Here, since the birth of the CD way back in 1983, we've been using the same sized disc for all subsequent popular formats. Just go on that fact alone: All competing products in the HD war have a disc tray that's the SAME, EXACT SIZE. An extremely obvious, yet important fact... it's only a matter of time before all companies follow in LG's footsteps, realize the only true BIG profit motivation at this point, and begin manufacturing HYBRID devices that support both technologies FULLY. Therein lies the key difference between this war and B/V wars - it can be done, and will be done. Just a matter of time.
  
  You're welcome to archive my comment here, and dig it up 2 years from now to see if I was right. :)

  23.3.2007 07:49 #9