AfterDawn: News

Toshiba extends HD DVD promotion

In response to the popular Blu-ray "five discs free" promotion, Toshiba has decided to extend their "Perfect Offer" promotion until September 30th.

The promotion, which gives customers five free HD DVD movies with the purchase of any Toshiba standalone HD DVD player, was set to finish at the end of the month.



Recently, Toshiba permanently dropped the price of their HD-A2 player to $300 USD and even more recently, Sony dropped the price of their 60GB PlayStation 3 to $500 USD making it the cheapest Blu-ray player available.

The Blu-ray camp had hoped to take a real lead in the format war with the price drop and movie promotion, but it seems the HD DVD camp is not going down without a fight. HD DVD players continue to sell at a much higher rate than standalone Blu-ray players (PS3 not included), but Blu-ray disc movie sales continue to outsell their rival.

Only time will tell where the market will go, but for now, the war continues to heat up.

Source:
Electronista

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Jul 2007 16:05

• Previous article

• Update: PS3 hits 1 million sold milestone in Japan

• Next article

• Samsung turns phone into video workstation

• 13 comments

• rihgt682

  HD-DVD $300
  Blu-Ray $500
  I think we already havea Winner!!!!
  What sounds better with your new HDTV, HDDVD or Bluray? I think HD DVD SOunds pretty good with HDTV.

  18.7.2007 16:15 #1

• hughjars

  I see the Toshiba HD A2 is now $248 on Amazon USA, it's £209 here on Amazon UK but sadly we only get a 2 disc offer.
  
  If only it also did SACD, DVD-Audio & Divx/Xvid, I'd be 'in' at those prices if it did but I'll just have to await the version that does all of those & properly replaces my existing player which does SACD, DVD-Audio & Divx/Xvid
  
  (I'll just keep on with the XBox 360 HD DVD add-on & the PC for my retail HD DVD's in the meantime).

  18.7.2007 16:50 #2

• borhan9

  Quote:Only time will tell where the market will go, but for now, the war continues to heat up.I think this sums up my views exactly.

  18.7.2007 17:24 #3

• NexGen76

  Quote:but Blu-ray disc movie sales continue to outsell their rivalThats the only thing that matter right now.............

  19.7.2007 03:35 #4

• hughjars

  Originally posted by NexGen76: Quote:but Blu-ray disc movie sales continue to outsell their rivalThats the only thing that matter right now............. - ....to the fanboy element who insist on seeing everything in the most superficial & simplistic terms.
  
  The total number of discs sold is actually the most important number.
  
  That's why your day-dreams of 60:40 or even 70:30 'leads' are meaningless.
  
  Neither format is selling the numbers no matter how they are stacking up (in the short term) with each other.
  
  It's far too early to be making the kinds of sweeping judgements people on the Blu-ray side seem determined to make
  (which, if they could see it, is actually an indicator and telling us something about how worried they are.
  
  PS3 = BD is not good for them in the long run, hence all the talk to try and build 'momentum' about it being over already & the 'pressure' to push Universal etc etc).

  19.7.2007 03:50 #5

• diabolic

  The format war between Blueberry and ADHD has is just begining. The stand alone players are close to the magical $199 pricepoint and adoption difference in the US and EU is sure to make this war a long one.
  
  Will Sony's trojan horse (PS3) make the difference? or will ADHD's prices win the consumer over? We will see.... not so soon enough!

  19.7.2007 06:47 #6

• ChromeMud

  I can't stand Sony's bullying tactics.They say the war is over and blown away the competition but it's all BS.
  I will never support an arrogant company such as Sony which is a shame as I believe their products are good.
  They've done it to themselves,maybe it's time for them to be a bit more humble to the consumer.

  19.7.2007 07:15 #7

• makkena

  Bullying tactics? Ever heard of a company called Microsoft and their attempt to kill off all competitions in the software industry? Now they've literally occupy all aspects of the computer software industry, but it's not enough! Bill Gates wants to conquer the gaming industry too. Who's the one that's arrogant? People see that the ps1 and ps2 was the ruler of the past and just can't stand Sony. At least Sony never tried to step into Microsoft's turf. Believe me, Sony isn't the only one that has fan boys, microsoft and the xbox were the first ones to have people bitching and whining the ps2. And most of those people were the same disheartened fans from the dreamcast days cause it failed to take down the ps2.

  19.7.2007 08:38 #8

• ChromeMud

  Sony entered the gaming market much later than Nintendo and Sega so I'm sure they'd like to own the home entertainment sector just as much as anybody.Sony damaged their reputation when they said they have no competition and don't need third party developers or games for that matter,just brand loyalty and .... I think it's working LOL!
  Fu## brand loyalty!

  19.7.2007 08:51 #9

• NexGen76

  Originally posted by ChromeMud: Sony entered the gaming market much later than Nintendo and Sega so I'm sure they'd like to own the home entertainment sector just as much as anybody.Sony damaged their reputation when they said they have no competition and don't need third party developers or games for that matter,just brand loyalty and .... I think it's working LOL!
  Fu## brand loyalty!Dude where you be getting your info from ? Sony never said they didn't need third-party support.Read this link right here where Jack Tretton made it clear that Sony need third-party support but they don't depend on it as much as Microsoft.
  
  Originally posted by Jack Tretton: “We’re a company that does about 20 plus per cent of our business on first party, so believe me, I don’t want to send the message that we don’t need the third party's. We want to encourage them to maximize their development potential on our platform.http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=26700

  19.7.2007 10:16 #10

• hughjars

  Originally posted by makkena: At least Sony never tried to step into Microsoft's turf. - You have got to be kidding here.
  
  What do you think all that 'media hub' cr@p is aimed at over the long term?
  
  That's the whole reason why Microsoft went into the gaming market in the first place, they were not going to allow Sony to attempt to dominate a convergence of PC/gaming/video technology......and make no mistake that was precisely the intent behind the PS3
  (they obviously already were starting to think along these lines with some of PS2 plans).
  
  Microsoft are no innocents in this but at least the PC business is open and broad enough not to be wholly dependent on Microsoft proprietary products.
  
  ....which are invariably the preferred approach Sony continually tries to foist on everyone.

  19.7.2007 11:26 #11

• Steve83

  Originally posted by rihgt682: HD-DVD $300
  Blu-Ray $500
  I think we already havea Winner!!!!Yeah! DVD $40
  
  
  :-)

  20.7.2007 10:02 #12

• mphsbelle

  You guys may be too young to remember - but this war has been fought before. Back in 1980, when I bought my first video player for $1000.00, there were 2 competing formats - VHS and Beta. Beta was Sony's and priced much higher than $1000.00; now remember, $1000. was a sh__ load of money back then. Sony lost that war and frankly look like they are set up to lose this one too. Why? Because in order to appeal to the masses the pricepoint has to be low enough to attract the middle income people. Once again, Sony has set their pricepoint too high and thus will likely lose here too. Sony makes wonderful products but they are overpriced for the market. There will always be people purchasing $50,000 hidef plasma screens, however, until it can reach the masses like you and me, it will not fly. And Microsoft aside, Sony needs to learn that the market always drives the market. Sounds redundant, but just think.

  22.7.2007 08:24 #13