Do you think Blu-ray will slash their prices now?

[Porfie]

I know my thread on Toshiba slashing its prices along with a few other threads have got closed. I think it is very important for the blu-ray team to lower their prices or do something to counter their move otherwise HD-DVD is going to still be around, and our chances of getting Universal and Paramount may be even longer. One thing that will help our competition is their very low prices even if it is a move of desperation. If they can get enough people to buy their product like it or not they arent going anywhere.

Toshiba Calling price "the most critical determinant" in reaching mainstream consumers, Toshiba announced an immediate drop in the MSRP for its complete line of third-gen HD DVD players, pricing its 1080i entry-model HD-A3 player at $149.99, the HD-A30 at $199.99, and the high-end HD-A35 at $299.99.
Paramount and Universal and especially Toshiba don't care about confusing the market, and possibly making both HD formats obsolete, their #1 concern is money and being as ruthless as it takes to get their point across as we have all ready seen with their $150 million dollar payouts and misleading press articles on how well their discs and products have sold.

[tiger roach]

Price is over-rated in this war.

People are staying away from HD in droves because:

-They are waiting for the end of the format war
-They don't have an HDTV yet.

[Porfie]

Originally Posted by tiger roach

Price is over-rated in this war.

People are staying away from HD in droves because:

-They are waiting for the end of the format war
-They don't have an HDTV yet.

Price may be over-rated but not over-rated enough to stop many people from buying their product. I think blu-ray has enough support to defeat HD-DVD however we all knew that Toshiba was going to do this fire sale as a last attempt to save theie dying format. My point is I hope blu-ray does not just depend on the Warner Bros exclusivity and just do nothing. I want blu-ray to go to bat for us and do some great sale of their own.

[CptGreedle]

Not yet they won't. Now that WB is on their side, it is clear what will happen.

However they will have to to compete against DVD. The prices are too close b/t HD DVD and BD to matter, but between BD and DVD... in order to make better sales the prices will need to drop.

[Joe Cain]

HD DVD has had cheaper hardware since it came on the market---and it came on the market months before BD. What do they have to show for it so far? An argument that goes something like this: "It doesn't matter that HD DVD is losing because losing doesn't matter."

Now these are some juicy sales numbers:

A quick check of eBay this morning revealed that 662 HD DVD players and only 104 Blu-ray Disc Players were for sale. Now there’s a sales ratio win for HD DVD: 6.4 to 1. And depending on which city you examine, you’ll find similar disproportionate ratios on CraigsList. Secondhand HD DVD players far outnumber secondhand BD players. On Saturday, I found ratios that ranged from 14:1 in New York City to 8.8:1 in Los Angeles to 6.6:1 in San Francisco.

Considering that the BD player installed base is far, far greater than the HD DVD player installed base, these numbers are even more significant. This does not bode well for Toshiba or the HD DVD format.

An excellent summing-up of the moment by Dan Ramer on dvdfile.com, entitled "Just How Fragile is HD DVD?": check it out.

[pro-bassoonist]

I do no think that price is overrated given the state of our economy. But I also believe that it is quality that wins over pricing with content now firmly in the BR camp.

The BDA does not need to pointlessly keep slashing prices. Certainly not at this moment. Accelerate the introduction of a variety of 1.1/2.0 players, address the kinks (Samsung) with their 1.0 players, as much as possible, and focus on education. Slashing prices without education will not deliver the needed results. Educated public with a clear vision of what BR offers over SDVD will.

Dr.A

[Slapper]

Originally Posted by Porfie

Price may be over-rated but not over-rated enough to stop many people from buying their product. I think blu-ray has enough support to defeat HD-DVD however we all knew that Toshiba was going to do this fire sale as a last attempt to save theie dying format. My point is I hope blu-ray does not just depend on the Warner Bros exclusivity and just do nothing. I want blu-ray to go to bat for us and do some great sale of their own.

I don't think this fire sale is a last ditch effort to save their dying format. HD DVD is dead. Their format is a chicken with it's head cut off. Just because it's still kicking doesn't mean there is any way it can survive.

I think this firesale is a last ditch effort to clear out their inventory before Universal and Paramount go to Blu-ray exclusively.

[Porfie]

Originally Posted by Slapper

I don't think this fire sale is a last ditch effort to save their dying format. HD DVD is dead. Their format is a chicken with it's head cut off. Just because it's still kicking doesn't mean there is any way it can survive.

I think this firesale is a last ditch effort to clear out their inventory before Universal and Paramount go to Blu-ray exclusively.

I hope so, it just seems this damn chicken without a head does not die. LOL

[esteban2]

We've all benefitted from the format war - BD software and hardware prices are surely lower than they would have been had there been no HD-DVD.

The one 'bad' aspect of HD-DVD's demise is that BD will no longer be under that competitive pressure with respect to price, quality, etc.

[Theo Cupier]

Originally Posted by tiger roach

Price is over-rated in this war.

People are staying away from HD in droves because:

-They are waiting for the end of the format war
-They don't have an HDTV yet.

I strongly disagree. People were buying HD DVD because one of the few battles it won in the war was that the players were cheaper (and for UK owners, we could more readily buy US DVDs at lower cost than UK ones).

Anyway, Bluray's war is no longer with HD DVD (to the extent it ever really was). The war BD has to win is against SD DVD.

For the average person going in to a shop to buy a disk player, faced with the choice between a $50 (or £50) SD DVD player that upscales and a £500 (or £500) BD player, there is no choice at all. They will choose the £50 player pretty much every time, unless they have a really, REALLY compelling reason.

Bring the player price nearer to $200-$300, where some better SD DVD players still retail, and start to sell the advantages of the interactivity & the HD content and you'll get more buyers. It's simple stuff.

I think BD manufacturers have 2 ways to go at this point:
1. Decide that they have "won the war" against HD and put prices up to match demand, since they've cornered the HD market.
2. Realise they have a war to win against SD players, ramp up their production volumes and drive down cost as a result.

One option leads to a firm hold on an expensive niche market, the other leads to a genuine mass market product with a real future supported by studios.

[spam.curitiba]

the 99 dollar hd dvd players didn't win the war for them like they said it would hell this one won't either

[Blu Titan]

I a couple of months, I would expect the price of the Sony 300S, the Samsung 1400, and the Sharp Aqous to drop below $300 due to the availability of cheaper 1.1 profile players from Funai.

[ILOVEBLU!]

possibly but toshiba is desperate and scared since warner is abandoning them they think dropping player prices will help sales but they lost warner the bda should however consider doing some minor price drops to compete with dvd player sales.

[Sylin]

Originally Posted by Porfie

[B]Toshiba Calling price "the most critical determinant" in reaching mainstream consumers

Just goes to show why HD-DVD is about to die: it has not been about price from the very start. The only people who preach "price" as the dominant factor have been Toshiba, Universal, and so-called industry analysts who are now eating crow.

The HD format war was won by Blu-ray by having better studio support, period. This begets more unit sales, which begets more market share. Just look at Warner, who cited this truth as their reason for going Blu exclusive.

I'm not saying price is immaterial... it will no doubt play a large factor in getting SD lovers to adopt Blu. But Blu has kept extremely competitive in unit prices with HD-DVD, and player prices don't have a large enough disparity to matter.

[tron3]

Supply and demand guys. Prices drop when they reach near market saturation for that price range. While it is good that hardware will be cheaper to make with each passing year, not all of that is being passed onto consumers.

I'm not terribly worried about it. CD was this expenisive too, but it came down in price. Just a matter of time.

[alkalinesi]

i honestly think that when the new players come out that were mentioned at CES, blu ray should drop their prices. the old samsung and some sonys they should drop to $199 while the new players should be around $349-499. just my opinion.

[zMadMonk]

Blu-Ray player prices should drop NATURALLY. Toshiba is cutting their prices because they HAVE to. There is an inherent stigma attached to that, in that the inferior products go on clearance.

"Attention K-Mart Shoppers...."

[lilboostedscooby]

how much money would you want to make? sell 500 blu ray at 25.00 or sell 1500 at18.99 .which makes better sense? i know that i rather sell more

[Dew]

I think this fire sale is nothing more than a inventory clearance sale. Ultimately content and the price of actual discs will determine whether or not HD-DVD can fight back, and that seems very unlikely at this point.

[LynxFX]

They really have no reason to as this isn't the typical time. They did a lot of discounting leading up to the holidays. The most you'll see now is discounts on discontinued players to make room for the new models announced at CES. Then by the end of the year just in time for the holidays you'll see the mass discounts all around.

Don't confuse Toshiba's act of hara-kiri with normal business practices.