Blu-Ray Player Pricing and the Format War

[ReduxInflux]

If Blu-Ray players dropped in price to rival that of HD-DVD players, would the manufacturers lose money? Or are they capitalizing on the demand? One thing that has been said over and over again is that pricing MATTERS. the general consumer who hasn't gotten their feet wet with anything Hi-Def by this Christmas, will, i'm sure of it, purchase the more affordable player unless there's no choice to be made (i.e. Target, BJ's). Why aren't Blu-Ray players competing for the consumer in pricing??? Are they expensive machines to make and they're trying to recoup their costs? Or really...are they banking on the 'top quality=top dollar' philosophy? Dropped prices = format war OVER.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by ReduxInflux

If Blu-Ray players dropped in price to rival that of HD-DVD players, would the manufacturers lose money?

It has been said that Sony could sell the S300 at $299 SRP and still do so at a small profit. This is because, unlike the Toshiba decks, the Sony's don't need the costly laptop CPU (needed for the HDi).

Of course, right now Sony wants to start making some of the development costs back, justify promotion costs, and maintain a nice margin for retailers to encourage them to push the product, so the S300 is $499 SRP.

Remember, this is a business. If Sony or other CE destroy the margin of BD players they'll sabotage the next generation and allow something else that is profitable for everyone to move in.

The question of matching pricing seems to imply people think Toshiba has it right. That price is all that matters. If that is the case, the whole gen is doomed.

Gary

[CptGreedle]

They will be dropping most assuredly for the holiday season. That is where it will really count!

[WickyWoo]

The big thing is this:

Toshiba has cut their own throat by selling at cost or a lost, because no one else wants to get into their game by losing money, because in electronics, what goes down will not come back up, at least on your base models

[Jim L]

I agree with many of the points of others (especially dialog_gvf).

• Blu-ray has a bigger coalition and more support in CE and retailers because there is still some decent profit in that price level. That is good. We want retailers and other CE companies involved
• Toshiba is in a much more desperate situation than the BDA manufacturers and it shows. Their current pricing may be at a loss with some of their free movie packages and heavy discounting. They may be figuring that if HD DVD is going to lose, they're better off getting at least something for their inventory of players.
• You get what you pay for. Toshiba at best is a second tier CE company. The Blu-ray player offerings by Panasonic, Sony and Pioneer are all a notch above Toshiba in quality and features

[ReduxInflux]

got it. excellent responses. thanks.

[jcdDigix]

Besides more & more people are being informed every day. See link.
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...713#post150713