Oh noes teh sky is falling!

[jw]

I was going to add that, its the cheap 1080i player, I asked the guy at our wal-mart alil while ago and thats what he said, "aint worth getting" and they only got 19.. I am looking into that cheap laptop for the kid though

[thrlride]

Originally Posted by BigB88

They are not trying to "catch-up", they are trying to survive and keep going. HD-DVD was never there to overcome Blu-ray, it is now only trying to survive and we can see this by the prices of some of their crappy players. My point has been that the BDA seems to be content with their (HD-DVD) survival and doesn't seem to mind that keeping the status quo for the next year or beyond is okay. I don't think this makes for a sound business strategy. Have you noticed that when HD-DVD responds or sets a trend, they try to do it in a big way? Paramount/DW...$98 or $169 Players, etc. But normally the BDA's response to these BIG moves is these smaller BOGO or just stay with the status quo? It is time for the BDA to do their jobs and make a BIG SPLASH of their own to counter these clowns NOW and end this thing.

I guess one could argue that BDA hasn't had to make much effort to thwart any HD-DVD actions so why should they now?

[SamInNorthCakalakey]

is that he videos himself saying stuff that he could have just written in his blog. Anybody who wants to see his own talking head, spewing his own verbiage, on his own website is aces with me.

Originally Posted by Amel

swanni

is half man half amazing

he runs his own company with only one employee, himself

he is the president, the ceo, the manager, the writer, the secretary, the cleaning person, the designer.....

[Amel]

people who buy a 98 dollar toshiba are the same people who still have a 25 inch CRT in their living rooms...but I think its a great deal for toshiba, HDDVD and especially for us the consumer,

if prices continue to drop, bluray will be forced to do the same, so I'm all for it, let it happen and give me some great deals

[slaizer2000]

If a blu-ray player came out for 99 dollars many blu-ray supported would be saying $99 nail in HD-DVD coffin. It's amazing how defensive some blu-ray supporters get when alot of the stuff coming out of this website is anti-HD-DVd and is similar in content to what HD-DVD supporters say.

Only real difference is most blu-ray supporters state facts when HD-DVD supporters state rumors or mis-information.

I am 100% blu-ray supporter and hopefully the war will be over soon. But seriously grow some thicker skin and just believe in the format you are supporting. Alot of the name bashing I read in here is at times funny but at times is just childish.

[br85]

Originally Posted by Spankey

Not that you could give any possible explanation as to why.

PiP of course. I went to the movies last night to see saw 4 and to my horror, it featured NO PiP. I yelled out at the top of my lungs, "HEY! WHERE'S THE PICTURE IN PICTURE? YOU'RE NOT SCREENING A BLU-RAY VERSION OF THIS MOVIE, ARE YOU?" I WANT MY MONEY BACK!"

L.M.A.O

[SNAP]

Except that most of the public doesnt know that Blu is better........HighDef of either format is a very small piece of the pie right now.........I'll say it again.....they're gonna buy what's cheapest figuring HIGH DEF is High Def so I'll just buy the cheapest of the 2. They dont know about format wars or studio preferences....They want cheap, just like the $30 DVD players you can get now. These are the people that think a $70 upscaling DVD player is HighDef. A friend of mine said that to me and I almost died laughing. I'm sure he'll be calling me about the $98 Toshi any minute now.

Originally Posted by JYD59

The type of crowd that is interested in High Def is a) generally more knowledgable than typical consumers, and b) more upscale as well.

So why would someone pay $200 for a cheap HD-DVD player that can never do as much as Blu-ray can, and also have fewer titles to play, on a Home Theatre system with a 1080p set that generally costs almost 10x more than the player?

Its like when Mercedes-Benz introduced a more affordable model years ago...it tanked, and the existing customer base sharply criticized Mercedes for cheapening the brand.

[E-Dogg]

The article is total speculation and I couldn't disagree more. Blu-Ray has continued to pound the competition even with our playes costing significantly more and that won't change. With the $399 PS3 coming out packed with Spiderman that will only help our cause.

[BigB88]

Originally Posted by Paladin

You shouldn't really say things like that, other wise you could end up looking like a fool.

Zune and Xbox can sell at a loss, as once a person buys those items are are stuck buying things from MS that will make up from the loss. (Zune Market place and Xbox games.)

What incentive does all the CE companies have for selling at a loss? They don't get a cut of the disk sales, there isn't a subscription service that they can charge people monthly for? For them selling at a loss is not an option. Toshiba can sell at a loss and hope to make it back in Royalties.

Paladin

Well you were doing fine, getting your A and all, this is an F. Do you really think all these CE companies sell at a loss? Sorry, they don't, most of this h/w is manufactured overseas with cheap labor. If you take all the components used in these units and the labor it takes to make them and the packaging, marketing, shipping costs, etc., I can gurantee you that a $499 Blu-ray player is OVERPRICED, they are not even close to selling these at a loss and in fact are making substantial profit on each unit. In addition, are you so naive in thinking some of these CE manufacturers don't have skin in the game even AFTER the sale. Sorry, F for you.

[BigB88]

Originally Posted by thrlride

I guess one could argue that BDA hasn't had to make much effort to thwart any HD-DVD actions so why should they now?

Because of these CHEAP Players! That has been my point for like ions now.

[Paladin]

Originally Posted by BigB88

They are not trying to "catch-up", they are trying to survive and keep going. HD-DVD was never there to overcome Blu-ray, it is now only trying to survive and we can see this by the prices of some of their crappy players.

This is where you are wrong. All the studios aren't interested in two HD formats. There can be only one winner, and they have to catch-up or they will die. WB has dropped a major hint, if HD DVD doesn't start selling they will become Blu Ray exclusive, after that HD DVD will die.

This is Toshiba's last grasp. Here is the kicker, they can move a ton of these units, but if the buyers don't start buying HD DVD disks (or more importantly WB HD DVD disks) they will loose anyway.

Paladin

[maximus2323]

It's intresting to see Warner news making headlines very recently. Warner maybe taking a side. Then a sudden about face. One day it's about Blu-Ray and the next is HD-DVD.

[thrlride]

Originally Posted by BigB88

Because of these CHEAP Players! That has been my point for like ions now.

I totally agree with you, I was offering my opinion on what they may be thinking.

[cawgijoe]

I thought about it for one split second because I love deals.....then reality set in:

1) I don't want a 1080i player.
2) I don't want to confuse the family any more then it already is..."ok kids...the red one goes in this player and the blue one goes in this one...and you need to push this button on the receiver and this one on the TV....."
3) I don't want to prolong the war. I want Blu-Ray to win.
4) The only thing on HD-DUD that intersts me is the Bourne movies and any future Star Trek movies.

I'll pass.

[SNAP]

Toshiba says they'll give you $100,000 if you do + 10free movies.

Originally Posted by Living Near Shamu

Hehehe. All the stores here still have them in stock but i'm not buying one, lol.

[MacDaddyOJack]

maybe we should all buy one, hold on to it until tomorrow when the price goes back up, and then return it! I'm really not worried about some crappy 1080i players hitting the market!

[zipbags]

One thing about these cheaper Walmart players. The people buying them are the same ones who love to get Disney movies. And that might be a problem when they are not available for their player.

[tru2blu707]

sony is not making any money off hardware sales...the money making is in software. but they cant just drop the prices of there hardware to ridiculously low prices because there are other companies out there that make money ONLY on hardware. toshiba on the other hand is the only company making hddvd players so they can lower the price of players down to nothing if they wanted. we as consumers dont really have any kind of inside involvement concerning blu ray player prices. what we CAN do during this CRITICAL 4th quarter is SPEND our hard earn cash on blu ray. wether it be hardware or software if we want blu ray to prevail all we can do now is BUY movies. when push comes to shove(and right now its at deathmatch if youre not awake yet) we need to stand strong behind the superior format that will take us another 10+ years of enjoyment. we banded together and kicked the crap out of HDDVD when transformers released...we can do it again this 4th quarter when it REALLY counts....push has come to shove...lets stay tru to blu

[domerdel]

$99 bucks to go neutral if you can't wait for exclusive HD-DVDs to go to blu-ray in time

These A2 players were limited stock to begin with (Speaking on behalf of BB stores). I can't say the same for Wally-mart.

[Jim L]

Toshiba looks like they won't go quietly. They want to keep the DVD gravy train going or replace it with the HD DVD gravy train.

At this point they have no way to win this, NONE.

They harder they fight, the more they kill the market for a new hi-def format.

This will screw all the other CE companies, anger the studios and play everything into Microsoft's hands. I have to say that the one who is really interested in quality for the consumer is the Blu-ray side. Both the Microsoft and Toshiba vision of hi-def and home theater is half-assed.


Sometimes I wonder if this is what Toshiba had in mind all along.