Oh noes teh sky is falling!

[Go Blu]

I noticed at Best Buy yesterday that they had in the aisle Two huge pallets of the 1400 and s300 players. Either they are just putting their inventory out or there is a nice sale about to hit. Either way it is a beautiful sight to see so many BR players out.

[yakman]

Originally Posted by jayd

I have been thinking today, with the fire sale last week, and now a below $200 price for HD-DVD, do the BDA need to act, and cut standalone prices to a level where they can compete with the other side. Now I do understand that the A2 is only a 1080i player, inferior model, but it is still a HD-DVD player, and now I believe the A3, which I think is a 1080p player, is below $200, possibly a $149 price tag coming towards xmas. This could be an act of desperation by Toshiba, but it could well, pay off for them.

My fear is this will be enough to keep them alive until the 08 holidays and then they will have $99 players everywhere for the 08 holidays. If that happens I think we're in for dual formats for a long time.

[Sonny]

We would be in horrible shape if they sold BD players for 200$ that would kill Blu-Ray. Just let Toshi kill its self buy doing that!

[jedisinclair]

Originally Posted by yakman

My fear is this will be enough to keep them alive until the 08 holidays and then they will have $99 players everywhere for the 08 holidays. If that happens I think we're in for dual formats for a long time.

Exactly... Fear... which is part of FUD (Fear Uncertainty Doubt)... don't let it get to you.

[badboi]

Not sure if HD-DVD is on a roll, or a quick slide into oblivion. But they do kind of remind me of that proverbial turd that refuses to flush.

[SKRUhddvd]

what good is that $150.00 hddvd player when you look at the available titles. i think if blu ray has a player selling at $300.00 usd and show all the content available most if not all consumers will spend a bit more. toshiba has guaranteed that no ce manufacturer outside of china will find any profit in building, marketing and selling hddvd players.

[mystiksuicide]

A3 I believe is a 1080i player as well. The only way Toshiba can stay in business is by continuing to build 1080i players and hope the consumer isn't smart enough to figure out the difference. (That's a very strong possibility) But as we all know this world revolves on the up one.

As soon as your holiday guest, friends, and neighbors walk the first thing they are going to say is that's not 1080p that not as good as blu.

I must admit I was concerned but after a week and seeing how blu continues to sell both players and movies my concerns have disappeared.

Also lets not forget we have many great minds behind the BDA aka Disney, Sony, Pioneer so on. They know what they are doing

[CptGreedle]

I think if BD players sell at $250-$299, we would be at the sweet spot. People would have to wonder why the HD-DVD players are so cheap, but also still be able to afford a BD player. $300 is not unreasonable, I remember when DVD players cost that much, it was about the same time after its launch as BD is now. If we have a lot of sub $300 players for the holidays, I think a lot of people will be going home with an HDTV and BD player, and maybe a few movies as well.
I am sure that they are going to hit this spot in time for the holidays.

[Bullseye]

Yeah..down hill.

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by SKRUhddvd

what good is that $150.00 hddvd player when you look at the available titles. i think if blu ray has a player selling at $300.00 usd and show all the content available most if not all consumers will spend a bit more. toshiba has guaranteed that no ce manufacturer outside of china will find any profit in building, marketing and selling hddvd players.

Toshi made sure no company including them self would make any $$$$ on hd-dvd

[GaS]

This should be in the "sky is falling" thread.

[Go Blu]

Hakuna matata!
No Worries!

[stockstar1138]

if software sales pick up because of the sale then i think they have a chance at staying alive, only if they are willing to discount players at that same low price. if software sales don't pick up after that firesale, they are done. they bought movie studios, they sold players for cheap, they paid for good advertising. they've given away over a million movies. seriously, what more can they do? who buys cheap players, cheap people and cheap people do not blow 25-30 bucks on a movie. this is what is going to kill them, they used the hardware as a loss leader, but won't sell much software. in order for hd dvd to really be on a roll, they need the software to back up the hardware sales, so i think you might have jumped the gun a bit. toshiba needs to sell software at the same price as dvd, but in order for them to do that, they are looking at never making a profit off hd dvd.

[SpikesBluBlooded]

I am tired of seeing the same thread, basically, pop up over and over again. What I am happy to see, though, is how many educated posters that we have, even the new ones. This has been repeated several times before, but everytime this is brought up, it's worth repeating again: software drives the HD format, without people buying the software, the studios have no incentive to support the format. And the numbers clearly show that this is the case in regards to Blu-ray vs. HD DVD. I'm waiting for the latest Nielson numbers to prove the point, but I think you will see it's business as usual.

Look, the war isn't going to be over for quite some time, but slashing player prices to compete against a company that has a monopoly on their format isn't going to accomplish anything. There's a reason why they're the only manufacturer at this point. If it was even remotely viable to get into the HD DVD market, other manufacturers would have attempted it by now. Toshiba continues to segregate itself with each passing day, operating at a loss from an HD DVD point-of-view, and it reeks of desperation. Prices on Blu-ray players will fall, but not to the level (at least not anytime soon) of Toshiba's. The market will dictate price drops, as more and more new adapters join the fight, and the technology for Blu-ray becomes more proven. Not to mention profile 1.1 and 2.0 players will automatically drive down the prices of previous models.

So sit tight, BREATH, and continue to support Blu-ray through your purchases and word-of-mouth to family and friends. You'd be surprised how very effective that can be...

[atomik kinder]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

I am sure they will drop a bomb for black friday, or soon after.
Ignore the scare tactics and desperate maneuvers of a dying format.
The people who bought one of those players will not miss it, it was cheap and (as the CEO of Paramount said) still up-converts their DVDs.

I am not so sure that will happen, since those sales are planned out months in advance and the ads have been printed up for a while now, so if they had been planning on doing something it would have had to have been planned months ago.

[CptGreedle]

I heard recently that Sony and other companies are planning to get out $399 players, which is a bit more than I'd like to see them at by this stage.
But if they are out that cheap, a few sales can drop the price even more for the holidays. It is not unreasonable to see a $299- sale...
Plus I heard a rumor that there may be a $250 drive coming out soon. I usually don't give rumors like these much credence, but it would make sense to focus on that price range.
Either way we will see what happens when the holiday shopping starts.

Slow and Steady wins the race.

[dobyblue]

The OP does have a point though - Blu-ray has lost one point in YTD market share each of the last two weeks, dropping from 66:34 to 64:36

Hopefully this week and next week's numbers will go back up on the YTD and SI.

[Joe Cain]

Originally Posted by SpikesBluBlooded

I am tired of seeing the same thread, basically, pop up over and over again...

...So sit tight, BREATH, and continue to support Blu-ray through your purchases and word-of-mouth to family and friends. You'd be surprised how very effective that can be...

Everything Spikes said in that post . And if that doesn't reduce your anxiety sufficiently, try avoiding forums for a while. Go for a walk.

[Mikeesracing]

You know we need to get off the price thing, Just because HD-DVD players are cheaper than Blu-ray players doesn't mean HD-DVD will win. If that was the case we would all be driving Yugo's

[GregBlu5]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

I heard recently that Sony and other companies are planning to get out $399 players, which is a bit more than I'd like to see them at by this stage.
But if they are out that cheap, a few sales can drop the price even more for the holidays. It is not unreasonable to see a $299- sale...
Plus I heard a rumor that there may be a $250 drive coming out soon. I usually don't give rumors like these much credence, but it would make sense to focus on that price range.
Either way we will see what happens when the holiday shopping starts.

Slow and Steady wins the race.

This last sentence I certainly agree with, totally.

We still have to recall that only last December were the first Sony Blu-ray players even coming out in any kind of numbers; and they were, what?, $1200 at the very start.

I remember being in the Sony Style store in Denver, and they'd only got one in and that was already pre-sold and out the door before I could even see what it looked like or they could show what it could do. It was many weeks before I even got a gander at one. Even when I was about ready to spring for a Blu player, a Pioneer at Ultimate Electronics was $999, and that was a knockoff.

But very quickly Sony countered with the $499 player, and we got five free disks (and my disks arrived earlier this week, thank you). And that 300 player is closer to $399 these days than $499, depending upon where you shop.

Prices *have* dropped significantly in less than a year, and availabilty is all over the place compared to a year ago.

Sometimes, one has to take a step back and look at the full picture to get the right perspective.

Right now, it no longer matters what the other side does. Everything they have done is on the losing side of strategy. They are being outmaneuvered all the way around, and their actions now speak of total desparation.

Obviously, I count myself upon the side of the Blu Optimists, and really do wonder what the fretting is all about.

-Greg