Just In $199.00 Hddvd Player For Q4

[jw]

FULL ARTICLE IN VB
http://www.videobusiness.com/article....html?nid=2705


BUT EVEN WAL-MART DONT WANT THEM!!!

[JaysDomain]

yeah, they suck though, hopefully they dont end up in wal-marts or will hurt BR.

[Jack Torrance]

Best quote in that article:

Hitting a new HD DVD hardware pricing low could be what tips on-the-fence consumers to embrace the high-def format. But many retailers, including Wal-Mart, Ultimate Electronics and Bjorn’s, say they are not committed to carrying the Venturer player, preferring instead to underscore products from bigger brand companies.

"We have no plans to have Venturer in our stores this holiday,” Wal-Mart merchandise spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien said. “We will continue to offer the best values on popular HD DVD and Blu-ray products from leading consumer brands like Sony, Samsung, Philips, Toshiba and RCA.”


And I wonder if they do carry a low cost player... what will it be? The Funai blu-ray player?

[jw]

Originally Posted by Jack Torrance

Best quote in that article:

Hitting a new HD DVD hardware pricing low could be what tips on-the-fence consumers to embrace the high-def format. But many retailers, including Wal-Mart, Ultimate Electronics and Bjorn’s, say they are not committed to carrying the Venturer player, preferring instead to underscore products from bigger brand companies.

"We have no plans to have Venturer in our stores this holiday,” Wal-Mart merchandise spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien said. “We will continue to offer the best values on popular HD DVD and Blu-ray products from leading consumer brands like Sony, Samsung, Philips, Toshiba and RCA.”


And I wonder if they do carry a low cost player... what will it be? The Funai blu-ray player?

i think maybe Wal-Mart has other plans

[jctash]

they alreay stock the sony bd player by me for 488 and they sell quickly

[dialog_gvf]

Some retailers, such as Value Electronics, are already rallying around the Venturer player. Value president Robert Zohn said he is ordering 1,000 to 1,200 units, and he expects he could start selling them as early as October.

Zohn believes that $199 will be the right carrot to dangle in front of hesitant customers. When Value slashed Toshiba’s entry-level model to $199 in a promotion, the chain sold 400 units within 30 hours and had to prematurely shut the sale down.

“When it gets to a certain price point, the thing takes off like a rocket,” said Zohn, who prefers the HD DVD format over Blu-ray. “That price point moves an enormous amount of HD players.”

Gotta admit, he's serving his masters well.

I think he's said the same thing about every carrot so far. The $199 A2s of course were left overs from EMA where weren't enough $99 takers.

Gary

[MatrixS2000]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

Gotta admit, he's serving his masters well.

I think he's said the same thing about every carrot so far. The $199 A2s of course were left overs from EMA where weren't enough $99 takers.

Gary

No way will a piece of crap $199 dollar player find it's way into my electronics rack!

[hyperdine]

Yawn...

People have to be interested in the format before they decide to buy into it. A cheap, non-brand player isn't going to magically make people want the content that's available for it. The biggest challenge right now isn't price...it's making people actually want it. The demand has to be there and HD-DVD just doesn't have it. I may be going out on a limb here, and I don't mean to stereotype, but I think people with families tend to be more cost-conscious. What do families typically like when it comes to movies and the products they buy? They like brands they can trust...

Blu-Ray = Disney
Blu-Ray = Fox
Blu-Ray = PS3
etc...

[supersix4]

hahaha mine either ... who would want that im sure the specs look like crap I doubt dts-true HD would stamp there name on that

[supersix4]

its pretty sad when you can buy the last 9 episodes of the sopranos for only 70$ less than a player lol...

[Proteus]

Do they really believe that anyone who is so financially strapped that a couple hundred dollars is going to make a difference to them is going to blow hundreds on buying HDDVD's??

Seriously... people who buy sub $200 players are probably not your largest base for purchasing discs. Oh wait... they might not have a choice since no one rents HDDVDs!

[Wiz13688]

Originally Posted by Proteus

Do they really believe that anyone who is so financially strapped that a couple hundred dollars is going to make a difference to them is going to blow hundreds on buying HDDVD's??

Seriously... people who buy sub $200 players are probably not your largest base for purchasing discs. Oh wait... they might not have a choice since no one rents HDDVDs!

So true. They forget that as a prerequisite for any high defination DVD player is a HDTV and for people that have shelled out $1000 to $5000 for a HDTV, A couple hundred dollars difference is not going to matter as long as they get the movies they wanted.

[KingDeezie]

This could really make things pretty hairy actually...

I mean think about it, the players are only 199.00. That is what some people are paying for upconverting DVD players.

Even if they marketed this thing as an upconverting DVD player, and trojan horsed the HD-DVD playing capabilties into it, it could severly hurt Bluray...

I understand that this is a crappy brand name that no one knows, but will that stop a mass load of people from buying one?

All J6P who walks into a TV store buying a new HD television needs to see is Transformers on HD-DVD free with purchase of Venturer HD-DVD player. 199.99!!

What about, The Bourne Ultimatum on HD-DVD free with HD-DVD player!! 199.99!!!

After paying a brick load for a television, is it so far fetched to think that the average idiot wouldn't buy one of these because it offers a nice picture and an even better price??


If this thing hits the market at that price point, its going to underscore the cheapest standalone BR player by a serious amount.

If HD-DVD sells a million of these players, we are in some serious shit...

the average person cares little about quality...

[supersix4]

lol when did transformers turn into one of the all time greatest movies thats worth buying a player for LOL you've got to be kidding

[Wiz13688]

Originally Posted by KingDeezie

This could really make things pretty hairy actually...

I mean think about it, the players are only 199.00. That is what some people are paying for upconverting DVD players.

Even if they marketed this thing as an upconverting DVD player, and trojan horsed the HD-DVD playing capabilties into it, it could severly hurt Bluray...

I understand that this is a crappy brand name that no one knows, but will that stop a mass load of people from buying one?

All J6P who walks into a TV store buying a new HD television needs to see is Transformers on HD-DVD free with purchase of Venturer HD-DVD player. 199.99!!

What about, The Bourne Ultimatum on HD-DVD free with HD-DVD player!! 199.99!!!

After paying a brick load for a television, is it so far fetched to think that the average idiot wouldn't buy one of these because it offers a nice picture and an even better price??


If this thing hits the market at that price point, its going to underscore the cheapest standalone BR player by a serious amount.

If HD-DVD sells a million of these players, we are in some serious shit...

the average person cares little about quality...

Transformer won't make it out in time for X'mas, neither will Bourne Ultimatum. But Spiderman 3, Pirates 3 and Live free or Die hard will make it out for X'mas so no worries.

[MrVorhees]

PLEASE!!! a high definition player wich can not even play high definition 1080P???? and no 24p ???? Thats sad!! really sad, cause its a NEW player, not a old one of 2006.

HD DVD venturer clearly 0/5 stars, not even price can help it to get 1 star!

you better spend your 200 bucks on a new DVD player, you sure will have a better player, it can at least upscale DVDs to 1080P

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by KingDeezie

If HD-DVD sells a million of these players, we are in some serious shit...

the average person cares little about quality...

Then why would a million of them buy this?

It seems people expect some absolutely perfect blend of stupidity, cheapness, a massive desire (1 million is massive) beyond DVD, but not really.

Gary

[WickyWoo]

They can't buy what they can't find

And those people all go to WalMart

That's always been the key to killing HD DVD, just getting B&Ms to drop it.

And there's no way they can even manufacture a million. 250,000 would even be pushing it

Transformer won't make it out in time for X'mas, neither will Bourne Ultimatum. But Spiderman 3, Pirates 3 and Live free or Die hard will make it out for X'mas so no worries

Both will be out before Christmas.

[gvortex7]

I think that ultimately for a format to be clearly the winning one has to have affordable software content. In this case relatively inexpensive movies. I don't care how cheap an HD DVD player or even a Blu-ray player can be, if the damn movies cost $25 to $40 retail.

It's the price of movies themselves that have to go down in the long run for any of these formats to survive.

[MatrixS2000]

Originally Posted by KingDeezie

I mean think about it, the players are only 199.00. That is what some people are paying for upconverting DVD players.

Then they find out they need a HDTV.

Then that their current HDTV does not support HDMI audio.

Then they find out that some of the HD DVD titles cost more the BR, so the savings are wiped out anyway....

It's going to cost some $ to enter the true HD experience...the player is the cheapest part.