HD DVD a lot cheaper - not really

[BigB88]

Originally Posted by erowe83

What people dont realize is the average consumer doesnt know what the hell 1080i or 1080p is. They see the $240 dollar HD-Dvd player next to the $500 dollar Blu-ray player and think wow they are both hd but the Hd-dvd player is half the price.

That is what happens with the average consumer. Obviously judging from the sales numbers it really doesnt matter though.

If they don't know the difference between 1080i and 1080p, how do they even know if they have a display capable of 1080p? The trick here is that BD is price competitive if the consumer has a 1080p display, if not they are no longer price competitive because the 1080i v 1080p differential is moot. I don't think the average consumer worried about a couple of hundred bucks is going to have a 1080p display, hence they would lean towards the cheapest player possible, which at present is HD-DVD. BluRay needs to lower their prices, their player prices are clearly too high. The MSRP of a 1080p capable bluray player is about $499 or more and the PS3 MSRP is $599? How is this possible? Sony's price structure is out of whack.