Thoughts from someone who just returned an HD DVD player

[reiella]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

I suspect it would be dumping.

At $199 SRP, the wholesale price would need to be around $150 or less. And with a $40 - $50 royalty cost in each box, I think it would be difficult to have a profitable HD disc player at $150 wholesale.

Drive: $50
SoC: $20
Misc: $60 (DRAM, case, power supply, HDMI chip, etc.)
Royalties: $40
--------------
Cost: $170

We haven't heard a peep about the Chinese HD DVD players since CES. And the CES announcement said they'd be here by now.

Like Thomson (RCA) and the HD-A1, you have to wonder if Toshiba's aggressive pricing has made it unprofitable to enter the HD DVD arena?

Gary

Also, on the notes there regarding the Toshiba units, haven't there been reports that Toshiba more or less 'forcing' stores to eat a loss on selling the HD-DVD players if they want to stock their other products?