So I just read over at the "other" site this quote:

[JonasK]

Originally Posted by Shadowself

Actually this has been a major point put forth by the HD DVD side. They have almost continuously claimed that their players are less costly than the Blu-ray players. I seriously doubt you can go to any blatantly (and some not blatantly) pro HD DVD site on the 'net and fail to find posts claiming one of the major benefits of going with HD DVD is that their players are less expensive.

HD DVD players are cheaper to buy, but they are hardly less expensive to manufacture. Have you ever seen Toshiba, or the HD DVD promotional group, claimed that the players are much cheaper to manufacture? It's just ignorant people making the wrong conclusion.

Toshiba's G1 and G2 players have a PC architecture that are more expensive than the SoC architecture that almost all Blu-ray players have used. The Toshiba G3 players are using a SoC architecture, so the only major difference between them and the latest Blu-ray players are some components in the optical drive, which hardly differ by more than a few $10, assuming the same volumes. With the volumes of the Blu-ray drive being 10 times as large as for HD DVD drives, I would guess that Blu-ray players are actually cheaper to manufacture today than HD DVD players.

[The Guardian]

So do they get away with such low prices because there's only one manufacturer (no collusion) or does it actually cause there to be only one manufacturer (nobody else wants to take the loss)?

Or a little of both?

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by JonasK

Toshiba's G1 and G2 players have a PC architecture that are more expensive than the SoC architecture that almost all Blu-ray players have used. The Toshiba G3 players are using a SoC architecture, so the only major difference between them and the latest Blu-ray players are some components in the optical drive, which hardly differ by more than a few $10, assuming the same volumes. With the volumes of the Blu-ray drive being 10 times as large as for HD DVD drives, I would guess that Blu-ray players are actually cheaper to manufacture today than HD DVD players.

HDi is said to require a minimum 900MHz CPU (the A1/A2 used a 2.2Ghz processor).

I concur the price differences for the drives are now minimal. But, that CPU cost may still be a factor for the HD DVD G3 players.

Gary

[Shadowself]

Originally Posted by JonasK

HD DVD players are cheaper to buy, but they are hardly less expensive to manufacture. Have you ever seen Toshiba, or the HD DVD promotional group, claimed that the players are much cheaper to manufacture? It's just ignorant people making the wrong conclusion.

Toshiba's G1 and G2 players have a PC architecture that are more expensive than the SoC architecture that almost all Blu-ray players have used. The Toshiba G3 players are using a SoC architecture, so the only major difference between them and the latest Blu-ray players are some components in the optical drive, which hardly differ by more than a few $10, assuming the same volumes. With the volumes of the Blu-ray drive being 10 times as large as for HD DVD drives, I would guess that Blu-ray players are actually cheaper to manufacture today than HD DVD players.

Maybe I was not clear enough. I wanted to stay away from the "cheaper" adjective. What I meant was that the HD DVD team truly has been claiming that their players cost less for the consumer to purchase. They have pushed it as a reason for people to support HD DVD. I never intended anyone to read what I wrote as my stating the HD DVD supporters claimed their systems were less costly to build. (Although I'm 100% certain I've read that a few times too. )

Originally Posted by The Guardian

So do they get away with such low prices because there's only one manufacturer (no collusion) or does it actually cause there to be only one manufacturer (nobody else wants to take the loss)?

Or a little of both?

A little of both.