HD-DVD IS really desperate

[tiger roach]

One thing we seem to forget about in these discussions about the ultra-cheap HD-DVD players:

Most homes still do not have an HDTV.

So no matter how cheap the players get, there is still a quite limited target market for these for this holiday season. I only just recently got into HDTV myself, and hey, I'm me!

I imagine most TVs sold from here on out will be HD, so future holiday seasons will see more and more sales of HD players, but by then Blu will be the only game in town hopefully.




That said, I am worried myself about HD-DVD getting a big boost from this ploy...

[Go Blu]

Originally Posted by SS316SRV

Toshiba is not recouping anything. They are losing a whole bunch of money. Do you really think that is costs less that $98 dollars to build these machines, pay the employees making them, and ship them? All this fire sale is doing is getting these pieces of crap off of Toshiba's books.

Lets not forget materials, set-up, manufacturing, distribution, packaging, advertising & storage. They are not making a dime!

Then they have to cover the cost of all those free movies on top of that.

I'd say they have to virtually give them away to get them into consumers hands. Which is exactly what they are doing.

[gamer4eva]

i mean its an awesome deal 99 for a HD player ne1 would buy it but ppl don't realise it doesnt do 1080p it only does 1080i and ppl who buy it will be customers who are unaware of the format war therefore will think dat they can watch all blu-ray and hd-dud movies

HD-DUD just pisses me off with its cheap tactics like M$

[Blubaru]

Originally Posted by GregBlu5

More than two decades ago, it was the same thing in the battle between RCA Videodisk and Pioneer laserdisc. I didn't know squat, so I see this RCA CED player, and you also got a couple of free disks with your purchase, and--of course--the price of the CED player had just *conveeeniently* dropped to that magical under $300 (or was it under $200?) price range. So I bit.

Unfortunately, one of my first disk purchases was defective (Star Trek: The Wrath of Kahn); and I also realized that CED/Videodisk meant: fancy record player--at the very time that CDs were just starting to replace vinyl records. Not too long after that, I stumbled upon laserdisc and quickly switched. I was content for a number of years until DVD came onto the scene.

Of course, too, I had those 40 or so CED Videodisks that I lugged around, along with the player, for any number of years because those titles weren't available on laserdisc. As I mentioned elsewhere, about a decade ago, I finally set the RCA player and the leftover disks by a dumpster and someone picked them up--there's always a demand, it seems, for trash.

I refuse, after all these years, to again get suckered into buying an inferior product just because a few titles are only (for now) available in a dying format. (DUD owners are just going to have to face the fact that, eventually, and likely sooner than later, they will face the time when they will have to place those $98 marvels, and their remaining DUD disks by some dumpster somewhere and move over to Blu.)

(I believe the only moribund format that I never bought into over the decades--besides DUD--was 4-track tapes back in the 60's--but I sure had 8-track tapes.)

-Greg

lol I remember CED. Video Vinyl I used to call it

[thrlride]

Originally Posted by gamer4eva

i mean its an awesome deal 99 for a HD player ne1 would buy it but ppl don't realise it doesnt do 1080p it only does 1080i and ppl who buy it will be customers who are unaware of the format war therefore will think dat they can watch all blu-ray and hd-dud movies

HD-DUD just pisses me off with its cheap tactics like M$

It's a smart tactic to get players in homes. This war is dirty, anything either company can do is fair game. The BOGO and this are on the same level IMO.

[MOONPHASE]

Originally Posted by gamer4eva

i mean its an awesome deal 99 for a HD player ne1 would buy it but ppl don't realise it doesnt do 1080p it only does 1080i and ppl who buy it will be customers who are unaware of the format war therefore will think dat they can watch all blu-ray and hd-dud movies

HD-DUD just pisses me off with its cheap tactics like M$

well M$ just basically thinks that people would be dumb enough to buy it and besides $100 playing any HD movie in this day and age for a player you know there is something wrong with that image but like i said people who just want a HD player will buy the cheapest player they can find no matter how cheap the quality is

[Go Blu]

Also remember that most of us in here are used to seeing 1080p.
We are spoiled by it.

BUT if you going from CRT to 720/1080i flat screen it looks amazing!

So inexpensive players are a perfect match for inexpensive tv's.

[GregBlu5]

When I began to do my research on which HDTV to buy and where to buy it, from last spring forward, I at least knew the difference between 720p and 1080i and 1080p, and was only looking for 1080p. However, even knowing what I was looking for, I was in a Target--among the many stores I visited, just to get the lay of the land--and began looking at all their HDTVs. I have to admit that, even though I knew I was looking for 1080p HDTVs, I had to read some *very fine* print to eventually discover that NONE of the TVs in Target were better than 720p!

So, sadly, for the average consumer, who doesn't even know about 720p vs 1080p, they've got a tough time of it if they aren't sufficiently informed.

-Greg

[scook]

Originally Posted by Xerious

will it blend?

Nice I like it.

[dobyblue]

This will not get a lot of people into the format war because there are only 50,000 A2 players left.

[Amel]

those are still great prices

[Go Blu]

50,000 too many

[jdsanko]

Originally Posted by Bullseye

Unfortunately our faiths in this format war maybe held in the hands of everyday consumers who know little or nothing about 1080i or 1080p or PCM for that matter. All they are seeing is a $99 sign, "Oh cool thats a cheap HD-DVD player everyone has been talking about". I really think the BDA have to counter this with something. It does not have to be equally cheap players but something to get people who have not bought into the format war yet to buy into BD. That is what Toshiba are doing now.

How many movies at $30.00 do you think folks motivated by $98 player are really going to buy. The bottom line is unless these folks are willing to spend the bucks on software, selling the hardware won't make a difference.

[SNAP]

We may think we're stepping back but the general public thinks they're stepping up from SD to HD w/this player. They're not as techno as we are and as I've said before they only care about price. GMA had a spot this morning for Walmart w/the woman in the commercial saying she's buying her husband a Toshiba HD plyer for XMAS at this great price.

Originally Posted by Go Blu

Also remember that most of us in here are used to seeing 1080p.
We are spoiled by it.

BUT if you going from CRT to 720/1080i flat screen it looks amazing!

So inexpensive players are a perfect match for inexpensive tv's.

[oscar_in_fw]

If I didn't already have a dual format player, I'd be extremely tempted to pick up one of these (though I wouldn't be willing to get up at 3Am to wait in line). The real question is how many can Wal-mart try to sell at this price ? And how many can they sell at the $200 price point ? How many A2s did Toshiba build for this Holiday season manuever ? Are they just desperately dumping stock or is this a well-planned move to try to woo Warner's into the HD DVD camp ? And what will be the pricing structure on the A2 replacement (A3) ?

$100 HD DVD players and $15.00 HD DVD movies could prompt even the Wal-mart crowd to join the "war".

[thrlride]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

This will not get a lot of people into the format war because there are only 50,000 A2 players left.

Where did this figure come from?

[VindicatorPrime]

I have a feeling it's the retailers that are eating the loss, not Toshiba. It's a fire sale (Wal-mart especially). They need to clear out the shelf and warehouse space. There are opportunity costs associated with items collecting dust in your stores and warehouses. By getting rid of these, they can use that space for more profitable items.

[gamer4eva]

Originally Posted by thrlride

It's a smart tactic to get players in homes. This war is dirty, anything either company can do is fair game. The BOGO and this are on the same level IMO.

but think abt it BOGO at last ppl know what they're getting a BLU-RAY MOVIE, in this one ppl see the price and they go wow thats cheap and they buy it without even getting the full potential of the product

and BOGO is kinda valid HD-DUD always does that they even did one over here when the 2 pirates movies came out over here, and they've been giving 5 movies for free since 4eva i mean ppl only c that they say oh i get 5 movies when i buy this and when i buy a blu-ray player i don't get nething and its expensive so the choice is obvious they go for a crappy product then go neutral after realizing they don't get the movies they want on that format

[vw mofo]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

This will not get a lot of people into the format war because there are only 50,000 A2 players left.

I've seen you post this numerous times. Link please?

[thrlride]

Originally Posted by gamer4eva

but think abt it BOGO at last ppl know what they're getting a BLU-RAY MOVIE, in this one ppl see the price and they go wow thats cheap and they buy it without even getting the full potential of the product

and BOGO is kinda valid HD-DUD always does that they even did one over here when the 2 pirates movies came out over here, and they've been giving 5 movies for free since 4eva i mean ppl only c that they say oh i get 5 movies when i buy this and when i buy a blu-ray player i don't get nething and its expensive so the choice is obvious they go for a crappy product then go neutral after realizing they don't get the movies they want on that format

I don't speak this language. Can someone translate please?