Toshiba cuts HD player prices in Blu-ray fight

[Will]

From Reuters, Toshiba cuts prices on HD DVD players as low as 149.99 MSRP.  Amazon has the HD-A3 at 132.98.

A last gasp effort on Toshiba's part?  I hope HD survives, as I don't look forward to Sony having a monopoly on a format that is already more expensive than its competition.  Imagine what Blu-Ray would cost if HD were never around.

This is tempting, as my standard DVD player needs replacing.  $130 isn't bad.

Will

[Cheesehead Dave]

It's not as if Blu-Ray will not have any competition at all. It'll still have to compete against regular DVD as it tries to gain penetration. If HD-DVD fades away and the cost of Blu-Ray doesn't drop, people may find that their upscaling DVD players are "good enough" and not bother to upgrade at all.

[gparris]

I really don't buy the Blu-ray and Sony monopoly part.
BD is not all about Sony like HD DVD is all about Toshiba...which it is, BTW (outside of Universal Pictures and Microsoft).
Sony is a big supporter of Blu-ray, but it is not the whole game.
Hate Sony if you will, but they aren't the whole Blu-ray scenario, just a part of it...period:
I really don't understand the hatred and focus on them at all.:confused:

BTW, I just got a HD-A3 for the holidays in late December and got a credit today from BB for the $50 off plus tax with this new pricing:
So it is still a great deal (like "free" with the five free HD DVDs), so I don't care either way with the "format war".

Cheesehead Dave:
You are correct, Blu-ray Disc players will have to drop more in price and that means the DISCS themselves, too, to make DVD - the real competition here - be replaced by high def discs for the future.

[Matt Heebner]

HD DVD can drop the prices all they want because if they cease to exist what good is a HD DVD player  other than a up-convert player. Most forums I've visited, even the HD DVD fanboys have basically thrown in the towel.

Still waiting for this one to settle before I jump on the BR bandwagon. Player prices and disc prices will have to SIGNIFICANTLY come down before I even think about getting one.....

[HDefinicktion]

I agree with Dave...having so many movies on DVD, it is so difficult to justify buying an older movie on BR that I already own.  Even with the BOGO deals all over, I get a few in the shopping cart, but can't pull the trigger.  Those that I have purchased, I have first rented from Blockbuster Online and made sure it was a decent transition.  I was close to getting Full Metal Jacket on HD-DVD around the holidays, but then watched it as a rental, and I truly believe that the DVD is on par with the HD-DVD and thus did not buy it.

[SRW1000]

From Reuters, Toshiba cuts prices on HD DVD players as low as 149.99 MSRP.  Amazon has the HD-A3 at 132.98.

A last gasp effort on Toshiba's part?  I hope HD survives, as I don't look forward to Sony having a monopoly on a format that is already more expensive than its competition.  Imagine what Blu-Ray would cost if HD were never around.

This is tempting, as my standard DVD player needs replacing.  $130 isn't bad.

Will

If you're looking at replacing DVD player anyway, the A3 isn't a bad choice.  It does a pretty good job upscaling, and you get seven free movies with it.  300 and The Bourne Identity are packed right in the box with the player itself, and the other five are through a mail in rebate.

Couple that with a NetFlix or Blockbuster Online account, and you can rent HD DVDs along with regular DVDs at no increase in cost, helping make it a low-risk decision.

I don't think it looks very rosy for HD DVD right now, but there are still some options for them.

I don't have any animosity toward Sony, but I still think that HD DVD was a better long-term proposition for consumers.  The players were/are cheaper, infrastructure and replication costs are lower, and it features both combo discs and twin disc formats that could have been used in regular DVD or HD DVD players, so consumers don't have to buy two versions if they want to view a movie on a portable player or standard DVD player in another room.

In addition, the Blu-ray format has region coding and discs are starting to be encoded with BD+ (which is now part of Macrovision - yuck).

I don't think you'll be disappointed with the A2 if you look at it as a DVD player, which just happens to also play HD DVDs.  Just don't expect a ton of new movies to be coming out on the format unless Universal and Paramount stick with the format.  Even so, there are quite a few really good movies available today, and prices are pretty reasonable when they're on sale.

Scott

[gparris]

HD-DVD player(s) that I have do a much better job of upconverting DVDs than my Panasonic BD player, so its still a win-win for me no matter what happens...still a good buy!

As far as some HD DVDs not looking much better (if at all) than some DVDs, HDefinicktion, you may be right:
Some high def DVDs, like even DVDs, are poorly authoured and do not reflect the best HD DVD can offer.

-Check our forum's section for the link to highdefdigest for the reviews on all high def discs, both HD DVD and Blu-ray before buying or renting
Honestly...it's worth checking it out first.

[SRW1000]

I really don't buy the Blu-ray and Sony monopoly part.
BD is not all about Sony like HD DVD is all about Toshiba...which it is, BTW (outside of Universal Pictures and Microsoft).
Sony is a big supporter of Blu-ray, but it is not the whole game.
Hate Sony if you will, but they aren't the whole Blu-ray scenario, just a part of it...period:
I really don't understand the hatred and focus on them at all.:confused:

I think the reason for this is that of all the Blu-ray players out there, over 85% are PS3s.  Of the remaining 15% of standalone players, about 60% of those are Sony.

While there are other manufacturers involved, Sony is the biggest and has bet the most on the format.  Then look at who owns the replication plants, and who controls one of the studios, and Sony's looms even larger.

The hatred part I don't understand, but I don't understand the hatred people have for Microsoft either.

Scott

[flash]

I paid $99 for my Toshiba A2 HD DVD upconverting player and it has the best picture quality of any DVD player I have ever owned. I've gone through about 5 DVD players over the last few years so for the price (including the 5 free HD DVD's which I am still waiting for) it was still the best deal to replace my dying SD DVD player. If Blu ray wins out...... I may buy one when they drop below $99 and movies drop in price.
I get my HD DVD's via mail from Blockbuster and the difference between them and my upconverted DVD's is not that huge.
I just want the most "cost effective" option out there. :cool:

[Will]

Hate Sony if you will, but they aren't the whole Blu-ray scenario, just a part of it...period:
I really don't understand the hatred and focus on them at all.

They own a music and movie studio, as well as own many of the Blu-Ray patents to collect royalties / licensing fees off of.  Having the movie studio gives them just a wee bit of leverage in this fight.

I don't really hate Sony, I've just gotten the short end of the stick after buying their products a couple times.

For instance, I bought a Sony mp3 player that used Sony's own (crummy) program/ online music store, and only that program, to load music on it.  Two weeks after buying it, they drop support for their own ATRAC format, drop their music store, and make all their new players "plays for sure" and also include WMA support.  And they leave me hanging, with no update to the firmware for my player.  So I'm stuck using a POS program that they no longer support.  Really bad customer support!  Awesome walkman, though.

Let's not forget that Sony loves customers so much, they put trojans on their music CDs.

So some skepticism that Sony will be the best in the end is warranted, I think.  I don't have any vested interest in this, as I don't yet have a player for either format.  But being able to buy a $130 player for a format that might be around for a while would be nice.  As mentioned though, it will make for a nice upconverting standard DVD player.

[jkane]

Tiger Electronics had the A3 for $129 this weekend.  I got an email from them.  By Monday when I was gonna post it in the deals forum, the link said sold out.  It came with 7 DVD's!  Good deal, but now I see why it was there.