$300 Hi-Def DVD

I'm seeing ads for Toshiba Hi-Def DVD players selling for $299. - Does
this signify a general softening of the HD-DVD market in general, or
just a local phenomena? If so, what's the cheapest BR these days? Or am
I misinterpreting the ads.

Jim

Jim,

just my 2 cents.....

I bought my Toshiba about 9 months ago for 50 bucks more. Toshiba has since
brought out a newer, cheaper model which is the one you see for $299.

The phenomena is just the normal pattern in marketing high tech consumer
products....the first ones for early adopters skim the market, followed by
newer, cheaper, and often better updated versions. HD-DVD is working
aggressively to leave BluRay in the dust (in my opinion) and is using
pricing as a powerful tool to encourage sales and gain market share. BluRay
/ Sony does, after all, offer a Playstation 3 with BluRay playback for $600
which includes a powerful game console, so Toshiba is responding with an
even cheaper alternative.

Smarty


"JimC" wrote in message
t...
I'm seeing ads for Toshiba Hi-Def DVD players selling for $299. - Does
this signify a general softening of the HD-DVD market in general, or just
a local phenomena? If so, what's the cheapest BR these days? Or am I
misinterpreting the ads.

Jim

In article ,
JimC wrote:

I'm seeing ads for Toshiba Hi-Def DVD players selling for $299. - Does
this signify a general softening of the HD-DVD market in general, or
just a local phenomena? If so, what's the cheapest BR these days? Or am
I misinterpreting the ads.

Jim

It is for the HD-DVD format, and it does appear that the prices are
starting down again.

In BluRay, the cheapest way in with a current generation is the PS3 at
about $599. The BluRay that is selling for $499 is 1st generation, as
is the Sony BluRay that is $599. IMO, the best way into BluRay is the
PS3.

Smarty wrote:

Jim,

just my 2 cents.....

I bought my Toshiba about 9 months ago for 50 bucks more. Toshiba has since
brought out a newer, cheaper model which is the one you see for $299.

The phenomena is just the normal pattern in marketing high tech consumer
products....the first ones for early adopters skim the market, followed by
newer, cheaper, and often better updated versions. HD-DVD is working
aggressively to leave BluRay in the dust (in my opinion) and is using
pricing as a powerful tool to encourage sales and gain market share. BluRay
/ Sony does, after all, offer a Playstation 3 with BluRay playback for $600
which includes a powerful game console, so Toshiba is responding with an
even cheaper alternative.

Smarty


Thanks. Apparently you are pleased with your Toshiba purchased 9 months
ago. How about the software selections? I'm still waiting to see how the
HD- BR competition falls out and still looking for HDMI 1.3 audio, but
if prices keep falling, it wouldn't cost a lot to get one of each.

Jim








"JimC" wrote in message
t...

I'm seeing ads for Toshiba Hi-Def DVD players selling for $299. - Does
this signify a general softening of the HD-DVD market in general, or just
a local phenomena? If so, what's the cheapest BR these days? Or am I
misinterpreting the ads.

Jim

In article ,
JimC wrote:

Smarty wrote:

Jim,

just my 2 cents.....

I bought my Toshiba about 9 months ago for 50 bucks more. Toshiba has since
brought out a newer, cheaper model which is the one you see for $299.

The phenomena is just the normal pattern in marketing high tech consumer
products....the first ones for early adopters skim the market, followed by
newer, cheaper, and often better updated versions. HD-DVD is working
aggressively to leave BluRay in the dust (in my opinion) and is using
pricing as a powerful tool to encourage sales and gain market share. BluRay
/ Sony does, after all, offer a Playstation 3 with BluRay playback for $600
which includes a powerful game console, so Toshiba is responding with an
even cheaper alternative.

Smarty


Thanks. Apparently you are pleased with your Toshiba purchased 9 months
ago. How about the software selections? I'm still waiting to see how the
HD- BR competition falls out and still looking for HDMI 1.3 audio, but
if prices keep falling, it wouldn't cost a lot to get one of each.

Jim

Keep watching the HiDef space as things are definitely on the move.

In HD-DVD, Toshiba is doing lots to move the entry to the $299 mark and
will be taking discounts on the other 2 models also. Some think there
will be even further price erosion by the holidays.

In Blu-Ray, here are some facts and some conjecture :

Panasonic has a 2nd Generation player that should be shipping next
month. Retail $599 with 5 movies you probably would buy right in the
box. One major fault, imo, is the lack of ethernet to make firmware
updates easy.

Sony is under pressure to reduce the cost of the PS3, conjecture is that
either this summer, or no later than the holiday shopping time, it will
drop at least $100, maybe even $200.

Assuming that is true, then pressure will be on to reduce costs on the
Samsung stuff also.

Dual-Format :

Currently only LG has one and it isn't getting rave reviews, mostly
because it doesn't meet full HD-DVD standards.

But, Samsung has announced a new one coming late this year.
Guesstimates are that it will be about $800.

As to content, well the total count is very nearly equal, but there are
differences. A good way to get a feel for what is there is to look at
Blockbuster online, go to find movies and look at 'collections', subbed
in there is the listings for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray rental offerings.

Lastly, there is the Chinese players that are in the offing. Lots of
rumors and conjecture, but these could very well tumble the BR and
HD-DVD player pricing if history is any indicator.

Generally speaking, do all HD/Blu-Ray players up-rez standard def DVDs?


Lloyd Parsons wrote:
In article ,
JimC wrote:


Smarty wrote:


Jim,

just my 2 cents.....

I bought my Toshiba about 9 months ago for 50 bucks more. Toshiba has since
brought out a newer, cheaper model which is the one you see for $299.

The phenomena is just the normal pattern in marketing high tech consumer
products....the first ones for early adopters skim the market, followed by
newer, cheaper, and often better updated versions. HD-DVD is working
aggressively to leave BluRay in the dust (in my opinion) and is using
pricing as a powerful tool to encourage sales and gain market share. BluRay
/ Sony does, after all, offer a Playstation 3 with BluRay playback for $600
which includes a powerful game console, so Toshiba is responding with an
even cheaper alternative.

Smarty


Thanks. Apparently you are pleased with your Toshiba purchased 9 months
ago. How about the software selections? I'm still waiting to see how the
HD- BR competition falls out and still looking for HDMI 1.3 audio, but
if prices keep falling, it wouldn't cost a lot to get one of each.

Jim


Keep watching the HiDef space as things are definitely on the move.

In HD-DVD, Toshiba is doing lots to move the entry to the $299 mark and
will be taking discounts on the other 2 models also. Some think there
will be even further price erosion by the holidays.

In Blu-Ray, here are some facts and some conjecture :

Panasonic has a 2nd Generation player that should be shipping next
month. Retail $599 with 5 movies you probably would buy right in the
box. One major fault, imo, is the lack of ethernet to make firmware
updates easy.

Sony is under pressure to reduce the cost of the PS3, conjecture is that
either this summer, or no later than the holiday shopping time, it will
drop at least $100, maybe even $200.

Assuming that is true, then pressure will be on to reduce costs on the
Samsung stuff also.

Dual-Format :

Currently only LG has one and it isn't getting rave reviews, mostly
because it doesn't meet full HD-DVD standards.

But, Samsung has announced a new one coming late this year.
Guesstimates are that it will be about $800.

As to content, well the total count is very nearly equal, but there are
differences. A good way to get a feel for what is there is to look at
Blockbuster online, go to find movies and look at 'collections', subbed
in there is the listings for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray rental offerings.

Lastly, there is the Chinese players that are in the offing. Lots of
rumors and conjecture, but these could very well tumble the BR and
HD-DVD player pricing if history is any indicator.

In article k.net,
Randell Tarin wrote:

Generally speaking, do all HD/Blu-Ray players up-rez standard def DVDs?


Yes, but only through the HDMI connector. And the quality of the
playback with standard DVDs has been an issue. The 1st generation
players didn't do a very good job at all.

The best that do up-rezzing are the PS3 and the Samsung BD-P1200 @$599
and $799 respectively. Actually the PS3 needs the Bluetooth remote, so
add $25 for it...

HD-DVD players all do up-rezzing quite well. I have the HD-A2 from
Toshiba that is their entry level, 2nd generation and it does a
wonderful job. The quality of the up-rez is better than my Sony
up-rezzing standard changer, by a long shot.

In article ,
Lloyd Parsons wrote:

In article ,
JimC wrote:

I'm seeing ads for Toshiba Hi-Def DVD players selling for $299. - Does
this signify a general softening of the HD-DVD market in general, or
just a local phenomena? If so, what's the cheapest BR these days? Or am
I misinterpreting the ads.

Jim

It is for the HD-DVD format, and it does appear that the prices are
starting down again.

In BluRay, the cheapest way in with a current generation is the PS3 at
about $599. The BluRay that is selling for $499 is 1st generation, as
is the Sony BluRay that is $599. IMO, the best way into BluRay is the
PS3.

Correction, the Sony BluRay is on sale for $799, not $599...

Lloyd Parsons wrote:

In article k.net,
Randell Tarin wrote:


Generally speaking, do all HD/Blu-Ray players up-rez standard def DVDs?



Yes, but only through the HDMI connector. And the quality of the
playback with standard DVDs has been an issue. The 1st generation
players didn't do a very good job at all.

The best that do up-rezzing are the PS3 and the Samsung BD-P1200 @$599
and $799 respectively. Actually the PS3 needs the Bluetooth remote, so
add $25 for it...

HD-DVD players all do up-rezzing quite well. I have the HD-A2 from
Toshiba that is their entry level, 2nd generation and it does a
wonderful job. The quality of the up-rez is better than my Sony
up-rezzing standard changer, by a long shot.

HD sounds like the way to go for me. I have a large standard-def DVD
collection. It's likely that future purchases would be in HD provided
that the titles I want are available in HD and not just Blu-ray.

I'm leary about buying now because I was the one who invested
heavily in the superior Sony Betamax format years ago.

We all know how that ended.

In article . net,
Randell Tarin wrote:

Lloyd Parsons wrote:

In article k.net,
Randell Tarin wrote:


Generally speaking, do all HD/Blu-Ray players up-rez standard def DVDs?



Yes, but only through the HDMI connector. And the quality of the
playback with standard DVDs has been an issue. The 1st generation
players didn't do a very good job at all.

The best that do up-rezzing are the PS3 and the Samsung BD-P1200 @$599
and $799 respectively. Actually the PS3 needs the Bluetooth remote, so
add $25 for it...

HD-DVD players all do up-rezzing quite well. I have the HD-A2 from
Toshiba that is their entry level, 2nd generation and it does a
wonderful job. The quality of the up-rez is better than my Sony
up-rezzing standard changer, by a long shot.

HD sounds like the way to go for me. I have a large standard-def DVD
collection. It's likely that future purchases would be in HD provided
that the titles I want are available in HD and not just Blu-ray.

I'm leary about buying now because I was the one who invested
heavily in the superior Sony Betamax format years ago.

We all know how that ended.

I can only speak for me, but here how I was thinking when I decided to
go HD-DVD vice BluRay. After looking over both formats, I found that
there were plenty of titles on both that I would want to see, which
meant that unless I wanted to buy both, I would have to be satisfied
with standard DVDs for those titles not carried by whichever format I
went with.

I found that both offered plenty of titles of things I would rent/buy.
So then it came down to :

1. Is the standard set? In the case of HD-DVD it is. BluRay not quite
yet. There is a standard that all of the BluRay machines mfg'd after
10/31/2007 have to meet, but in the meantime, they can and do not offer
all of it. Most of those changes seem to center around added
capability, but the unanswered question is will newer BluRay disks, with
the added features still work on older players? I have not been able to
find a definitive source to answer that question.

This seems to make the PS3 the most sensible BluRay player in that it is
better suited to have add-ons made for it, or at least that's my
thinking.

2. Price! Let's face it, we all work (in my case worked) hard for our
money. With my 61" 1080i TV, the entry level Toshiba HD-A2 @$299 with
10 movies just suited me to a 'T'.