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Price cuts expected for Blu-ray & HD DVD players

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Price cuts expected for Blu-ray & HD DVD players
Posted by Seán Byrne
Posted on 12/06/07 23:54
Number of views 2945
Price cuts expected for Blu-ray & HD DVD players

For those holding back for HD players to tumble in price, it looks like there is potential for a price war to start between Toshiba and Sony with both expecting to launch lower cost players over the coming few weeks.  While Blu-ray is doing well as a result of the PS3, when it comes to dedicated high definition set-top players, HD DVD account for 60% of this market.  Going by the US HD DVD promotional group, the entry level price for HD DVD players has hit $299 and HD DVD title sales have reached an all time high in May with over 75,000 HD DVD titles sold in the last week of May alone. 

When Toshiba dropped its HD DVD pricing to bring the HD-A2 model down from $499 to $399, its weekly player sales had doubled in April.  A player promotion in May caused another double in its weekly sales, with sales continuing to climb.  So far, over 150,000 dedicated HD DVD consumer players have been sold.  On Amazon, all three Toshiba HD DVD players were among the top 3 selling DVD player/recorders on Monday morning.  Even at this time of writing, the HD-A2 is still at the #1 spot with the highest ranking dedicated Blu-ray player at the #19 spot on this top sellers list.  

Further info can be read in this Smarthouse article.



Next: PS3 copy protection: next on the list?
Previous: PS3 exceeds 1 million sales in PAL regions


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Reactions on this item
When I saw the HD-DVD was going for $299 a couple of weeks ago I checked Sony's website and they had a rebate going on as well. With $200 discount, the blu-ray player was $799.

299...vs 799 ....'nuff said! Not to mention $70 tax on the $500 difference where I live. Money that could be spent on 15 or more HD movies !
This message was edited at: 13-06-2007 04:49
When they get to $299 in my country I may jump in. Until then I'll fence sit..
I want HD DVD to win. HOWEVER, if someone would come out with an x264 player then I'd jump on that. DRM-free is always welcome in the House of Duke.

:)
What about High Definition TV's ?

If the price of these displays doesn't fall then what's the point of buying a cheap HD DVD player ? This is one of the biggest stumbling blocks affecting the adoption of both HD DVD and Blu-ray.
This message was edited at: 14-06-2007 03:53
The price of high definition tv's has been falling fast. Where have you been BitRate?
Yeah, I'm now considering getting one. I think you can get a decent 42" LCD/Plasma for $1,000 USD.
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