Toshiba lowers HD sales forcast for the US market.
Toshiba, one of the low cost leaders in the HD DVD market, has announced it will drop its sales forecast for the US HD market from 1.8 million to 1 million. No estimate of global sales has been forthcoming but Toshiba admitted it would be lower as well.
These cuts are at odds with claims from the HD DVD Promotion Group (PG) that the company's "latest promotional efforts are clearly resonating with consumers and showing that price is king when it comes to hardware"
This does not bode well for the HD market especially considering recent Toshiba price cuts and the plans to include HD drives in a larger share of their laptops. Those who follow this market are well aware of the lack of enthusiasm in the US market and problems interesting the consumer who is already in the midst of figuring out the transition to HD TV in the next 18 months. With progressive scan players already selling well below $100, HD has a long way to go before it is the first choice. As with any new hardware, the software drives the purchase, and in this case, there are just not enough HD discs to drive the purchase.
Submitted by: GristyMcFisty
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By
pete4 (guest),
Thursday 14 June 2007 15:54
In next 18 months US will transition from analog to all digital broadcast, not HDTV, meaning that everything will be digital by then but SDTV most likely will still be predominant video format. All Toshiba needs to do is to outsell Sony's BR and with PS3 sales way behind expectations, 1 million players may be good enough. Also with DVD players being almost 10 times less expensive (least expensive HD-DVD player $250, least expensive DVD player about $30) no wonder many people stay with DVD especially that no one knows who will win the war and if Sony was going to win, HD-DVD players would be obsolete. That BR players are even more expensive than HD-DVD and without PS3, BR would be dead already that's another story.
By
Mia (guest),
Friday 15 June 2007 03:24
"Toshiba, one of the low cost leaders in the HD DVD market"
Leader of who? Who else is selling standalone HD DVD players? Don't count LG since there's no "HD DVD" logo on their combo players.
By
Dolphinius_Rex (guest),
Friday 15 June 2007 11:03
That's why it's so easy for Toshiba to be a leader... since they're a one man team, they can be both the best on the team and the worst on the team.
Seriously though, you would have thought Toshiba would have paid attention to all those times that Sony attempted to start their own format without the support of other manufacturers. It almost never works, and in the case of a format war, I don't see any way a single manufacturer can win against the rest of the Consumer Electronics industry.
By
BurnMaster (guest),
Friday 15 June 2007 11:08
Thing is with all this take up business, is you're not likely to go HD (either format) unless you've got the HD TV to go with it. The vast majority of HD sets are still not true HD, i.e. 1920 x 1080 (0r whatever the highest HD res is), but that is changing. So perhaps those a bit more in the know are like me, holding on for a 42" 50" type display that runs 1080ip at a sensible price, once that's in place, then it'll be time to look at an HD player, and by that time maybe the 'war' will have been won.
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