HD DVD has a secret weapon

PFC5 · 06-19-2007, 05:06 PM

Thanks to Buford_Pusser for this story buried in another thread:

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40162

Quote:

Column Toshiba drops a bomb
By Martin Lynch: Thursday 07 June 2007, 13:33

* CORRECTION We should have written: "Figures from March estimate that Sony shipped 5.5 million consoles by March, but has only sold over three million of them." Apologies. ACCORDING to the CEO of Walt Disney, Robert Iger, there is no high-def format war outside of the US.
In his own words: "If you look across the globe, the only place there is really a format war is in the United States. In other markets where next-gen DVD is starting to penetrate, Blu-ray is winning, and substantially; so much so there isn’t even a perceived format war."
Do you hear that Europe? There is no war! Go back to sleep! Everything will be just fine! The US is taking care of it. You have only friendly fire to fear. But seriously, it’s a silly thing to say when you consider that HD DVD players and PS3s now share space in the same stores. In fact according to ERT Weekly, most UK electrical retailers - over 60 per cent - prefer HD DVD to Blu-ray.
Now, if Iger had said that the war outside the US right now is just a little – but fierce – conflagration, he’d have hit the nail right on the head. Especially in the UK.
I remember when DVDs started kicking off: lots of "oohing" and "aahing" over the quality and benefits, followed by a small number of outrageously priced DVD players and then, finally, the appearance of some DVDs to rent down the local video store. Not many, but enough for people to go: "Oi, what the hell are they?" It was only then, at that last bit, that DVDs were actually on anyone’s radar. Over the space of a year, the tiny DVD shelf in the corner – next to the smut – grew to a couple of shelves and then a wall. Pretty soon, it was 50/50 and soon after that the VHS death-knell was sounded when "Special Offer" baskets crammed with VHS tapes started taking up space all over the store. A decade on and you can hardly buy a video, never mind a video tape.
We are still at the Expensive Hardware bit of the high-def curve because my local DVD club has no high-def movies to rent. Oh, it will sell you a PS3 and a cheap high-def telly but there’s no movies to rent. Until they are, high-def is for boffins only.
We also have the added complexity of two rival high-def formats which is going to delay any great consumer rush. HD DVD is the underdog at the moment. Considering all the Blu-ray marketing and megaphone hype, many people could be forgiven for not knowing that’s there’s another format out there. The Blu-ray camp is winning the media war. Also, cramming a Blu-ray drive into the PS3 was a stroke of genius, even if it did jack up the price considerably and allows rival consoles - the Wii, Xbox 360 and even the PS2 - to trounce it on the sales front. As a result though, the Sony-led camp have created a Blu-ray market of millions of users. Sales figures from March estimate that the PS3 has sold 5.5 million units. That’s a nice start to any new format’s potential customer base. Toshiba and others will have to sell an awful lot of dedicated HD DVD players to get anywhere close and, of course, that that’s not going to happen.

But then, out of the blue, Toshiba pulls a fast one and if, successful, will catapult HD DVD back into the race. According to Toshiba senior vice president, Hisatsugu Nonaka, from 2008 every Toshiba laptop will sport a HD DVD drive as standard. Talk about setting the cat among the pigeons. This is a bold statement and a bold move.
Some of you might think: "Big deal, it’s just one laptop vendor" and that’s true, but then you have to look at the numbers. IDC estimated that Toshiba sold 9.2 million laptops in 2006. Assuming Toshiba sales increase even slightly, then there’s going to be the possibility of 10 million HD DVD players out there by the end of 2008, or sometime in the early part 2009.

If you consider that Acer also offers some HD DVD-enabled notebooks – and could easily do something like Toshiba if the price was right – HD DVD is not just suddenly back in the game but also, leading the charge.
Of course, there is a caveat to all of this. One of the reasons that the PS3 is not selling as fast as Sony wants, or needs, is because of that high price tag, courtesy of that Blu-ray drive. If Toshiba wants to make HD DVD the standard, it’s going to have to do it by controlling the cost of adding a HD DVD drive to its laptops. It will probably mean sucking up a loss just to flood the market.
With HD DVD back in the game, there’s some nice competition ahead and lower prices on the way for players and movies although, I can’t help feeling that some would have liked HD DVD [or Blu-ray] to die off sooner rather than later. I know I’d like to see a clear winner. After all, at the end of the day, consumers are still faced with two rival formats and I for one will not be buying either until one of them croaks, or there’s a cheap dual-format player. This is me not holding my breath.

Lee Stewart · 06-19-2007, 05:20 PM

It is an interesting article i will give you that. And just having my A$$ handed to me (rightfully so

) I have to look at this from all sides . . . carefully.

So Instead of offerring my opinion, I would like to ask some questions:

1. How many people connect their laptop to their main display and use it as a movie player?

2. My laptop only has VGA for the output. Will these new laptops have an HDMI output port?

3. Are we going to be flooded with a barrage of first time posters starting threads like, "help me connect my laptop to my HDTV."

There are 10 million Xbox 360's installed yet the sales of the Add On have not reached 300,000 yet - and I always thought that the 360 AO was "the secret weapon" that HD DVD held in the war.

It could boost HD DVD rental and sales a bit - maybe a substantial "bit" as people travel with laptops so they can bring the movies to watch on the airplanes - see it all the time - do it myslef when I fly.

SOBAY310 · 06-19-2007, 05:39 PM

But then aren't you limited to watching the HD DVD's on the laptop?

Edited because I just saw Lee expressed this point in his post.

**bruceames** · 06-19-2007, 05:41 PM

Thanks for the link, PFC5. Let's see if these laptops have a decent attach rate and sell well, but it gives me hope in these uncertain times. I wonder about the Blu-ray laptops that would be selling during that time?

Dirtydog · 06-19-2007, 05:53 PM

I wish one would fold soon, like you I don't want to put the money out either, I could see $250 for an HD player but $700-$1000 for a Blu-Ray, come on, it at least better come with a reach around for that price.

SOBAY310 · 06-19-2007, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dirtydog

I wish one would fold soon

Me too, I wish one way or another it ends so we can start building our new collections with 100% confidence.

LordGamer · 06-19-2007, 06:00 PM

HD DVD fanboys better not go "gah-gah" over this. Good move by Toshiba and no question it will help some, but it's not going to have a major impact. As much as the "only a small percentage of PS3 users care about BR" gets thrown around, don't expect the business or college class to jump up and down over playing an HD movie on a 15" screen.

Buford_Pusser · 06-19-2007, 06:14 PM

LG... same with the BB news, that's only a rental factor for some loations.

Guys I thought you knew about that one, so here is another one, if you know about this one... sorry...

The date looks kind of recent so... maybe some of you haven't seen it..

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/11/h...at-the-moment/

Lee Stewart · 06-19-2007, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LordGamer

HD DVD fanboys better not go "gah-gah" over this. Good move by Toshiba and no question it will help some, but it's not going to have a major impact. As much as the "only a small percentage of PS3 users care about BR" gets thrown around, don't expect the business or college class to jump up and down over playing an HD movie on a 15" screen.

Well I can tell you that high end notebooks are mostly purchased by Big Business for executives and Marketing/Sales staff. Many do travel and when they do - they watch movies on the plane.

So in 2008 we will have 800,000 laptops per month being purchased mainly by business's for their employee's use . . . .

And guess who just gave away their ability to rent HD DVD's at 1450 of their stores . . . .

You betch ya . . . Blockbuster.

**bruceames** · 06-19-2007, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LordGamer

HD DVD fanboys better not go "gah-gah" over this. Good move by Toshiba and no question it will help some, but it's not going to have a major impact. As much as the "only a small percentage of PS3 users care about BR" gets thrown around, don't expect the business or college class to jump up and down over playing an HD movie on a 15" screen.

15 inches is a small screen indeed for HD, however it can be fully appreciated since one's face is probably within the 2:1 distance to screen size ratio (which would be 30" of course). Furthermore laptops are often connected to an external moniter/HDTV and it's not rocket science.

Buford_Pusser · 06-19-2007, 06:28 PM

Because of that.. BB may change it's policy for those certain stores.

With that news from the above article I provided... it makes me wonder if that is the reason why Sony dropped it's player to 499? Think about it....
It was 1000 last week... suddenly... half price, everywhere, and correct me if I'm wrong. It doesn't look like a sale.
Since they're equal in price now for the 1080p players, it will drop the push for sales reps to try to sell the consumer the blue ray player because of commissions they were getting when the blue ray was 1000.
When HD DVD hits Walmart this Xmas for 200, added with the laptop news, HD DVD will be here to stay.
Both formats will co exist... by way of THD disk
My opinion anyway....

junehhan · 06-19-2007, 07:05 PM

2008 may be too late in my opinion. However, this war ain't over and the fat lady has not even begun to start singing yet.

samcan07 · 06-19-2007, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by junehhan

2008 may be too late in my opinion. However, this war ain't over and the fat lady has not even begun to start singing yet.

I thought I heard her in the shower this morning!!!

Buford_Pusser · 06-19-2007, 07:17 PM

Not at all... most people didn't bust a move yet, I'm talking the majority of the mainstream world, they still have regular DVD... plus from the above article I provided....
May closed with HD DVD doing very well. Again my opinion that this is why BR dropped to half price. Could be a desperation move. Funny their price dropped in half at the same time the Blockbuster news came out. Seems like they could have paid someone off at BB and dropped their player to half price at the same time.
Just seems like they fight dirty ... like when they pissed a lot of people off when they claimed the war over some time back, which made a lot of people go HD DVD. That claim did not go over too well.
Now that I think of it... this info along with the poor PS3 sales makes me think Blue Ray may be in trouble.

Lee Stewart · 06-19-2007, 07:21 PM

Buford:

You do know that the BD player that just began streeting yesterday is the new BDP-S300 and is made by Sony (in Japan) as opposed to the BS-P1 which was made for Sony by Pioneer.

The S300 was supposed to street for $599 but the pressure that HD DVD has been applying caused Sony to drop the MSRP by $100 6 weeks before it even saw the light of day.

06-19-2007, 05:20 PM	#2
Lee Stewart Muscle Cars Forever! Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Albuquerque, NM Posts: 35,092	It is an interesting article i will give you that. And just having my A$$ handed to me (rightfully so ) I have to look at this from all sides . . . carefully. So Instead of offerring my opinion, I would like to ask some questions: 1. How many people connect their laptop to their main display and use it as a movie player? 2. My laptop only has VGA for the output. Will these new laptops have an HDMI output port? 3. Are we going to be flooded with a barrage of first time posters starting threads like, "help me connect my laptop to my HDTV." There are 10 million Xbox 360's installed yet the sales of the Add On have not reached 300,000 yet - and I always thought that the 360 AO was "the secret weapon" that HD DVD held in the war. It could boost HD DVD rental and sales a bit - maybe a substantial "bit" as people travel with laptops so they can bring the movies to watch on the airplanes - see it all the time - do it myslef when I fly. Last edited by Lee Stewart; 06-19-2007 at 05:28 PM.

06-19-2007, 05:41 PM	#4
bruceames Super Moderator Join Date: May 2006 Location: Novato, CA Posts: 15,343	Thanks for the link, PFC5. Let's see if these laptops have a decent attach rate and sell well, but it gives me hope in these uncertain times. I wonder about the Blu-ray laptops that would be selling during that time? __________________ RIP Kosty.

06-19-2007, 06:28 PM	#11
Buford_Pusser Authentic DVD below! Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 198	Because of that.. BB may change it's policy for those certain stores. With that news from the above article I provided... it makes me wonder if that is the reason why Sony dropped it's player to 499? Think about it.... It was 1000 last week... suddenly... half price, everywhere, and correct me if I'm wrong. It doesn't look like a sale. Since they're equal in price now for the 1080p players, it will drop the push for sales reps to try to sell the consumer the blue ray player because of commissions they were getting when the blue ray was 1000. When HD DVD hits Walmart this Xmas for 200, added with the laptop news, HD DVD will be here to stay. Both formats will co exist... by way of THD disk My opinion anyway.... Last edited by Buford_Pusser; 06-19-2007 at 06:34 PM.

06-19-2007, 07:05 PM	#12
junehhan High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Homer, Alaska Posts: 6,125	2008 may be too late in my opinion. However, this war ain't over and the fat lady has not even begun to start singing yet. __________________ X360 Gamertag junehhan Microsoft X360 -Vizio BDP -Bose Accoustimass 5.1 channel system Downtown Homer Rotary Club member Personal and Business Banker, Wells Fargo Homer Alaska.

06-19-2007, 07:17 PM	#14
Buford_Pusser Authentic DVD below! Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 198	Not at all... most people didn't bust a move yet, I'm talking the majority of the mainstream world, they still have regular DVD... plus from the above article I provided.... May closed with HD DVD doing very well. Again my opinion that this is why BR dropped to half price. Could be a desperation move. Funny their price dropped in half at the same time the Blockbuster news came out. Seems like they could have paid someone off at BB and dropped their player to half price at the same time. Just seems like they fight dirty ... like when they pissed a lot of people off when they claimed the war over some time back, which made a lot of people go HD DVD. That claim did not go over too well. Now that I think of it... this info along with the poor PS3 sales makes me think Blue Ray may be in trouble. Last edited by Buford_Pusser; 06-19-2007 at 07:19 PM.

06-19-2007, 05:39 PM	#3
SOBAY310 Simmer Down Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Redondo Beach, CA Posts: 8,685	But then aren't you limited to watching the HD DVD's on the laptop? Edited because I just saw Lee expressed this point in his post.

06-19-2007, 05:53 PM	#5
Dirtydog High Def Padonkadonk Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Bucks County PA Age: 34 Posts: 34	I wish one would fold soon, like you I don't want to put the money out either, I could see $250 for an HD player but $700-$1000 for a Blu-Ray, come on, it at least better come with a reach around for that price.

06-19-2007, 06:00 PM	#7
LordGamer Lord of Gaming Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 1,796	HD DVD fanboys better not go "gah-gah" over this. Good move by Toshiba and no question it will help some, but it's not going to have a major impact. As much as the "only a small percentage of PS3 users care about BR" gets thrown around, don't expect the business or college class to jump up and down over playing an HD movie on a 15" screen.

06-19-2007, 06:14 PM	#8
Buford_Pusser Authentic DVD below! Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 198	LG... same with the BB news, that's only a rental factor for some loations. Guys I thought you knew about that one, so here is another one, if you know about this one... sorry... The date looks kind of recent so... maybe some of you haven't seen it.. http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/11/h...at-the-moment/

06-19-2007, 07:21 PM	#15
Lee Stewart Muscle Cars Forever! Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Albuquerque, NM Posts: 35,092	Buford: You do know that the BD player that just began streeting yesterday is the new BDP-S300 and is made by Sony (in Japan) as opposed to the BS-P1 which was made for Sony by Pioneer. The S300 was supposed to street for $599 but the pressure that HD DVD has been applying caused Sony to drop the MSRP by $100 6 weeks before it even saw the light of day.

Similar Threads to HD DVD has a secret weapon
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Marlowe Celebrates the 4th with a Blast From the Past: INDEPENDENCE DAY (Fox)	Peter Marlowe	Blu-Ray Movie Reviews and Software discussion	7	07-06-2009 10:07 PM
Why I think HD DVD will win, and why Bluray sucks.	HD VHS	High Definition Media	243	05-11-2008 09:57 PM
300 on blu-ray stomps it's hdd counterpart	Semp1	High Definition Media	616	01-05-2008 02:12 PM
51GB HD-DVD discs not compatible with current hardware	quexos	High Definition Media	108	11-18-2007 02:55 PM
Scenario of how HD DVD wins format war quickly!	unotis	HD DVD Players and Discs	172	10-02-2007 05:02 AM
Peace possible?	dontknowjack	High Definition Media	16	07-22-2007 06:41 PM