Toshiba Deploys New HD DVD Marketing Initiatives ...

Jimmy Smith · 01-14-2008, 11:12 AM

HD-DVDs new stratagy. More of the same

iDarren · 01-14-2008, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qbfinest83

They should of down this price cut the whole moth of December not now.

Warner hadn't dropped the bomb in December.

Liquidx · 01-14-2008, 11:16 AM

Great prices across the board. Might as well play the price card since it's the main key to mass adoption. Not sure what effect this will have considering the big advantage BD has in the studio area now, but why not play the mass adoption price card at this point?

Believe me, these studios will not turn a blind eye to HD DVD if they suddenly start pushing these players into many, many homes. You'd have to be a fool to ignore that market, assuming Toshiba can actually drive these into a million homes within a short time.

Qbfinest83 · 01-14-2008, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iDarren

Warner hadn't dropped the bomb in December.

Yeah but I dont think that would matter because Warner never signed with them. Nothing is for certain unless you have it written down. business is business. They knew that warner could go blu. At least with the price drop them you would of had the busiest shopping month of the year with a price that is equally to a good upconverter, plus you would of gotten alot of press for selling them at a MSRP 149.00 etc. I mean look how much press they got at Walmart for there $99.00.

Qbfinest83 · 01-14-2008, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liquidx

Great prices across the board. Might as well play the price card since it's the main key to mass adoption. Not sure what effect this will have considering the big advantage BD has in the studio area now, but why not play the mass adoption price card at this point?

Believe me, these studios will not turn a blind eye to HD DVD if they suddenly start pushing these players into many, many homes. You'd have to be a fool to ignore that market, assuming Toshiba can actually drive these into a million homes within a short time.

I think they need to start lower price globally and not just in the USA

iDarren · 01-14-2008, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qbfinest83

I think they need to start lower price globally and not just in the USA

AGREED!

tomes · 01-14-2008, 11:35 AM

I'm expecting the press will use this from two different angles though. Some will say that HDDVD is the best for the consumer, due to good pricing. Others will point at this as a firesale to get rid of their players. Whether it works for Toshiba is anyone's guess - Media and public opinion will matter a lot going forward. If the opinion is that HDDVD is fighting back and has a chance, that's good. If they think that it is desperation and HDDVD is doomed, it will be.

Liquidx · 01-14-2008, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomes

I'm expecting the press will use this from two different angles though. Some will say that HDDVD is the best for the consumer, due to good pricing. Others will point at this as a firesale to get rid of their players. Whether it works for Toshiba is anyone's guess - Media and public opinion will matter a lot going forward. If the opinion is that HDDVD is fighting back and has a chance, that's good. If they think that it is desperation and HDDVD is doomed, it will be.

Very true and I see what you mean, but IMO, perception is more of a major player to those who are "in the know" such as we are.

J6P doesn't know anything about perception, he sees good prices. As long as the shelves at retailers remained stocked with HD DVD's, he won't be aware of the factors.

That's my take on it, of course it may not play out that way.

edders · 01-14-2008, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dare

Now they show up.

They were on a "BENDER" after the CES/Warner announcement.

Oh Omnipotent Power, I crack myself up sometimes

crazyal · 01-14-2008, 11:52 AM

They really need Universal and Paramount to come out and say "The future is not Blu for us" to give a little confidence to J6P. I guessing that Toshiba and Uni had a little talk and it might have been agreed that if HD DVD sales continue strong they will stick it out. Clearly if sales dropped off after Warner's decision then they would have just said "nice working with you but...."

I think if Toshiba had did this price drop back in the beggining of November, not a sale here or there, but a real price drop like this then they wouldn't of had to offer Warner anything. The BDA would have been able to counter with anything close while sales of HD DVD players would have been through the roof. If Toshiba could have supplied them we could be looking at 2 million or more SA players in the wild right now. That easily would have pushed software sales in favor of red. Hell even if they lost a $100 on each player and sold an extra 2 million more that's still only $200 million, far less that what it would have taken to get Warner.

Unless this is not too little too late we'll never know.

Dare · 01-14-2008, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevenmh

I'd love to be wrong, but I believe this is too little, too late. Price does not matter when your product isn't attractive. I can get a VHS player real cheap, but I'm not interested. People simply don't want to have two movies players per TV. When there were 3 studios supporting HD DVD, it made people wonder which format to choose. Now that it's down to 2, and rumors of those two going neutral or Blu, it just doesn't make sense for someone to pick HD DVD right now.

It's an unfortunate fact that the consumer has not spoken in this war. It has never been about the consumer. The biggest swings in this war have revolved around companies bribing each other back and forth, and absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with technical merit or consumer interest.

Toshiba should have made these price adjustments on Nov. 1. They should have lit a fire under the studios during 1Q07 when the releases stopped and HD DVD supporters started turning purple. The software promotion should have been 5 in store immediately instead of mail away, so customers could get whatever they wanted and so they would be counted as sales. MS should have bundled a black HD DVD add-on with the Elite, and dropped the price of the AO to $129 on Nov. 1. Maybe, just maybe, this would have created a user base large enough that studios would be forced to make a decision based on the long term outlook of the formats rather than on a backstage bidding war. Some of you point out that Toshiba can't control what MS or the studios do. I agree, and therein lies the problem. Toshiba can't win a format war alone, and they've had some lousy partners on their side.

Toshiba couldn't get their partners to do the things that made sense when HD DVD was holding its own. What makes them think their partners are going to continue to support them after a death blow? Paramount and Universal don't care about the MSRP of the A3, they care about the size of the bag of money that Sony can pass them under the table. Last one to switch might not get a bag.

What Toshiba can do to help ME, one of their supporters through the war, is to bring an affordable 2.0 BD player to market. Prolonging the death spiral isn't helpful.

Excellent post, totally agree. The new marketing push is great, but it won't win the war for them. It'll only keep them in the game for a few more minutes until they can do something serious.

We need that low end dual format player from Toshiba. If everyone wants to go Blu-ray, give them the most compelling Blu-ray player in existence, and use it as a trojan horse to also give everyone HD-DVD. It isn't a victory, but it gives HD-DVD a future.

mobiushky · 01-14-2008, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liquidx

Very true and I see what you mean, but IMO, perception is more of a major player to those who are "in the know" such as we are.

J6P doesn't know anything about perception, he sees good prices. As long as the shelves at retailers remained stocked with HD DVD's, he won't be aware of the factors.

That's my take on it, of course it may not play out that way.

It's going to depend very highly on what J6P hears from the salesboy. The thing is, no matter what, J6P is going to see more BD players stacked next to HD-DVD simply because more companies make BD. So he's going to wonder why there are less. Salesboys are already "steering" away from HD-DVD. The pimple faced kids who work at BB, CC, etc (no offense to them btw) are already "suggesting" BD. I've been told no less than 3 times that BD is probably a better investment (anecdotal, not proof). So now if J6P is at all perceptive, they see a 50% price drop on the brand new players, and might start to question. Might not.

It's going to be very intersting to see where this heads in the next month. Will J6P think HD-DVD is on firesale? Maybe.

cbcdesign · 01-14-2008, 11:58 AM

The trouble is its an expensive investment and in some cases in an obsolete player as far as profiles are concerned.

mobiushky · 01-14-2008, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbcdesign

The trouble is its an expensive investment and in some cases in an obsolete player as far as profiles are concerned.

I'm not convinced J6P even knows what profiles are and for that matter even cares. If he doesn't get that low model HD-DVD is 1080i only, he certainly doesn't get profiles. And I've been hearing rumbling that the entire industry (both blue and red) is having trouble convincing J6P that the "added" features are even worth a darn. A lot of sentiment that Internet connectivity is a waste basically. Not that that's true. But as yet, nothing has really been shown that is "compelling" to J6P that it's worth it. I think it's a tough sell.

Chris Gerhard · 01-14-2008, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by unotis

Very few of the HD DVD supporters on this forum have conceded defeat, we did show concern and a little disgust in the way Warner handled the switch (they lied to everyone up until the day they announced).

Warner lied to nobody. Warner indicated months ago that it was clear that consumers wanted one format only. One of the two was going to go, that seemed clear, only when and who was unclear. All Warner stated was that the company continues to support both formats which was true until it changes and I think Warner handled everything fine.

As far as lower priced HD DVD players and single inventory DVD/HD DVD releases, it won't matter at all. I haven't seen any announcement that a single inventory HD DVD/DVD release sold, if Universal or Paramount ever try that idiotic tactic, will be counted by Neilsen as an HD DVD sold. If most buyers are buying the DVD and not the HD DVD, it looks to me like that is nothing more than a DVD sold at a very low or non-existent profit level. Why would it be counted as an HD DVD, if the consumer didn't buy it for that? HD DVD player prices have always been lower and that hasn't mattered enough to do much and without much HD DVD software, it will matter even less now. This is a way to clear out inventory and then wind down HD DVD is all that can possibly happen and surely even Toshiba realizes that.

Chris

01-14-2008, 11:12 AM	#76
Jimmy Smith 50>30 Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 2,998	HD-DVDs new stratagy. More of the same __________________ Blu-Ray the only high definition disc format

01-14-2008, 11:35 AM	#82
tomes High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 1,416	I'm expecting the press will use this from two different angles though. Some will say that HDDVD is the best for the consumer, due to good pricing. Others will point at this as a firesale to get rid of their players. Whether it works for Toshiba is anyone's guess - Media and public opinion will matter a lot going forward. If the opinion is that HDDVD is fighting back and has a chance, that's good. If they think that it is desperation and HDDVD is doomed, it will be. __________________ The War is OVER!!!!!

01-14-2008, 11:52 AM	#85
crazyal Smarter than the ave bear Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 3,312	They really need Universal and Paramount to come out and say "The future is not Blu for us" to give a little confidence to J6P. I guessing that Toshiba and Uni had a little talk and it might have been agreed that if HD DVD sales continue strong they will stick it out. Clearly if sales dropped off after Warner's decision then they would have just said "nice working with you but...." I think if Toshiba had did this price drop back in the beggining of November, not a sale here or there, but a real price drop like this then they wouldn't of had to offer Warner anything. The BDA would have been able to counter with anything close while sales of HD DVD players would have been through the roof. If Toshiba could have supplied them we could be looking at 2 million or more SA players in the wild right now. That easily would have pushed software sales in favor of red. Hell even if they lost a $100 on each player and sold an extra 2 million more that's still only $200 million, far less that what it would have taken to get Warner. Unless this is not too little too late we'll never know. __________________ Please don't feed the Unicorns

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01-14-2008, 11:16 AM	#78
Liquidx iFanboy Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Boston Posts: 1,245	Great prices across the board. Might as well play the price card since it's the main key to mass adoption. Not sure what effect this will have considering the big advantage BD has in the studio area now, but why not play the mass adoption price card at this point? Believe me, these studios will not turn a blind eye to HD DVD if they suddenly start pushing these players into many, many homes. You'd have to be a fool to ignore that market, assuming Toshiba can actually drive these into a million homes within a short time.

01-14-2008, 11:58 AM	#88
cbcdesign High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: North Somerset, UK Posts: 1,314	The trouble is its an expensive investment and in some cases in an obsolete player as far as profiles are concerned.