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Posted by Allan on 01/11/45 11:36
http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6296810.html
HD DVD players undercut Blu-ray
CES: Toshiba sets one model at just $500
By Scott Hettrick 1/4/2006
JAN. 5 | HD DVD players will be available in March at prices as low as
$500, beating Blu-ray Disc players to the market by several months and
less than half the cost.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Toshiba
America Consumer Products announced its first two HD DVD
high-definition models--players only, not recorders--will start
shipping in March at prices of $500 and $800.
The prices are much lower than many had predicted and clearly sends a
signal that the HD DVD camp, which has built its next-generation
format on the base of the existing DVD and therefore has lower
development and manufacturing costs, plans to try to beat the entirely
new Blu-ray format on aggressive low pricing.
New Blu-ray Disc player models announced Wednesday by Pioneer
Electronics USA and to be announced Thursday by Samsung are priced
two-to-three times as high at $1,800 and about $1,000, respectively.
The Toshiba players will be backward compatible, allowing the play of
standard DVDs, and will connect to HDTV sets via the High Definition
Multimedia Interface, allowing a picture resolution display of either
720p or 1080i for HD DVDs and upconverted standard DVDs.
Toshiba will launch a retail road tour demo targeting the Top 38 TV
viewing markets in the U.S. beginning in February.
The company also will support the launch with an extensive ad campaign
titled, "So real you can feel it.
Meanwhile, Pioneer announced a Blu-ray Disc player model schedule to
arrive in June that will deliver 1920x1080p output, the highest level
of high-definition, as well as the same HDMI connections. It also
offers IP network capabilities for integration with home network
systems such as Windows Media Connect.
Samsung plans to ship its Blu-ray Disc player in early spring for sale
shortly thereafter, which it claims will be the first Blu-ray player
on the market in the U.S. Like the others, it will play standard DVDs
and CDs in addition to Blu-ray Discs and offers HDMI output and
uncompressed all-digital audio/video interface on a single cable.
Samsung plans to introduce a Blu-ray recorder later this year.
In related news coming out of CES, DEG: The Digital Entertainment
Group, plans to announce Thursday evening that the overall home
entertainment industry suffered a slight decline in 2005, as was first
reported last week by Video Business and DVD Exclusive.
DEGs numbers peg the overall industry at $24.3 billion, with total
consumer spending on DVD alone up 7.5% from 2004 to $22.8 billion
($16.3 billion on DVD sales, up 5%, and $6.5 billion on rental, up
14%). VB and DVDX put the increase on DVD alone at more than 9%.
Shipments of DVD software rose less than 10% from 2004 to 1.657
billion units, according to figures compiled by Kaplan, Swicker &
Simha on behalf of DEG.
On the hardware side, based on data from the Consumer Electronics
Assn., DEG reports 37 million DVD players sold to U.S. consumers in
2005, nearly half of those in the fourth quarter alone. That raises
the number of DVD players sold since the inception of the format to
164 million in 82 million homes.
An estimated 89 million homes, more than 80% of all U.S. TV
households, have DVD capability when factoring in computers and
videogame consoles.
"Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker's game
because they almost always turn out to be -- or to be indistinguishable from
-- self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time."
- Neil Stephenson, _Cryptonomicon_
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