Posted by Lloyd Parsons on 11/16/07 01:16

In article <Wn6%i.4677$OJ.2170@trndny06>,
Derek Janssen <ejanss1@nospam.verizon.net> wrote:

> Lloyd Parsons wrote:
>
> > In article <dQ5%i.8388$WM.3704@trndny05>,
> > Derek Janssen <ejanss1@nospam.verizon.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> >>Lloyd Parsons wrote:
> >>
> >>>In article
> >>><054ea034-7277-4b9e-98b2-e8387ab4a510@f3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com>,
> >>> ninphan <sjburke73@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>As long as both remain supported, niche is as good as it gets.
> >>>>
> >>>>Throwing support behind the format most likely to succeed is my MO, as
> >>>>that's the only way one will be successful and all content will stand
> >>>>a chance of being released.
> >>>>
> >>>>One format CAN become mainstream. It is very unlikely to be HD DVD as
> >>>>North America is the only place it's still holding on. The number of
> >>>>different CE's making standalone players is about to double within the
> >>>>next 6-8 months as well.
> >>>
> >>>That is your read, and I respect that.
> >>>
> >>>Mine is that I see no way that BD can win in the short term, say within
> >>>a year. The pricing is way too high to become the next big thing, imo.
> >>>There has to be at least one BD player that is at or near the impulse
> >>>buy price. Today that just isn't there, and not even close to it.
> >>
> >>Basically, the reaction to "I don't see anything happening" is
> >>"Oh, big man..."--
> >>Seeing as most of the electronics companies and dual studios like Warner
> >>are weighing everything on 4Q sales and the CES '08. Say what you like,
> >>it's THEIR ritual, and it's what they're going with.
> >>
> >>As noted, the brief "Look, cheap players!" gambit didn't pan out for HD
> >>hearts-and-minds acceptance *quite* as hoped earlier this month (they wanted
> >>dopey anonymous consumers, and they GOT dopey anonymous consumers, who don't
> >>know how the product's supposed to work)--And if there's "no mainstream
> >>acceptance"
> >>for Blu, there's even less for HD as we speak...Better to reign in
> >>niche-hell than
> >>junk in the mainstream.
> >>Most companies today are openly ready to go with the "leader", but don't
> >>want to
> >>stand up and have the spotlight glaring on them before the end of the
> >>year Ritual,
> >>when it's "acceptable".
> >>If that's not today, it's certainly on the calendar, and "shutting up
> >>the whiners"
> >>has become more a matter of counting the minutes than simply holding out
> >>"false hopes".
> >>(And believe me, we're counting with every POST.) 9_9
> >>We know what WE'RE waiting for, what are you?
> >>
> >>Lloyd wrote in the next post:
> >>
> >>>Yeah, right, I'll believe it when I see it...
> >>
> >>Okay: Black Friday's in November, and CES'08's in January this year,
> >>IIRC. That way you don't have to wait too long. Would be nicer if it
> >>WAS today, the better to slap war-whiners with, but Time Is What Keeps
> >>Everything From Happening At Once.
> >>The real consumer push this year is for HDTV, but guess which two
> >>products will be getting the press coverage.
> >>
> >>Derek Janssen (like every modern war, it'll be covered on CNN.)
> >>ejanss1@verizon.net
> >
> >
> > The 3 day sale was wildly successful, 90k+ units sold of just the A2
> > model.
> >
> > How successful it will be in the longer term will be defined in how the
> > software sells, and how many more they sell at the upcoming $99 sales
> > that are sure to come.
>
> Although, as the Blu camp points out, you can sell players for $99 and
> not make a profit--Particularly when you LOSE your profit margin on
> every $199 player sold below its manufacturing cost.
>
Kind of like what Sony is doing with every PS3 sale?

Toshiba makes money on every HDDVD disc sold, so taking a loss on the
HW, or at least taking a loss on a discontinued player and entry level
at that, makes at least as much sense as Sony taking a drubbing on the
PS3.

BTW, I helped Sony the other day. I bought a PS3.

> "But the movies will come to the rescue!"...Unfortunately, that was
> Mistake #2 of hoping that Regular Dopes Would Save Them:
> The dope who can't tell HD players apart from Blu apparently has also
> been having trouble telling Red-case movies apart from Blue-case ones,
> and returning their Spiderman 3 disks as "defective".
>
A minority of buyers.

IMO, all the spiderman movies are defective! That's the reason I bought
the 80 gig PS3, didn't want a Spiderman movie in my house. Movies that
suck, still suck in hidef you know...

> Fortunately, this hasn't been *as* much of a problem as yet, as most of
> the sales I've seen have been from bargain shoppers who thought they
> were just buying a "magic" DVD player that would turn all their standard
> DVD's in to hi-def on their 4:3 sets.
> (That, or the dual-format mercenaries who intentionally just wanted a
> cheap upscaler for the spare room. And, reportedly, not a very good one.)
>
It does a better job on upconverting SD than does the entry level Sony
S300. Actually does a better job than most BD players.

> Also, with new marketing pushes (and most hardcore sports fans already
> owning a HDTV set), after a year of dragging their heels, Sony and
> Disney have now hit on the wildly inspiration of actually ADVERTISING
> their product, in a manner such as to actually educate the consumer what
> the product is supposed to do.
> The idea being, that people who actually buy the product because they
> *want* to, and know what the product actually does, may avoid many of
> the problems HD should be encountering over the next few months. :)
>
> Derek Janssen (so, the War has come down to Smart People vs. Dopes...And
> while dopes may be parted with their money, they're not brand-loyal)
> ejanss1@verizon.net

Yeah, and all those that buy into either format are going to be thrilled
with firmware upgrades that will be and are coming out for the units.
While it isn't a big deal to most geeks, J6P expects his new player to
not need constant 'fixing' to keep working.

Strangely, HDDVD players out there don't seem to have as many issues
when users don't do the FW upgrade as do most BD players.

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