Toshiba Launches HD DVD Player Fire Sale

Toshiba apparently doesn't want to go down without a fight and is instead slashing the prices on its HD DVD players. Toshiba's second generation HD-A2 players previously dipped down to the sub-$100 mark during November -- but that was during the traditional holiday buying season and not truly indicative of regular retail pricing.

[antoinetm]

Respect!

[ruibing]

Hardly. Unless they are warning every buyer of the new situation in regards to the format war, they are praying on the ignorance of the consumers and selling them what may ultimately be nothing more than a relic.

[antoinetm]

They are still trying thats what matters.

At least they didn't give us the usual over-optimistic corporate statement:

"Warner's move is seem of little importance to us and this might actually mark the start of HDDVD's domination over the HD storage market."

Try thinking of it as the last fighting scene from "the last samurai"

[Biphter]

You respect a company that is basically offloading all its dud stock on unsuspecting customers? Thats not respectful, thats shameful. I feel sorry for anyone who falls for this. I hope the employees in said shops have the decency to warn the uninformed of WHY they are so cheap.

[Tyrael]

^^^You would too if your business' latest format was about to fail. They have a bottom line to worry about, and though it might not be "fair" to the customer, money is money no?

[Biphter]

But if it was me i'd not want to sell them at all as i'd probably loose more. I can't see Toshiba making any money on this venture. Anyways when you look at it deeper, its quite possible that Toshiba have nothing to do with it, its retail stock thats probably been dropped by the retailers themselves to clear them out. Toshiba has probably made its money already on these units.

[BrianC6234]

I'd say HD DVD has been having a fire sale for the last year. Hopefully the sale ends soon and HD DVD says good night already.

[antoinetm]

Its simple economics, it the price is right considering the value it appears to have in the eye of the customer then it will sell.

If the consumer is dumb... heh...

stop acting like sony is god and toshiba the devil because u were scared to death that bluray would get obsolete.

frickin mob thinking

[gamesblow]

I love when Sony drops Ps3's price to 400 it's out of desperation and a last ditch effort... When Toshiba drops their Hd-dvd players to dirt ass cheap it's all for the good of their consumers. It's a great move. Give it up... you all lost. Deal with it. In 10 years we'll have another one of these and you all can cry all over again.

[wageslave]

"Give it up... you all lost. "

Huh? Who gives a shiat about the MPAA's next DRM-infested disc format? I certainly dont.

Dont get me wrong, I love movies, but this has nothing to do with videogames. And, as has been said a thousand times before me, the next "format" is Digital Download anyway -- so, in short who-gives-a fcuk?

[LastDance]

hahaha ...your as mornonic as they come.

Digital downloads is absolutley near impossible to be the next format dumb A$$. Have fun with your wak as bad pictured movies on a flat screen. Unless you download 1 HD movie a month. Enjoy that;)

be normal

[sfinXters]

DRM infested disc format? Discs are much, much less DRM'd than Digital Downloads. With those your PC/X360/PS3/whatever will be oozing with DRM. At least you can watch discs on any player you want.

[TheExecutive]

Wageslave you are wrong. until fiber optics becomes the norm in households there will always be a disc. The bandwidth on cable internet cannot handle DD without compressing the sh*t out of it. So dont feed us that BS. If you want the best quality HD for the next 10 years YOU WILL HAVE TO GO WITH BLURAY.

Oh and btw. The format war is relevant to gaming. Did you know that the ps2 was the first dvd player for 80% of the buyers... I wonder how many of those people bought it because it was a cheap DVD player and then decided to try a few games here and there?

[M1am1U]

There's a little thing called DOCSIS 3.0 (Wideband) that channel bonds multiple cable downstream channels to allow for incredibly fast download speeds (without the need for fiber to the home, mind you). That will be deployed and a reality this year. It will increase both the availability and usage of DD. Let me pose this question...since the introduction of broadband Internet, how many physical CDs have you purchased? Probably not many. The majority have more than likely been in a digital format. DOCSIS 3.0 will provide the same impact for movies. You'll be able to download an entire HD movie in 4-5 minutes.

[TheExecutive]

Huh... I never heard of DOCSIS 3.0. When will it be available to every home and how much will it cost? An entire uncompressed movie with uncompressed sound in 4-5 minutes? that would be sweet! However, there is still a problem. I want to be able to borrow movies, I want to be able to take movies to my parents house to watch without lugging a 360 around... I want to be able to play my movie in any movie player. How will DD allow me to do this?

[M1am1U]

and valid concerns. DOCSIS 3.0 itself is just an enhancement of broadband cable modem service. It bonds multiple downstream channels together to allow for much higher bandwidth capacity. It won't cost anything more, and will be made available by most cable companies by the end of the year (roughly). I won't dispute there is still the need for discs, and there are legitimate concerns regarding the ability to take your movie and play it where ever you please. I just feel that technology is trending away from physical media, and moving towards digital content. You bring up good points, however, and I respect that. I certainly don't have an answer for everything, but I think what transpires in the next year or so will really help clarify alot of things.

[M1am1U]

double post.

[Ignorant Fanboy]

I get HD 1080i movies on demand, at the press of a button.

Im using a cable thats over 15 years old, still get great picture.

Have you never downloaded HD from Live or PSN?? Did you wait a month for it to download?

[cooke15]

Why should anyone have to pay 300 dollars to watch blu ray movies when they are the same quality as HD DVD for 1/3 the price?

[Makroyale]

Because HD-DVD lost the format war... Your choice is to buy a cheap obsolete HD-DVD player that won't play the latest movies. Or you can reach into your wallet and buy a Blu-ray player or PS3 and know you didn't just flush your money down the toilet.

[cooke15]

Its far from over.

Universal, Paramount, Dreamworks is still a large chunk of the movie industry. Universal being the biggest of all the studios.

[Shadow Flare]

....because HD-DVD's going to die? Thats just the first thing that popped into my mind. Why are you being such a sourpuss? Lemme guess, you've actually bought a HD-DVD player? Thats the second thing that popped into my mind

[Hannah Montana]

quality of a non-existent format - riiight.
Who cares about Universal - Disney is where my show is at, and thats all that matters. Expect to see myself on Blu in 6 months.

[mullet]

Are you on drugs? Failed hope. HD-DVD is already dead.

[cooke15]

Yes i did buy an hd dvd player.. although it was a stolen one i bought for 20 bucks ;) But im not even worried anyways, most of my HD DVDs are combo format, which is the reason why i wanted HD. Why cant blu ray have this?

[Shadow Flare]

HD-DVD combo format....whatever. You're a joke, first you buy into a failing format, but second you bought a STOLEN hd-dvd player? Tch, you really are a loser. Lemme guess, you have a 360 too? Get a job. And a better avatar

[Homicide]

Cause Blu ray has more exclusive studio support. Good luck finding some movies on HD DVD. It's just a matter of time until Paramount and the others go blu.

[paul_war]

Sorry mate, but Warner is generally believed to be best studio with regards to high def releases in 2007.

HD-DVD losing them is a major blow.

When Warner becomes fully exclusive in May & hugh exclusives like Lord of the Rings come out disk sales should easily be 80%+ on blu.

Paramount will activate an escape clause & Universal will not renew their exclusivity contract. I believe that is the ONLY way things will happen. There is 0% chance of any blu studio switching.

[ruibing]

Because the reason why they are 1/3 of the price is not because Toshiba managed to reduce their manufacturing costs so much quicker but rather they need to slash prices to boost up hardware sales to make up for disastrous media sales.

[kunark]

fyi there not 300 dollers i seen some around 225-250 range

[Ital50Stal]

look at all the stupid Sony supporters disagreeing with u Cooke...Its like they are on sonys payroll...if they only see how sad it looks from this end...it is true, hd dvd might have lost but i hope u all know they ARE cheaper to buy and there is NO difference in picture quality...the fact its a sony product, therefore god had a hand in making it, right?

Hd dvd is supported by microsoft, shouldnt all you support a american company rather than japanense? look how bad 360 is doin in japan, they dont care about your products, why are you so faithful to thiers? think about it

[Synex]

Let me guess you're one of those "patriotic" types aren't you? Buying a product from microsoft does not mean you're supporting America, and besides Microsoft is a terrible company. For many reasons over the years I can't stand Microsoft. Also, the Japanese don't buy the 360 because it doesn't have their games (Gran Tursimo, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid 4), they know MS will make another XBox by 2009 so why waste money on a console that will only be around for 3-4 years and they understand quality and I guess 33% failure rate is just unacceptable to them who knows.

P.S. Ever here of SCEA? It gives jobs to Americans..

[cartman313]

It's called quality. Most American products seem to lack that for some reason. Example being American cars.

[TheExecutive]

umm because that extra 200 bucks is a better investment in the long run... that 100 dollar HD-DVD player is about to become a giant paper weight.

[agent864]

Cell - IBM (plus Sony / Toshiba) the chip itself was even sourced in the US initially at least
RS - Nvidia - US
Insomniac - US
Naughty Dog - US

etc ....

All the consoles are mfg in Taiwan/China/Japan ... outside the US

Apple does quite well in Japan, thank you very much, because it makes quality products. The xenophobic stereotype of Japan is just that a stereotype.

[Close_Second]

There's barely a consumer who isn't breathing a sigh of relief that one of the formats looks set to become the one and only standard. I was sitting on the fence until the Warner announcement. Now that HD-DVD has even less studio support I'm all for Blu-Ray.

Really, when you're beat you're beat. Obviously Toshiba has taken one too many knocks to the head so they don't know when to throw in the towel.

[rbanke]

'...this move by toshiba...' are we sure its a move by Toshiba, and not just retailers unloading soon to be worthless merchandise?

[wAtdaFck]

Bluray should slash prices too...

[LoydX-mas]

How much money is made in selling a $49 DVD player? Probabaly next to nothing. Sony knows this. Blu-ray gave them a way to introduce a new high-def format for a high-end price.

Alot of money has gone into product development for Blu-ray and Sony screwed it's other manufacturing partners by having to drop the price of the PS3 twice.

Now that the "war is over" like alot here like to say, then where will the pressure be to lower the price? Remember, Sony itself has constantly said that Blu-ray is a totally new product unlike DVD. So why stop the cashcow now when they can still gouge early adopters with $300-$1000 players and $30-$40 movies?

[millerlite]

Sony will still want to lower the price of Blu-Ray for one reasn: it's in competition with standard DVD players. If Bu-Ray can get sufficient market penetration, then perhaps even your grandmother will want one, but that won't happen if the price is too steep. In that way, you won't even care that Blu-Ray discs don't have DVD format stamped on the other side.

[Whoooop]

wait a second....

They are slashing prices of HDDVD players because they know there still dumb people out there willing to buy an obsolete piece of technology...

and they claim it as Toshiba doesn't want to go down without a fight???

haha I feel sorry for people still willing to buy an HDDVD player.

[cooke15]

You do realize that the players still paly DVDs and can upconvert right? Most upconverter dvd players are that price and this one can play HD DVD too. Sounds like a pretty damn good deal

[Whoooop]

why would I want to play dvd's on a damn HDDVD player...

If people are willing to pay for a High def movie player, I think they might have a dvd player around the house.. Plus you can find dvd players way cheaper........why buy a player which format is dead so you can watch dvd's... not much sense there

Buying an HDDVD right now is a waste of money. simple

edit: below

haha useless with hardheaded zombies..

[cooke15]

Keep telling yourself that. HD DVD has a bigger chunk of the PC market with HP and Toshiba, also Microsoft is a major player. Disney could easily go HD DVD they were not paid off, especially with Dreamworks Animation supporting HD DVD. Its really not over, people are buying HD DVD standalone players a much faster rate than blu ray players.

[Whoooop]

you remind me of a little boy called cdzie1 which was a desperate HDDVD supporter until he apparently saw the light..

I don't blame you buddy... don't give up there still are some bots in here with you.

Just get a bluray player so you can bare the pain when you realize there are no more HDDVD movies being released.

:)

[paul_war]

NO.

I don't understand it but Disney are to Blu-Ray what Universal is to HD-DVD.

They seem to be 100% behind the format, promoting it any chance they get. They were never likly to change.

[kevin1122]

cooke, just to tell you stand alone blu-ray players have been outselling the stand alone hd-dvd players since black friday.

[bootsielon]

"HD DVD has a bigger chunk of the PC market with HP and Toshiba, also Microsoft is a major player."

LOL, nobody cares about HD DVD in PCs, zombie. Toshiba sells Laptops only, which are expensive for what they offer compared to PCs; especially now that they all come bundled with HD-DVD, a dying format, and especially inferior for recording; Toshiba isn't on desktops. HP, which is on desktops and the only important HD-DVD supporter that manufactures them is not even selling HD-DVD burners, they are selling Blu-ray burners that read HD-DVD. Blu-ray has Apple, HP, Dell, and Sony among others on the PC side. Don't try to lie again to us, robot.

[athlon770]

you can keep those Toshiba and HP computers, I would recommend Dell and Sony built systems over those two any day of the week. So, cooke, since you are so proud of HD-DVD anyway, how many different manufactures of the device can you name? BD has a larger hardware support, as well as a larger storage capacity. You talk about PC support, fine, HD-DVD has what 51gig of storage space (Maxed) where as BD has over 100gig, (with a potential of a 200gig disc) and who do you think is going to win there. PC's are all about the storage space, and you would side with a limited space disc?

Dude, HD-DVD lost, BD won, let it go. This is just the last swipe of a dying animal hoping to get revenge. Have the decency to admit that BD ran a better campaign and won.

[niall77]

and microsoft are real annoying when it comes to saying they where wrong.

I still expect a blu ray drive for the 360 for xmas this year.

[Skerj]

Getting rid of all the stock before calling it quits?

[Xbox is the BEST]

for me I watch both HD and Blu
Edit : don't be mad that I get to watch all the movies in High Definition

[paul_war]

I try to.

Watch blu-ray's on PS3 & download hd-dvd exclusives onto 360. I prefer the disks though, better sound, suppliments & cheaper in long run.

All be out in blu-ray eventually though...

[TruthbeTold]

But I think that it is obvious that these players are selling at these prices because there is a large inventory that Toshiba would rather dump in the laps of suckers for a small amount of money rather than pay their own money to place their product into a real dump. Who knows though... Maybe there is some sort of "We aren't giving up yet" strategy behind it.

[Lumbo]

Actually Toshiba already SOLD the players to the retail chains, hence the retailers try to dump the soon to be worthless inventory...

[Xbox is the BEST]

a studio would like to see more players in homes you know Disney selling less POTC3 than Transformers in High Def. I could be wrong though. Anyways I watch both

[crck]

a month ago. Fire sale indeed.

[Genesis5]

Does your stolen dvd player upscale your pirated dvd collection? Whats that persons ip address?

[Skerj]

Who cares? That's a dumb thing to narc on someone for. Especially when there are rapists, kiddy pornographers, and murderers afoot.

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

That's a dumb thing to rat on someone for when there are terrorists afoot...

(see my point, man?)

[kingnick]

Too little, too late.

[AllroundGamer]

they should do the same thing with the HDDVD leftovers like with the E.T. game :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

[Skerj]

Too bad they put cement in there, we could go excavate some of those bad boys. Wait why would I want to do that!? Oh yeah because I can, but still I played that game while being drunk a few months back and it still wasn't fun or funny.

[AllroundGamer]

too late, check this video ;) http://www.keithschofield.c...

[Skerj]

That was freaking awesome, but was that real? I can't even tell, I thought Atari crushed them and mixed them with cement in it to keep people from digging them up.

[Guwapo77]

Like WTF over! That was purest form of comedy!! I use to own that game.

[Mr Tretton]

More like 'going out of buisness sale'

[hadouken007]

beat that dead horse boyyy, im trying paw im trying!

[Genesis5]

No narcing! Just having some fun. If your going to get something stolen at least get something good!

[ReBurn]

Those prices are going to move players to the uninformed that doesn't know about studio support for each format. That's really a shame. I think that at this point Blu-ray is going to become the HD disc format and support for HD-DVD is going to dwindle. What's so sad to me is that you can get a really good upscaling DVD player for about half the price of the cheapest priced HD-DVD player, so that's really not even an incentive to buy one.

I'm glad I have a PS3. If the 360's player drops to around $50 I might buy one for the novelty.

[Fighter]

Thanks for nothing. With 2 lame studio support they will never come back. Universal and Paramount don't sell good HD movies and the weekly Nielsen ratings show.

[IntelligentAj]

This is the retailers. They are trying to make some money off of the players before they have to dispose of them.

[joemomma]

there is no need to even be logical anymore. Just start making posts lime this one.

[Bathyj]

They should sell them like this.

4Sale DVDplayer/upscaler. Also play vintage HD format HDDVD. Collectors Item.

[Covenant]

"Also for sale...nice CD player, will play CDs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs...also compatible with something called SACD. Free Newton with purchase."

[Hagaf22]

you guys can argue that hd-dvd isnt dead, but just wait till next month when bluray sales come out. you will see that all those people were waiting for this war to tip one way buy a format you will see the war is over. i personally went from owning no blurays to having spent hundreds since warner bros made there move. i know people who are buying ps3s because they are a multipurpose bluray player, warners move was more than a devastating blow it was a war ending shot...

[jorellpogi]

Toshiba just wanted to cut cost of their failed HDDVD. The retailers should be responsible of informing the customers about a dead format.

[Covenant]

Sorry, Toshiba, but it's over. I'm not a Sony fan, to be sure, but I think that WB's move to Blu-Ray effectively ends the format war.

Maybe this is a way to move soon-to-be-obsolete inventory, or just a last, desperate attempt to go down swinging.

I said I'd wait until the format war was decided one way or another before choosing one...

...after all, one friend's father got stuck with a ton of Betamax tapes, and another friend owns a lot of SACDs...

...and I'm now looking for a good deal on a Blu-Ray player...to hook to my new HDTV...right next to my 360.

[Snukadaman]

you do know sony makes a upconverting dvd player thats 100$...if toshiba can sell their hd-dvd players for less then 60 bucks...blu-ray will still be in the sub 250$ mark.

http://www.radioshack.com/p...

[chfthnder26]

i dont agree with the whole obsolete technology bs cuz they still play hi def movies also i dont know if you guys know this you can buy movies on hddvd that r bluray exclusives from other countries im pretty
sure blu ray cant do that, i saw potc3 being played at best buy and honestly it didnt look all that impressive blu ray just doesnt look as good as hddvd honestly and the features yeah i feel sorry for all those people that have 1st gen blu ray players cuz they cant do squat with those as far as features go i feel as though the war is far from over and yeah lets not forget hddvd does have like 80% of the pc market as far as next gen dvd drives and on this blu ray standalones out selling hddvd they still havent broken 1,ooo,ooo standalone units which is what hddvd has done

[wageslave]

"have like 80% of the pc market as far as next gen dvd drives"

ShShh, dont disrupt the $ony fanboy fantasy festival....

[bdwins]

What the hell, where did you find that info? Take another look!
http://www.n4g.com/industry...

"Lite-On IT, BenQ, Asustek Computer and Quanta Storage, leading Taiwan-based makers of PC-use ODDs, have offered BD-ROM drives, BD burners and BD Combo drives but have not yet offered models supporting HD DVD formats, implying their choice between BD and HD DVD, the sources pointed out. "

[Ital50Stal]

look at all these stupid Sony supporters disagreeing with anyone sayin something positive about HD...Its like they are on sonys payroll...if they only see how sad it looks from this end...it is true, hd dvd might have lost but i hope u all know they ARE cheaper to buy and there is NO difference in picture quality...the fact its a sony product, therefore god had a hand in making it, right?

Hd dvd is supported by microsoft, shouldnt all you support a american company rather than japanense? look how bad 360 is doin in japan, they dont care about your products, why are you so faithful to thiers? think about it...

For me, im gonna stick with my 360 hd drive, my white ps3 this summer(if it comes out) and my free HD downloads... F*** the format wars, its not for consumers

[BigJeebz08]

I've paid a total of just under $37 for my 16 Blu-Ray's (All brand new) so I would love for you to tell me how to get even regular DVD's cheaper than that?

You are right in saying there is no picture quality difference in the discs but the cheapest Toshiba HDDVD player only outputs up to 720p/1080i which can make a difference in picture quality...
And I can't speak for everyone else but I tend to be faithful to Japanese products because they tend to be better than ours, Think about that...

[agent864]

Cell - IBM (plus Sony / Toshiba) the chip itself was even sourced in the US initially at least
RS - Nvidia - US
Insomniac - US
Naughty Dog - US

etc ....

All the consoles are mfg in Taiwan/China/Japan ... outside the US

Apple does quite well in Japan, thank you very much, because it makes quality products. The xenophobic stereotype of Japan is just that a stereotype

The Bluray Disc Association is not just Sony its Dell, Apple, Disney, etc ....

Board of Directors
Apple, Inc.
Dell
HP
Hitachi
LG
Mitsubishi Electric
Panasonic
Pioneer
Philips
Samsung
Sharp
Sony
Sun Microsystems
TDK
Thomson
Twentieth Century Fox
Walt Disney
Warner Bros.

[athlon770]

Hit Ital over the head with the information again, I don't think he got it yet...

It is funny though, has anyone else noticed that the anti-BD crowd has to make things up and pick stats out of thin air to prove their point, while the pro-BD crowd just keeps showing the real side of the story.

Who are they tring to kid anyway?

[Ital50Stal]

Im Canadian...im just helpin out u guys down south, Id rather see the business stay in north america cuz right now both our economys are ass...and for the person who said apple makes quality products...HA!...i work at best buy and for every one i sell, i see 2 come back!
And i totally agree with the comment about american cars sucking!...(I only american car i ever bought and will buy is the '87 5.0 stang)

[Snukadaman]

get them in more houses.....be that boil on sonys ass....people are saying this is obsolete technology isnt looking at the big picture....you get enough players in peoples homes and it begins too grow.....look at ps3....if it wasnt for the ps3 there wouldnt be no blu-ray...now you sell those hd-dvd players for 50-60 bucks the user base grows....its quite a gamble but its better then just laying down and giving up.

[bootsielon]

Sales of HD-DVD movies will still be the same, as Xbots won't get their Burger flippin' salary raised now that HD-DVD is cheaper.

If anyone actually buys HD-DVD, they'll hurt progress. If they want an HD player, they should get a PS3, another Blu-ray player, or simply wait till they are cheaper. What's the rush in getting a format that can't even do 1080p and 7.1 audio for every movie? HDI? Lol, gimmicks.

[assasshin]

unless ur a sony fanboy like most of the ppl posting on this topic there is no reason you should support blu-ray. they have the same picture quality while hddvd is much cheaper. i don't own an hddvd player or a bluray player. Probably won't own one till dvd dies.

[Vulcan Raven]

they supported it because sony put it in the PS3. They also like the movies released on BluRay, also because they have more storage capacity and if you think that doesn't matter you are obviously simple.

[wageslave]

These are the same people who scream about DRM.

And you know what? The MPAA have chosen BR because of one reason: DRM.

Anyeone who buys into the MPAA's *preferred* format is daft. If the MPAA wants it.. ask yourself WHY?

BR is a Fair Use nightmare, and this forum blinding applauds it. Amazing.

[wageslave]

dbl post

[chfthnder26]

to vulcan raven obviously they are not or can not take advantage of the 50 gig or should i say 46 gigs cuz that is what is honestly cuz potc3 is on two discs and also alot of the f-ing movies coming out or have come out have been done at around 720p it says 1080p cuz u can watch it in 1080p but the movie was shot in 720p so that is irrelevant and the audio bs transformers won best audio and wasnt even in 7.1 it all has to do with how the studo produces the sound u guys really need to do your research b4 u come on here talkin sh*t seriously though hddvd is the better product but the studios have been bought up and u can say wut u want to say but if all the studios were supporting both at the beginning this war would have been over a long time ago cuz the consumers would have had a real chance to choose instead of the studios choosing for them and we know who they would have picked.......HDDVD

[athlon770]

What?

Slow down and think about what you are trying to say and try again please. That is one clusterfuk of a response. Slow down, breath, and re-post your argument.

As far as the BD version having two discs, Disc 1 contains the entire feature, Disc 2 is bonus goodies...here, taken from DVD Empire...

"In addition to the movie, the first disc in this 2-disc set contains a 1080p game called “Liar’s Dice” that uses the rules of the same game that takes place between Davy Jones and Will Turner in the movie. This BD-Java technology game (viewers will want to make sure their players have the latest update for best game-play) features the characters of Pintel (Lee Arenberg) and Marty (Martin Klebba) from the film, as they challenge you to a game. The rules are pretty simple...you roll a number of dice (which your opponent doesn’t see) and then have to bluff your way through the game, constantly besting the bid of your opponent. The antes continue until you or your opponent feels the other is lying – at which point you call the bluff. If you’re lying, you lose one die. If you’re telling the truth, your opponent loses a die. Whoever runs out of dice first loses the game.

Also on the first disc is an audio commentary featuring screenwriters Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio (the same commentary that’s on the standard release); as well as the interactive “Jolly Roger” skull that guides viewers through the menu process. A handful of front-loaded 1080p trailers are also on Disc 1.

Disc 2 is a 25GB Blu-ray disc (Disc 1 is 50GB) that contains all the bonus features from the standard 2-disc edition. All of these bonuses are, sadly, only presented in 480p, but it’s nice to see that Disney ported everything over and didn’t leave anything out. Pretty much every aspect of production is covered in the featurettes on Disc 2, including both pre-production and the movie’s premiere."

[n00dl3s]

smells like they are trying to get rid of all of their product before the format is officially announced dead.

[DJ]

Well, ok ok. This is probably their last one. I wonder what the firesale for HD-DVD movies is going to be like.

[wallace1000]

I say good for toshiba for not rolling over and dying but it isn't the best thing for the consumer. Good personal effort for them, but it is too little too late as one other person said. It is time for one format and i don't think HD DVD is going to be that format.

[ScottEFresh]

Ok now I know some of us have "sides" in the format war but come on. If you can't see HD-DVD is on the out, then your just plain igonarant...or truly stupid in which case I forgive you. Not only does the Warner move matter but what about all this talk about it? Even this article proves HDDVD is on it's way out...just by talking about ...we are making it happen...that's how these things work...you got it yet?

[Tyrael]

In the end it all came down to who had the most amount of movies desired by the market with an HDTV. As much as we hated this format war, you can't argue that the competition helped bring prices down for the consumer. Now I can buy a PS3 knowing I will watch hi def movies and play FF13 VS

[fermcr]

I don't care you wins, i just want the war to continue... let the prices go down, i hope it last's. Please don't let the war finish so soon. Just check out the prices of recording blue ray's and see what i am talking. SONY's is trying that people bye there overpriced product... LET THE PRICES GO DOWN.

[Mr Marbles]

you guys are stupid, FYI HDDVD is still a great format, the Picture quality is arguably superior to Bluray according to leading audio visual magazines, and it still has a few great exclusives, Matrix, StarTrek oridinal series, Transformers... Hell a bunch of free moives plus getting the exclusives alone is worth 100 bux. It is also a known fact that the latest HDDVD players upconvert better than any bluray player.
Hel if I was a bluray supporter, and HDDVD got cheap enuff I would pick one up in a heartbeat, F Sony they dont own me, I buy what I want, why are you idiots so loyal to a company??? geez what a bunch of suckers.

[Shadow Flare]

.....beeeecause hd-dvd has lost and bluray's won??? To put it really, really simple for you, HD movies will continue to come out for the bluray format and will not (which is the opposite of will) come out for hd-dvd. Im just messin relax. I know hd-dvd is now alot cheaper, and you can buy the existing movies alot cheaper, but its a dead format. And what you buy now is as far as it goes. I just feel alot of people will buy these cheap hd-dvd players and get dooped into realizing they've bought a dead format. How gutted must they be

[Lumbo]

Funny how you blame BluRay supporters of blind fanboyism while you worship Toshiba without a second thought.

The BDA unites more hardware manufacturers and movie studios behind their format than Toshiba ever had.

Just look at how many different brands of BluRay players exist compared to how many HD-DVD players.
BluRay player manufacturers: Samsung, Panasonic, Sharp, Sony, Phillips, LG
HD-DVD player manufacturers: Toshiba, Toshiba, Toshiba, Toshiba

The claim that one or the other format has a better picture quality is plain fanboy nonsense atm. BluRay had some bad mpg2 encodes in 2006, true, but both formats use the SAME video codecs right now, hence there is NO difference in quality. Still the BluRay disks have the technological edge over HD-DVD because of the higher storage space and higher possible bitrate (the DISKS, not the current player software in case you wanna fall back to more fanboy babble).

The question of "exclusives" is a mood point, because as soon as the remaining studios follow the market all the former "HD-DVD exclusives" will be rereleased on BluRay.

[agent864]

Blu-ray was the original spec for replacing DVD. Toshiba didn't like its cut so decided to do HD-DVD. This war is totally Toshiba's fault. They're the go it alone party this time.

[Maddens Raiders]

the people that side with a desperate dying format, also side with a desperate, dying console.

Share the pain gentlemen & onward through the fog! lol

The Future is Blu.

[Salvadore]

I wish them the very best.

[jessupj]

As stated above a few times, it's probably not toshiba, but the retailers trying to get rid of their stock. Pretty much all of my family had no idea what blu ray and hd dvd was until i told them so there is a good chance there's a good number of stupid sheep out there buying the cheap hd dvd players without a second thought. Poor guys don't know they're wasting money, it's not their fault.

This move will bost the install base a little, but it makes no difference at all, however it may drag the war on for another month or so. How long do you think this fire sale will continue any way? Everyone will eventually find out there's hardly any movies coming out and will need to get a blu ray player for the movies they want.

This stupid selfish annoying fire sale will make no difference.

[TheExecutive]

Yes, the format war is about to be decided by the retailers...

[AceLuby]

Even uninformed buyers are going to want to buy at least one HD-DVD w/ their new players. When they go over and see that there is 2-3x the selection of movies on blu they are going to (should) ask why. Depending on the store clerk they should get informed (maybe not, but who knows). I seriously doubt this will help much unless you get the uninformed buyer/seller combo along w/ no common sense from either. I just don't think this will help out enough to get more studio support and that's what HD-DVD needs to keep afloat.

[whoelse]

Just give it up!

[travelguy2k]

finally dies, everyone that bought one isn't completely screwed, they still have a pretty good upconverting DVD player.

Its not like Betamax where all it was, was a paperweight.

[joevfx]

this didnt work for them before this wont work for them now, especially now.

[Shroomy]

Awesome, I hope to pick up some cheap movies from this.

HD-DVD is still in it yet, disagree and you are a moron.

[wageslave]

You say "Fire Sale", I say "winning marketshare" - perhaps the MPAA will repsond to HD-DVD movie sales that result from increased install-base?

NAhhhhHHH! This is N4G -- anything that might be anti-MS / Xbox 360 is assumed truth.

[Ridrick]

Toshiba is going through stage called delirium tremens.

[TheExecutive]

lol yup, and instead of seeing little green men they are seeing little blu men :)

[chfthnder26]

to agent864 u r wrong cuz hddvd was licensed as the true next dvd format but the dvd forum which has a lot of bluray supporters on the board but sony want to get all the royalties so they developed bluray to compete against hddvd that is why hddvd came out first cuz it was complete and sony is still trying to get to where hddvd is as far as features go do u guys really think that toshiba and the rest of there supporters didnt see that the ps3 would make all the difference come on now im pretty sure they have something up there sleeve

[BigJeebz08]

The only play Toshiba could have left is to ditch all their sh*t and jump ship, oh wait that's already going on.

By the way punctuation marks, such as periods (the little dot at the end of the previous sentence [see above]) greatly aid in deciphering the mumbo-jumbo you have managed to ramble together into a semi-coherent quasi-statement.

[GITPWNED]

Just give it up, Toshiba. It's over.

[welsh_rocker]

This price cut of the HD-DVD players sounds like a last ditch effort to try and save their Format or a clearance to get rid of all the stock of their Players.

[HondaSIRowner]

Toshiba is **cked!

So what is this cheap cheap price gonna solve? only 2 studios remain for Toshiba!

LMFAO!

I said this earlier in another post. Toshiba can make a $50 player, but where's the movies at?

This is all they can do, make the prices cheaper!

LMFAO its done.

The Consumers and Hollywood WANT Blu-ray, you can't argue with that!

[Xbox is the BEST]

this Friday

[dukajoe]

Om, clearly they are getting rid of their inventory

[xplosneer]

Wow wrong company....