HD DVD rebate promotion a success?

Toshiba is claiming that "player sales are up 5-10 times higher than before" and at least the one retailer that shares its data confirms this.

In fact over the weekend the HD-A2 was rated the number 1 selling DVD player on Amazon - no, not just in the HD category, but in all DVD players.

While this is great and all, Engadget are not sure how this is going to affect the overall outcome of the format war, but one thing is for sure, this holiday season is going to be very interesting for HD fans.

[ITR]

I actually went to look for one, but hhgregg had already sold them all by that afternoon.

[kewlkat007]

Movie Enthusiast are really waiting for the cheaper HD player this holiday? If these players sell great at $300..makes me wonder

[Bloodmask]

dollars is definately a fair price......especially since at launch it was double that price. I definately think Toshiba will have great Holiday sales if they keep that rebate consistant, as the cheapest Bluray player is 600 obviously.

[ITR]

Not fathers day only??

I just saw a commercial on SciFi channel for the same Toshiba player for $299.
So maybe this is an on going rebate??

I'd like to know!

[gh0st1492]

The promo should be running till June 16th. However, From the 10th to the 16th, the rebate should be available on all of there model (A2, A20, and XA2) bring the prices to $299, $399, and $699 respectivley. Coup-le this with Best Buys promo, where you save an extra off if you purchase one with a TV $1000 and up, and that turns into $199, $299, and $599. At that price, I'm hoping Fox and Disney take notice, cause they are miaing out on some consumer swho are gonne want.....NEED movies in HD soon!!

[ITR]

Cool deal.

I have a feeling Fox could do both formats.
(I know GL wants to hit the biggest audience for SW and just one format won't do it for him)

Disney will go wherever Apple goes. If Apple supports both then Disney will probably do that too.

[sonarus]

Smart move toshiba smart move.

[Rhaigun]

I've been waiting for a major price drop on either this or a Blu-Ray player. Looks like I'm going to be buying HD-DVD.

[Bloodmask]

how someone checks disagree........Do you feel he is lying about his purchase?

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Personly I'm not ready to give up DVDs, IMO the DVD format will still be king for at least 5 more years. I wish one of these formats would win already. My only question about Blu-Ray vs HDDVD is that the movie studios that support Blu-Ray is kind of strange considering that Sony is a competitor. But then again Sony Vaio computers are packed with Windows so stranger things have happened.

[bootsielon]

Not just to compete with videogame consoles, but with HD-DVD players. Not now, but by holiday season when prices drop. By then Sony should be able to do so, althought with still some loss, not as big as before though.

Edit:

CERULA:

You're fired for not understanding how production costs work. They go down over time. That's why I said that by then, they could drop the price. People that actually know about semi-conductors have predicted the cost to go down up to 450 dollars (from 840). That's not unbelievable, since blu-ray diodes used to cost $125 and now Sony sells them to 3rd parties for $8 (with a small profit). The cell has also been shrinked, and the Emotion Engine has been removed. By then RSX will have dropped if it hasn't already, and RAM will also be cheaper. A lot of components are being removed. So, by november, they might as well drop their price. They'll be losing money, but less than at launch. Either that or lose the format war and console war, and who knows what else. A horrible gamble or a stupid mistake; since they're in it for the long haul, and they've made pretty much every "bet" they could make for Blu-ray, it would be ridiculous to back out in the middle of the game.

Better luck next job.

[Marriot VP]

yah, sure, it's just that easy. This is what the scenario would be like.

You - Hey guys, look, we should drop the PS3 price to 400!
Sony - Are you f'in kidding me. We're already loosing 200-300 per console, and you want to double that!!! Your fired.

[Covenant]

This is a little off-topic, but related. BB is offering two free HD-DVDs with the purchase of the 360 HD drive and one of the Matrix HD packs.

Now, is that a desperate move to push the drive and format, as some people see the Toshiba promo? Or just a great offer?

[Marriot VP]

In all the ads from my newspaper, the samsung HD-DVD players are at 300 after rebate. Great news for those HD guys. However I still don't have a HD-DVD player of my own, and it'll probably be a year till I get one. Once a clear winner has been made.

[Douglasp]

Is also selling Toshiba HD DVD players. I live in L.A california area
they where going for I think 379.00 as of last week. This week I went back to buy other things and they where all gone. I think they had around 10 as of last week. I wonder if other costcos have them also.

[bung tickler]

its all about price. first one below $200 will win. just like game sytems, they wont sell like hotcakes untill they are $200 or less, hence the wii selling so well $250 - $50 GAME BUNDLED IN = $200; however, the wii has VERY short legs since its tech is so old, there are only so many things you can do before it gets old and just looks dated.

[anonymousAJA]

It is a more reliable, feature packed, and cheaper alternative than an Xbox 360 Premium with a HD-DVD drive. Not to mention that the HD-A2 came standard with HDMI while the Xbox 360 did not.

[Lord Anubis]

If I'm not mistaken, Toshiba was crying foul ball about Sony having a few discounts to promote Blu-ray, I wonder what changed Toshiba's mind.