Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD model sells 90,000 over weekend

The HD DVD format significantly pumped its installed base over the weekend, as dueling store clearances sold an estimated 90,000 Toshiba players, according to sources close to retailers.

[Danja]

hmm MEH...Blu-Ray FTW....

so since NA alone can save a format..how much did it sell in EU..Japan..and others..over the weekend..??

[ruibing]

They sold them for $100-200, and say they were able to produce at $300 (it was $500 when it was introduced a year ago and manufacturing improvements cannot have improved by more than 40%, it just never happens). They just lost at least $9,000,000 without counting advertisement and other financial overheads.

Edit: Forgot to carry an zero over.

[sonarus]

$900,000 is not dat bad a loss however they are loosing a lot more than that. at least 200 on each player so its more like 1.8mill. I expected the sales to be a lot better though. approx 5million ps3 owners plus another 100,000 stand alone owners. at least if 30% that knw ps3 has blu ray continue buying their blu rays hd-dvd still beat 2-1. With the 400 dollar ps3 and more than likely price drop of stand alone players expect this number to increase.

[shmee]

over 100 000 ps3s were sold last week and all ps3 owners purchase BD movies.

over 50 000 standalone BD players might have been sold across Japan, EU and NA whereas HD DVD is existent only in NA

[IntelligentAj]

What math are you guys doing? If they sold them $99 and made them for $200 then they $9 million not $900,000. If they made them for $300 then they would have lost $18 million. Get your math straight. Also I think they would take that hit to get the players into people's homes though.

[cuco33]

Danja,
A given format can hold it's own per region. If US is the only place that were to adopt HD DVD it can do so by itself, likewise if Japan and EU were the only regions, separately, can be on it's own in that given region.
There isn't a "blu must win ALL regions to be successful" but most feel the need for it to be that way. For the record, the NA market is the most important one.

ruibing,
I'm assuming you grabbed those 'figures' from the recent article that compared the over designed and over priced A1 to the cheaper A2. Think cost cutting. The A1 has a Pentium 2.+ ghz cpu whereas the A2 has a Celeron 900mhz cpu, that's just the processor! The A3 I can only assume is cost cut even more.
EVEN if they did lose 900k based on your wrong assumptions, do you know how much Toshiba made off of DVD licensing fees? Think BILLIONS. Likewise the same would happen if HD DVD took off as the successor, if there even will be one, of HDM.

As for the comments below about 1080p I ask you this... If someone were to own a 720p/1080i HDTV (and there is 70% of homes with these TVs), why spend more for 1080p? BESIDES, if you guys knew anything... you'ld know that a good 1080p HDTV can deinterlace a 1080i signal and output a 1080p picture without any losses. ;)

90k units is impressive! I thought there would only be 1/2 that. I'ld like to see the Neilson numbers these next few weeks and see what impact the clearance sale has made.

Be a movie fanboy, not a format fanboy

[Baron79]

Speak for yourself dude. I own a PS3 and don't own a single Bluray movie. I have 24 HD-DVD's though. I hate Sony for doing this to the PS3, a powerfull GAME machine is now thought of as a movie player. Sad.
Anyway 90,000 more HD-DVD players out there meens 90,000 more people will be buying HD-DVD's. Oh and 50,000 stand alone blueray players sold? That's Lifetime , Right?

[ruibing]

My bad about the math, I just had to pull an all nighter.

I was just being conservative with my estimates since no one has access to their managerial accounting information. We assume the selling price is $200 (since $100 is a weekend sales kind of thing) and then an aggressive improvement in direct material, labor, and overhead for manufacturing to make it cost $300 total per unit, so it would be at least $9,000,000. Obviously it is much more, but I didn't wanted to back up my claims conservatively so I wouldn't be called spreading FUD or limited conclusions around.

[lawman1108]

Like this huge PILE of PS3's NOBODY is buying? This is a Circuit City in New Jersey. I counted around 70 just sitting there, the girl at the store said they should give them away because NOBODY is buying them! Ohhhh and selling as many HD players in ONE weekend as stand alone BR players is called a KNOCK OUT you F.AG!!!!

[godofthunder10]

all the sony fanboys need to stop and listen to what they are saying,they said that they are just trying to sell the dvd players cheap because they can't sell them and they are looseing $200 on every sale,well that's true then sony is just trying to sell the ps3 at a lost because they can't sell them because sony is loosing more then $200 on every ps3 they sell and that's a fact.the sony fanboys can't have it both ways,when the ps3 do something then they are doing good but when a company that they don't like do the same thing then they are loosing and just trying to sell the units.

[Pain]

Why? i just cant figure it, did they kick yur Dog?
U all just seem to hate Blu-ray, is it just so much beter that u have to hate it?
Is is not Made in the US that gets u all?
Not M$ supported?

Having a Clear out sale to Boolster it Userbase to claim more Instal base to get more comapnys is not the way to win, since they more or less cleared out the lesser not so good players at sale prices, u and the rest get inferior players compaered to the newer ones not so cool if u ask me.

Get Blu-ray get free

[Rooftrellen]

"Is is not Made in the US that gets u all?"

Which format is made in the US?

All I know of is bluray and HD DVD...and Sony and Toshiba are both Japanese companies.

Please, enlighten me on the format of which you speak, Pain.

[Pain]

exactly what it means.

[unrealchris]

so yeah how about those 5.4 million ps3 sold

[sabbath420]

where are those ps3's? You will loose ps3 fans you will loose.

[HarryEtTubMan]

Haha I bet you're wrong.

[beoulve]

nice number, although PS3 can only sold 50k in NA per week, but PS3 has more constant rate. It will be nice if HD-DVD can keep that rate which is unlikely but still possible.

[ktchong]

and PS3 doesn't usually sold more than 30k units in a week in North America.

[shmee]

with the advent of the 40gig and XMAS season expect ps3 to sell over 100k in the upcoming weeks

However x360 sells like 19k per week in EU and just 2/3k in JAPAN compared to 80k ps3 in EU and 22/25k in JAPAN

EU ps3 owners are heavy purchasers of BD movies

BD camp sells around 20 000 standalone players in NA per week and 30k per week in JAPAN and EU combined.

HD DVD is non existent in Japan and EU

[lawman1108]

It will MURDER the BR player

[Rooftrellen]

"However x360 sells like 19k per week in EU and just 2/3k in JAPAN compared to 80k ps3 in EU and 22/25k in JAPAN"

Considering the 360 doesn't come with any HD player built in, could you please explain how the low 360 numbers mean anything at all to this conversation?

[wil4hire]

neat.

wonder how many HD-DVD's they will buy.

[ktchong]

The main point here is: the player now opens the door for them to buy HD DVDs in the future.

[mboojigga]

You do realize how uneducated you sound making these comments. When you grow up get a chance to actually go to a store take 2 of the same displays run the A2, no scratch the run the A3 which also outputs 1080I(Keep up now cause you do know the movies are encoded 1080P) Take the A30(1080P output)to the same 2 displays and tell me how much of a difference you can actually see. You can even do this test with a PS3 and the A2 or A3 and still tell me what the difference is from the same movie(here is a hint.......not much if any) I will let you educate yourself rather than arguing with you about this. But I responded because of the igorant comment.

[Evil0Angel]

both of them display 2M pixle BUT 1080p will deliver it @ 60fps while 1080i will deliver it 30fps((((techniqly)))) ....BUT...BUT...BUT keep in mind all BR/HD-DVD movies recorded @24fps(if you have any HD-DVD/BR disc you will see this in the back of the box=i have both) so you tellin me you can notice any diffrence ?????? how ???? 30fps is what your eyes can see anything over that you will not notice it unless :
1)u r superman
2)u r super-fanboy

@blow:"..1080i, the former king of the HDTV hill, actually boasts an identical 1,920x1,080 resolution but conveys the images in an interlaced format (the i in 1080i). In a tube-based television, otherwise known as a CRT, 1080i sources get "painted" on the screen sequentially: the odd-numbered lines of resolution appear on your screen first, followed by the even-numbered lines--all within 1/30 of a second. Progressive-scan formats such as 480p, 720p, and 1080p convey all of the lines of resolution sequentially in a single pass.."

*1080p will deliver 2M pixle in 1/60s=60fps
*1080i will deliver the odded 1Mpixle =1/60s
than will deliver the even iMpixle =1/60fps
so it deliver the whole image 2Mpixle=1/30fps
the only dffrence between 1080p/i is fps

here AGAIN AGAIN let me remind you that all BR/HD-DVD movies recorded @1080p@24fps so P display will not benfit from the extra 30fps it got.end of story

[rofldings]

"..1080i, the former king of the HDTV hill"

No. 1080i is not the "Former King" of HD - 1080p was and is originally 100% pure HD. However, TV stations saw a problem with this due to bandwidth limitations and hence 1080i/720p were made.

"*1080p will deliver 2M pixle in 1/60s=60fps
*1080i will deliver the odded 1Mpixle =1/60s
than will deliver the even iMpixle =1/60fps
so it deliver the whole image 2Mpixle=1/30fps
the only dffrence between 1080p/i is fps"

The resolution of both those are the same, however 1080i will send only half the picture every 1/30th second - while 1080p will send the whole picture every 1/60th second. So while playing games or watching movies that have a lot of movement in them - you'll notice progressive is superior because of less "interlace flickers" - this is why 720p is generally considered superior to 1080i if you don't have 1080p.

[drewdrakes]

rofldings - I can tell you don't know what you're talking about because you've probably never seen anything run at 60fps nor 30fps outside of a game. Movies are 24 fps not 30 nor 60. Also depending on whether you're in an NTSC region or PAL region is 29.97 or 25 fps respectively.

Also, define pure HD, as 1080p is not the pinnacle of high definition.

Also Also, where are your sources for 720p and 1080i being created because 1080p takes up too much bandwidth? I know that 1080p takes up too much, but i don't believe that is the reason for the creation of those two. Nor did i know that the TV stations created these resolutions.

[sabbath420]

In most peoples eyes 1080i and 1080p are not that different. The jump from 480p (dvd) to 1080i is huge for most people. And satisfying enough to warent a $99.00 upgrade in players.

[wangdiddy82]

player if it couldnt push out 1080p??? What a waste of money.. Well to me that is.. Its not really going to look any better than a regular dvd now..

I guess the player is for poor people with crappy tv's..

[Xbox is the BEST]

1080i look like DVD????

[etownone]

actually, if you have a good quality 1080p HDTV, then it can run a 1080i interlaced signal into progresive.

so, you buy an stand alone 1080i hddvd player at 99 bucks, you can still watch it at 1080p.

[cuco33]

1. 70% of homes have HDTVs that do 720p/1080i.

2. Most can't even tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p.

3. A good 1080p HDTV will deinterlace a 1080i signal and output it to 1080p without any losses. Just like the above stated

Here's some fact. Ask anyone. I mean ANYONE. wether it be a neutral guy like me, a sony/BD fanboy or an hd dvd fanboy... SD DVDs are NOT comparable to High Def Movies. Not even close. You can not compare an upscaled SD film to a high def one. Both camps will agree to that

[HomeTheaterGuy23]

Wow. You need to brush up on your knowledge man. I own a Sharp DT-500 1280x768p HD DLP projector and run it on a 9 foot 2 inch diagonal 16:9 screen and the difference between HD-DVD outputting a 1080i signal vs. DVD is very clear. You just don't know what you're talking about. I won't deny that you think you do, but you are in reality pretty much cluless....sorry to say.

[Xbox is the BEST]

largest chip manufacture in the world backs HD DVD, Intel. And a HD DVD player was reported to cost $119 to make according to Circuit City. Firmware update allows 1080P. And is every PS#3 used for a Blu Ray player?? I dont think so.

[shmee]

However no Japanese giants are supporting HD DVD and thats what counts. Panasonic supports BD exclusively aND so are all the other jap tech giants.

every ps3 in EU and JAPAN is used as a BD PLAYER.

around 30k standalone BD players are purchased every week in JAPAN and EU

so total BD players purchase = 150k ps3s + 50k standalone players vs 90k HD DVD players (last week only)

normally the ratio is 10:1

[ironwolf]

there would be more than a couple of hundred thousand in the world. Unfortunatly for you, by the Blu-Ray associations own count, there isn't.

[etownone]

this was a great deal, and anyone that missed out....too bad for them. Even you have a ps3 or were on the fence about which format to buy, people chose hddvd players this weekend.

I got the HD-A2 for 99 bucks at best buy, with instant 3 hddvds in store and 5 more i will get through mail for free. The three instore HD-DVD were valued at $105 alone.

[bootsielon]

And it was just a clearance sale... call me when it's a steady one, not a sudden jump over peanuts.

Anyway, I don't want an inferior format to win. If that happens then i'll use broadband. Xbots should rethink their support for HD-DVD twice before buying if they really want the next format to be burned on their PCs a crippled, not next-gen format which tops at 51 gigs, as opposed to the 200 GB blu-ray discs.

[etownone]

starting black fri, the toshiba hd-a3 will be selling around 150, and that one comes with hddvd movies 300 and bourne in the box, plus 5 more free in mail, and whatever promotions of 2-3 more hd dvds instant in store.

[LoydX-mas]

If a 25 gig recordable Blu-ray costs $18, then what will those mythical 200 gig discs cost? $150-200?

By the time Blu-ray can make the 200 gig in any quantity, you might as well buy a 1 TB hard drive for half the price.

[lawman1108]

Open your eyes dude....HD sold as many in ONE weekend as stand alone BR players have since release. CD players were $900 bucks back in 1983 NOBODY bought them when they went under $100 bucks , we all had them. PRICE, PRICE and PRICE......bottom line.

[ironwolf]

Not bad. Especially since before high def DVDs were selling at a rate of about 65% for Blu-Ray and 35% for HD-DVD. The increased base should kick it closer to 50/50.

A no doubt wasted edit at Schmee: Yes the PS3 is increasing too. but the very simple math shows it takes 8 PS3 owners to buy as many movies as 1 HD-DVD owner. And a question. If Blu-Ray standalones are selling so well, how come there is less than 250000 in the world?

[shmee]

around 150k ps3s are purchased every week (should bump in the upcoming weeks)

around 50k BD standalone players are sold worldwide at a very high price point.

so its not enough

[Game13a13y]

i feel sorry for the poor suckers who bought one over christmas, they don't know HD-DVD is a sinking ship... why won't MS just let it die?

[Plasmana]

Since when does MS == Toshiba?

[Baron79]

Keep hoping that HD-DVD is a sinking ship. How many times will you Fanboys\girls keep saying this crap. It's like Sony is beaming statments like this right into your brains. Just stop. HD-DVD is here to stay. Sorry you made the wrong choice.

[hazeblaze]

Perhaps you have not noticed that it is most of the int'l video associations and retail chains that are declaring hd-dvd a sinking ship. HD-DVD sales worldwide have been pretty dismal and I doubt we will see it around for too much longer.

[Baron79]

That's great dude , I could care a less you say it is struggling int'l, In America HD-DVD is beginning it's dominance. The rest will follow. Also stop trying to spread FUD about HD-DVD. What "int'l video associations and retail chains"? Do you have any idea what your talking about?

[jack who]

how many ps3 game can say they sold 90,000 copys over the weekend..

[IntelligentAj]

How many 360 games can say the same thing?

Edit: Just saying a couple of PS3 games can say that they have sold over 90,000

[Xbox is the BEST]

Halo 3, Madden 08, Ace Combat 6, Bioshock, soon COD4 and Mass Effect.

[jack who]

IntelligentAj

i hope that was a joke cuzz the worst top sellin 360 game sold that much in a day

edit yup dis agreed Ace Combat 6 sold 118K in 2 days...how u lik that?

[FPS nut]

FEAR it

[bootsielon]

No 1080p for you

edit:

Dipsh1t, go back to school. How does comment 7 address the point mentioned? Oh wait, it's you again... nevermind, you bought HD-DVD, what else would you say...

[etownone]

idiot.

go back and read comment #5.2

to plasmasa and boatsh1t.... do your homework kids. 1080i and 1080p have the same amount of lines, and if you have a good hdtv that outputs 1080p, then signals coming in from lets say a toshiba hddvd at 1080i with be output at 1080P with no quality loss.

[Plasmana]

He's not an idiot! He just pointing out that 1080p get a full glorious 1,080 lines of resolution, whereas 1080i only gets 1,080 lines of resolution. I'm sure you can understand the difference!

[etownone]

a sign of things to come.

mass market prices backed by the number one dvd retailer, Walmart. this xmas hddvd will see a huge jump.

[sly777]

The format war will end when there are sub $200 dual format players. This is the only way consumers will win. RIght now, both camps are jockeying back and forth because the more one format sells over another means more money to that supporting camp.

I have a PS3 and for me it would be better if blu ray wins but I wont ever be able to watch every movie I want in Hi-Def until I buy a player that plays both formats. This would be the same for the folks that have only HD-DVD.

[SKUD]

Sold with ZERO profit.

[power of Green]

Over 5 million PS3's sold and!, nevermind. sheesh...

[SKUD]

I didn't say anything about the PS3. There you go starting SH!T again. Mission accomplished.

[LoydX-mas]

And just what are you doing? Oh yeah, just stating facts.....riiiight.:)

[SKUD]

Well then can YOU please explain how this format is supposed to survive without making a profit?. Do you think that TOSHIBA is actually NOT trying to cut its losses?. I think instead of just lowering there stand alone players they need to get other companies implementing there format.

[Rooftrellen]

"Well then can YOU please explain how this format is supposed to survive without making a profit?"

PS3's are almost all the bluray players sold, and the PS3 is sold FAR under the price it takes to make them.

Maybe you're right, though. After all, about a month ago, someone posted poll results that showed most people think upscaled DVDs are good enough, so maybe both camps, which are both losing money, will end up with failed formats.

[power of Green]

WoW pretty good as if console players can compete against standalones once things take off.

What about the PS3's lol show me the proof they will all be used for movies-oh! thats right large numbers of PS3 owners don't even know about the Blu-ray push.

Lots of Sony fanboys and I do blu fools in here.

[hazeblaze]

Well, regardless of what you say... there's simply no denying that blu ray sells are stomping hd-dvd WORLDWIDE despite having sold less standalone players. And fact is greater than your opinion.

[DJ]

Expect to see a lot more clearance sales to get rid of HD-DVD stock that's just sitting in stores and warehouses.

[Xbox is the BEST]

Blu Ray standalone are flying off the shelves. If you guys think that the PS#3 will win the format wars keep thinking that. Standalones will win and if Blu Ray can drop the prices then let's talk.

[ichimaru]

good, now plaese keep the momentum

[jack who]

oh teh noessssssss

[ichimaru]

i'm no sony fan jack

[jaja1434]

To those who said "no 1080i."

I'm just going to assume you still live with mommy and daddy now. Mainly because who the hell in their right mind who give a crap about whether or not you can play in 1080i when the damm player cost 100$. If you want the little "i" so bad then pony up for the 200$ one. I mean how stupid do you have to be to not see how good of a deal this is?

Its very very simple.
1080i TV-1.2k+
7.1 stereo System-500+
HD player-200$ <---Why? Because if you've spent over 2k on the rest why the hell would you got cheap now and buy and ENTRY LEVEL PLAYER.

Damm I hate who try to poke holes in a great product for a fantastic price.

[mccomber]

but I wonder if they'll be bragging about sales of their players next weekend? Unless they can sustain this price, it won't last any longer than the discounts do.

[gamesR4fun]

imo its a dead format Toshiba is just trying to cash out fast...

[LoydX-mas]

That line has been used for over a year now.

Sorry, it's not going to die any time soon.

[solar]

i made out with an HD-DVD and a blu-ray disk......HD-DVD was a good kisser....but the blu-ray had a nice rack. sigh...

[resistance100]

I just wonder what will happen next week when disney release all there films on Blu-ray only, i know alot of people will be pissed off. I would be. It no real surprise that Tosibia(sp) decided to do this Before those films came out

[TheExodus]

Nothing will happen because Disney's target market is children under the age of 10 who aren't going to be buying $399 Blu-ray players to watch $30 remastered versions of The Little Mermaid because they have no income & their parents have car payments, mortgages, groceries & heating bills to deal with.

[Rooftrellen]

I'm still with DVD, and I'm even upset.

I'm upset companies like Disney, Sony, Paramount, and Fox think they have the right to choose what format I buy. I'm upset that the studios try to influance my choice by not offering me the movie on both formats.

At least WB is neutral and not trying to force anyone to choose anything.

[DrDreadlox]

Seems to me that HD-DVD wants to replace DVD as the new movie media they better know its gonna take them like 5 years.

Bluray on the other hand have more scope than just movies. It's already being used for games and can be used for archives and backups in the future just because it has more space and more reliable than hard drives.

Any outcome, bluray ain't going nowhere.

[Xbox is the BEST]

Blu Ray UMD part 2. How come Spider-man 3 can't even beat Transformers in anything DVD or HD movie sales??? Sony claims that GH3 came out causing that effect.
Edit : PWNSAUSE thanks for proving my point were is Spider-man 3???? Spider-man was never # 1. Nice spin thou

[pwnsause]

http://www.eproductwars.com...

before you keep talking bulls*it that comes out of you mouth, look at the top ten HD-DVD movie sales, oh wait, what do we have here, Panet earth number 1 again, followed by Transformers at number 2. planet earth is a 6 month old Hd-DVD, you guys love to watch the same movies cause theres not many movies on HD-DVD. Spider-man of course isnt number 1 any more, but look at the movies that are in the top 5, cars, pixar short films, Ratatouille, wow, these movies by the end of this week wont be in the top 5 again, why, another set of blu-ray movies would take its spot because BLu-ray has a better variety, face it, stop talking so much fud, HD-DVD is dead. Go Figure..

[Bladestar]

lol... are my eyes playing tricks on me... are you Sony fanboys talking about, "losses"? lol... didn't you guys read Sony recent near or over 1 billion all due to blu-ray?
You guys hate HD DVD and wish it dies... you were hoping that it didn't sell as much as it did... fine.. I respect that.. but let's not talk about loses should we...
If I was microsoft I give toshiba another $90 million so they can keep the player that low for another 10 weeks.. just to piss sony a bit more...
Also, come on microsoft drop the HD DVD player addon more... $99 would be nice.

[ApocalypseShadow]

an hd-dvd player for $99 instead of $199,and selling the replacement player for $99 instead of $299.......is not a great thing.no matter how you look at it.

sure sony loses money.microsoft has lost 7 billion dollars.....it's business.but where is the PROFIT?at least sony has the games,accessories,psn,ps2 and psp to counter the ps3 losses until it makes a profit.microsoft has one system and one music player(zune).and both haven't made up that loss.

microsoft hasn't made a profit except for maybe one quarter.but still 7 billion down in the console business.

how is toshiba making a profit if the players are selling well below what they cost to make?tell me that blade?

what other hd-dvd players are dropping to $99?no wait,toshiba is the only maker.so where's the profit?if bluray movies are selling more than hd-dvd movies,where's the profit?

bluray sells more movies,and hd-dvd players are selling at a loss.

i'm listening to how you answer that one..............

mag lev.................

[hahahabutt]

Those where selling out also, not every where but in alot of places they where.

[demolitionX]

plz someone can tell me, how many of these 90000 own an HD TV? I believe not more than 5%.

[ironwolf]

the most senseless thing said here so far....

[Silvia007]

Seriously, even for Blu-ray guys, this is irresistable. Greedy @ss sony. Serves them right. From what it seems, HD-DVD will go fighting all the way to the end... just the way I like it, make sony squeal and drop the price on their overpriced Blu-Ray players.

[pwnsause]

you know its not just sony, its also Panasonic, samsung, and the rest of the BDA

[Silvia007]

they all greedy. Those who disagree, even if blu-ray fails, don't bug me none.

[mikeslemonade]

The people who bought the player are likely not to buy more than 1 hd-dvd movie anyway for a while because they get 7 free movies and the hd-dvd movies that are worth buying are children of men, transformers, batman, and bourne series.

[season007]

they can only afford a 99.99 player and the HD DVD camp expect them to push software sales? isn't it to much to ask of?

[myabsolution]

90,000+ players sold in 3 days. Thats amazing.

Obviously price does matter in this war.

Total number of BD players outnumber HD-DVD by about 17:1, if you count PS3s and Xbox add-ons. But disc sales are only 2:1 (in america). Obviously most PS3 owners dont care about blu-ray, dont know about blu-ray, or just play games.

For those of you who say "oh well, in japan BD is outselling HD 9:1, blah blah"

Guess what? America is the only market that matters in this, because it is the American Film Studios that eventually decides which format wins and is supported. The rest of the world will have to follow. It wouldnt matter what disc sales are in Japan, if Disney+Fox and maybe Sony eventually switched over to HD-DVD, the world has to comply, the US is the decision maker here. Mini Discs were a big hit in Japan, when they came to America, no one bought them or adopted them, and guess what? Japan had to can them too. CD remained strong.

Im not trying to be prejudice, but it's the truth. The american market is the only thing that matters in this war. The world follows whoever wins the war there.

IMO, sony cannot win this war alone, if it is going to rely solely on a gaming console to win a movie format war... it may help, but the ps3 can not do it alone.

[level 360]

Those pathetic gullible people who bought their HD-DVD, Blu-Ray players for a thousand bucks or more are just jealous others got it for a bargain.
They thought a price-cut would'nt happen this quickly so they can show-off their valuable players to friends and family alike...
Hah ha to you all!!! Envious freaks!
In the end when you put-off the lights and watch your favorite movies they are comparably the same ( visually ) to their expensive counterparts.
Plus you got the last laugh for making a smart choice.
US$99 vs US$499? = you save US$400 to buy some movies and a good meal and put the rest in your bank account.
1080i,1080p - who cares anyway? = same experience when watching movies.

[fredy]

" The main point here is: the player now opens the door for them to buy HD DVDs in the future.
"

Every company takes loses in hopes of gaining back on software, in the console world thats the way things go and is not tat much different with other electronics.

-5 free movies are the studios taking one for the team.
-low priced Hd player around this time of year by toshiba is the same.

the most important shopping season of the year is ahead..do what you must to sell and get your name out there.

HD-DVD is an easier name convention to the casual masses since it is a continuation of DVD.

Like one said on here some folks think Blu-Ray is a missle defense system.

[skagrerrrr]

just like DVD, it became available to the masses, why not follow suit?

Blu-ray should emulate this

[BIoodmask]

for the HD DVD camp. Not to mention that I know Best Buy was selling the A-3 in replacement of the A-2 when A-2 supplies had run out. Nobody really knows how many A-3s were sold on top of the A-2s.

At $99 an HD DVD player is a steal. A lot of regular DVD-9 upscaling players sell around that price point. Not to mention a good HDTV can deinterlace a 1080i signal and replicate it in 1080P with minimal loses.

If HD DVD can keep up these kind of sales throughout Christmas and with Toshiba puting HD DVD drives in all of their laptops next year the format war could take a serious turn.

[damnwrx]

An XBOX360 Owners.............

[ben806]

i want to see super cheap blu-rays in response to this.

[jinn]

take that Blu-ray

[Jesso2k]

On a more serious note I'm jealous I didn't wait and get an HDDVD player now instead of the 360 add-on. Oh well the add-on is still standing strong.

[Guardian0fPeace]

I don't care which format wins, I just want this war to be over asap so I know which is safe to go with when I have to get a next generation format disc writer for business. What really kills me is the fact that a single-layer blank disc from either format is at least $24.99 for one freakin disc!! They oughta be $2.50 per disc or at least somewhere around there, they don't cost that much to make, it's rediculous!! Even printable DVD+R DL's are way overpriced- roughly $1.60 per disc, and they don't even hold completely double the amount of a single layer disc, which costs roughly 25cents per disc, DL' should only be 40cents. All writable media above the level of DVD R's are severely overpriced. This is a problem for me and so many other indi-film makers.

[ActlikeitaintIronman]

they run after every crumb

OHH YEA WARHAWK SOLD OVER 90000 in two days
BTW a sale is usually a blow otu anyways so come on now