Engel07

BDA group needs to attract 99% of the DVD side, so i'm 110% sure they'll have more BOGO or B2G1 deal. If they do'nt see movies flying off the shelf, i'm sure they'll provide them. They got to meet their numbers...trust me...they'll continue to have sale.

Lt Ripley

Hey guys, stop provoking the pessimistic mogwai.

pro-bassoonist

Vaya Con Dios!

Pro-B

The Cow

I'm amazed that you still think the competition was/is BD and HD DVD.

DVD Polizei

You already announced once you were leaving. I don't believe you this time.

The Cow

You need to brush up on your Spanish.

jiggawhat

How many HD-DVD BOGOs did we have before BD started doing them?

How many? That's right there were none.

DVD Polizei

It's what I SAID when he left.

Drexl

I'm not so sure that would happen in today's world due to eBay et al, where people know they can get more for their stuff.

PopcornTreeCt, maybe these developments will cause Paramount to release TWBB on BD. Hopefully there's enough time to have it ready to be day and date.

namja

I think that only supports GizmoDVD's point that competition leads to lower prices.

Anyway, I can't imagine prices actually going up. I don't give Sony very much credit as they rarely seem to learn from their stupid mistakes, but even still, I don't think they'll be stupid with this one. There's just too much at stake to be doing anything stupid. While player and movie prices may not drop as quickly as we may like, they are bound to go down. For the masses to adopt it, it still needs to compete with DVD.

bunkaroo

Will Toshiba be able to make a machine that properly does 1080p for under $500 if they go Blu? One can hope...

bunkaroo

Please dude, come in off the ledge.

Adam Tyner

Well, it's all relative. I don't think we'll have high priced movies...just less-obnoxiously-low priced movies.

The BOGOs and fire sales were to push for a winner among us influential early adopters, not a going practice. If they didn't have the intended impact, there's no doubt in my mind that the studios would've either stopped those sorts of sales or greatly, greatly curtailed them eventually.

After all, what's the point in spending all this money to launch a new format if you're going to consistently give away the store? The enormous discounts were not sustainable. I don't see them doing these same sorts of sales, at least not on a weekly/semi-weekly basis, to try to win out over DVD.

I don't think it'll be too long until the premium over DVD is pretty marginal, though.

At this point, abandoning the format does seem like the right move for Toshiba to make. They've either been unwilling or unable to properly market HD DVD, and with the way support from retailers, manufacturers, and studios has been hemorrhaging week after week, they might as well cut their losses. It's unfortunate because HD DVD is a quality, well-realized format with a tremendous amount of potential, but it wasn't shepherded by a company how knew how to do much of anything with it.

While I agree with Josh that the numbers are still so low that the lead is more in mindshare and percentages than actual volume, I still can't picture a realistic scenario in which Toshiba could even carve out a niche-within-a-niche. When HD DVD did have the upper hand in 2006, Toshiba didn't press its advantage, and at this stage in the game, now it doesn't have an advantage -- or anything at all, really -- to press.

darthdelegate

Um, that all happened after the holiday season was over. Of course they were going to tone down on the sales. They can't do BOGO forever.

Vipper II

There were plenty of BOGOs months before the holidays.

Iron Chef

yup

A Sony proprietary format finally won a consumer tech battle.

tonymontana313

For fuck's sake, can we stop all the whining and just move on? It seems like some posters have a serious case of sour grapes.

RayChuang

Personally, it is in the interest of BDA to start encouraging better player technologies to lower prices overall to increase sales. This is more true now that lower-cost chipsets for Blu-ray players now exist.

With sales of widescreen TV's with HDMI inputs now zooming through the roof (despite the economic downturn), there is a ready market for lower-cost Blu-Ray players.

Iron Chef

They should each start a dramatic thread about leaving the forum, and then come back 3 weeks later.

dsa_shea

Or we could just let things go and move on.

chanster

You need to tell that other people in this thread that aren't complaining but dancing on the grave of a format that was pretty good and with low prices.

Supermallet

Mod Note: Gizmo, I think you might need a break from the HD forum. It's clearly getting to you. I don't want to have to suspend or ban anyone else, but as Namja posted in the Blu-ray discussion thread, this constant bickering has really worn on the mods. If this news is really true, then it's the end for HD DVD, and people are just going to have to live with that.

E Unit

Well, Toshiba may be packing it in with HD-DVD, but they're not going to go away by any means. 1080 wrote this bit about them already prepping for Blu Ray players at prices that could be attractive. If they so confirm in the next few weeks they'll drop support, I would assume they may announce their plan as to what they may do next. the exec said, "Toshiba will continue to study the market impact and the value proposition for consumers, particularly in light of our recent price reductions on all HD DVD players."

Here's what 1080 wrote up,

"1080living.com has learned through sources in the distribution and retail business that the buzz is Toshiba already has a Blu-Ray player in the works ready for production for a September 08 release but now this has been pushed up to a July 08 release with recent events in the industry.

This would make sense as Toshiba is a major electronics giant and supporting Blu-Ray will only benefit the company in the long run. Toshiba is currently liquidating HD-DVD players for as little as $90.00 which many analyst consider to be under their cost but as demand dries up Toshiba is trying to cash in on last minute consumers that will be swayed by price alone.

One source cited 2 players are in the works with a price target of $250 and $350.00."

Tracer Bullet

Fine by me. Kill it, I don't care. Everyone knows HD DVD is done; better that Toshiba just rips the band-aid off. I'll pick up a bunch of cheap movies to enjoy while I wait for a finished and affordable Blu-Ray player.

Mr. Cinema

I think alot of people would welcome a Toshiba branded BD player. If the news is true that they are dropping "support" of HD DVD, does that mean they will debut with a BD only player? Or will they at least start with a dual format one?