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In Reply to: RE: I predict TOshibas latest price drops will win the format war. HD will come out on top posted by Duilawyer on August 21, 2007 at 21:22:47
Here in Australia the cheapest Toshiba I've heard of, the HD-E1, retails for $899 Aus and the top of the range, the HD-EX1, for $1599 Aus according to the latest issue of one of our magazines. I can't confirm the prices because I've yet to see one in a shop. As a comparison, the cheapest PS3 here goes for just under $1000 Aus, the Sony BDP-S300 for $1099 Aus when it's released here next month, and the LG BH100 dual format player for $1599 Aus.
Toshiba/HD-DVD launched in Australia 2 months AFTER BD, and around 6 months after it launched in the US. BD launched very quickly after the US launch. HD DVD players aren't markedly cheaper than a lot of BD players here.
Toshiba/HD DVD may be trying to look after the US but they don't seem to give a damn about the market elsewhere. I've yet to see a HD-DVD player in a shop, I've seen discs in only one location. I've seen BD players in a number of shops and discs in a number as well.
I don't know what's happening in markets other than the US and Australia but the same thing isn't happening in both of those markets and I suspect that's probably the case elsewhere. Toshiba/HD-DVD doesn't seem to care about markets outside the US from what I see here and that simple fact may bring them down. The US is a huge single market but the market elsewhere is probably larger overall and they need to start considering other places as well if they really want to come out on top.
Quite frankly, the BD side of things seem to want to capture the market here and Toshiba and the HD-DVD crew appear to really not care about us all that much. We simply don't seem to rate to them when you look at the incredibly late release dates and the fact that their players basically cost the same as BD players here with Toshiba's cheapest HD-DVD player being less than $100 Aus (=$80 US) less than the PS3.
David Aiken
Follow Ups:
The A2 can be found for $250 or less if one looks. They will get cheaper too. The third generation players (3 models) will all be less than $500 list. The Chinese made Venturer line should be coming out in Q4, listing for (hopefully) less than $200.> > > Toshiba/HD DVD may be trying to look after the US but they don't seem to give a damn about the market elsewhere. I've yet to see a HD-DVD player in a shop, I've seen discs in only one location. I've seen BD players in a number of shops and discs in a number as well. < < <
There's a reason for that-here's a rough breakdown of the HDTV market:
US: 60%
Japan: 20%
Europe: 10%
Other: 10%Australia has about 250,000 HDTVs. To put that in perspective, Florida- America's wang, has more HDTVs.
Enjoy,
Jack
The A2 can't be found here either. See my response to Duilawyer for details of the models that can be found.
The figures on the breakdown of the HDTV market don't surprise me, but 40% of the market is outside the US and that's a proportion that can't be ignored with impunity. In addition, that proportion will be rising over time and the US proportion falling, simply due to the respective populations of the US and the rest of the world.
Blu-ray released first in Australia, has players which while still more expensive than HD-DVD players are not significantly more expensive, has more movies released here, andd movie prices seem to be slightly cheaper here as well, possibly because of discounting and sales numbers. None of those factors help HD-DVD here. Repeat that too often in the rest of the world and you bomb in 40% of the world market. If BD does as well in the rest of that 40% as they seem to be doing here, and they continue to do as well in the US as they have been doing, BD will get an overwhelming advantage in player and disc sales.
Not good marketing strategy to rely so heavily on the US in my view.
David Aiken
And Blu-Ray might drop to under $300. We shall see.
Even with $200/$300 players, the mass market might balk at $30 movies.
;0)
That has to be a mistake (or a carrying case is worth an extra $60.00 ??). At that price, even I might succumb to Pre-ordering.
.
1: There's no A20 available in Australia. As far as I know it has never been released here.
2: We have 3 models available from Toshiba. They are the HE-E1 which is $899 Aus (=$728 US), the HP-E10 which is $1099 Aus (=$890 US), and the HE-XE1 which is $1599 Aus (=$1295 US). Those conversions are based on an exchange rate where the Australian dollar = $0.81 US which is roughly what the Australian dollar is worth today. If the Australian dollar goes back up against the US dollar, Toshiba's prices aren't going to come down and the comparison gets even worse.
3: Note that the cheapest Toshiba player in Australia is over twice the price of the A20 in the US.
I doubt we'll see anything significantly cheaper from Toshiba here anytime soon. Oscar's talking rumours of players for US $200 by Christmas. There's probably no hope of Toshiba having a player available in Australia for the equivalent of $600 US by Christmas.
I have to repeat: what price drops? They certainly don't exist where I live and, as I said, there's only around $80 US difference between the cheapest HD-DVD player (the E1) and the cheapest Blu-ray player (the PS3) available here in Australia. HD-DVD is a rip-off here when you compare the prices above to the prices you're quoting.
David Aiken
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