Video Asylum

It'll be hard for any retailer to sell HD DVD soon...word is that Toshiba will drop it

12.146.151.254

Jazz Inmate

In Reply to: RE: Another major retailer (Wal-Mart) to go Blu-ray exclusive... posted by Russell on February 15, 2008 at 08:56:09

Toshiba to drop HD DVD, sources say
Company says no decision has been made
By Thomas K. Arnold and Erik Gruenwedel
Feb 15, 2008

The format war has turned into a format death watch.

Toshiba is widely expected to pull the plug on its HD DVD format sometime in the coming weeks, reliable industry sources say, after a rash of retail defections that followed Warner Home Video's announcement in early January that it would support only the rival Blu-ray Disc format after May.

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"I have found that if you love life, life will love you back." -Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982)

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/home_entertainment/video/e3ib77125d96b22e8601c4db951ac47ca5d (Open in New Window)

Follow Ups:

Bingo (nt) - Jack G 10:59:16 02/15/08 (4)
.
- Did you catch this? - Jazz Inmate 12:00:43 02/15/08 (3)
  "But in the end, sources say, the substantial loss Toshiba is incurring with each HD DVD player sold -- a figure sources say could be as high as several hundred dollars -- coupled with a series of high-profile retail defections has driven the company to at last concede defeat."
  
  That's hard for me to believe. I could see they might be losing $10 on the player if it's discounted to $139, but I doubt it costs Toshiba much more than that to mass produce those things. Losing "hundreds of dollars" per sale? I doubt it.
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  "I have found that if you love life, life will love you back." -Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982)
  - Perhaps they were thinking of the first gen players. (nt) - Jack G 14:24:02 02/15/08 (0)
    .
  - I saw it - Jack G 13:52:17 02/15/08 (0)
    Not sure I believe it though.
  - I probably means.. - Prisoners 13:29:57 02/15/08 (0)
    when factoring the total costs of the HD-DVD format including R+D that they were losing money on every player sold from day one even at full list price. When you consider discounted players it's even more of a loss. I'll bet the long-term goal was to make money on the players but it would've taken a few years to off-set the intial expense. Obviously that won't happen now, so the loss per unit sold is probably more than the retail price that it sold for. Therefore a couple hundred dollars each is reasonable.
    Baba-Booey to you all!

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