By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
Today Toshiba rolled out its first HD DVD players in Japan, becoming the first company to offer one of the next-generation (HD DVD or Blu-ray) optical disc players. The price in Japan is expected to be 110,000 yen ($940).
Sony aims to offer Blu-ray-based players in the United States for around $1,000 in July.
The Japan launch of Toshiba’s HD DVD players will be followed by the U.S. debut in April.
Toshiba, Japan’s second-largest electronics conglomerate, is set to offer two models of HD DVD players, the HD-XA1 and HD-A1, in the United States for $799 and $499, respectively. Source: Reuters
We Say: I’m not in the mood for another standards war, like Betamax vs. VHS, so I’m sitting this one out for a while. Hopefully prices will drop as I wait.
What makes them think ANYONE will buy this stuff for $1000? No HD movies are yet available, and they will be (of course) overpriced. All this for a device that lets studios restrict video output to lower quality than a DVD. Let me know when the price drops to $45, then I’ll consider it.
$1000/$940!?!?! Give me a break. Sure, if this was groundbreaking new technology I could understand, but this is just a natural evolution of the DVD… Change the laser, change the media, and voila… $200, $300 tops.
Ahwell… Like Netsurfer said… $45… Should only be a 5yr wait till then.
I agree – I will wait until the format has been worked out! I remember the Betamax crap, and do not want to pay a fortune for a machine that will be useless.
I didnt hear of the $499 offering though, I will have to look that one up.
Movies will be WAY overpriced, but hopefully within a year or 2 will come down to around $20-$25
Mike
I havn`t seen one comment, on any site, from someone who is going to buy this crap. Also havn`t seen this much negative feedback about a product before it has even been launched. The Movie industry has destroyed this with there so called “copy protection”. For all the real Infos, check out http://www.hdboycott.com