Toshiba drops HD DVD MSRP, effective 4/1/07
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Mar 20th 2007 10:46AM
posted Mar 20th 2007 10:46AM
At just about the one year anniversary of the format war, it looks like Toshiba is throwing the next punch. HD DVD will be one step closer to that magic price point of $299, with that latest update of the MSRP of their HD DVD players. According to a few retailers at the AVSFroum on April 1st Toshiba will change the MSRP and the least expensive model; the A2 will now have an MSRP of $399. The A2 isn't the only model with a new price, as the other two models see a drop as well, the A20 will be $499 and finally the high end model, the XA2 for $799. So if price was the only thing stopping you from getting in the HD DVD game and the Xbox360 add-on just isn't your style, then now might just be the time. Of course some of you will still be waiting for the $600 Blu-ray player instead.
[Thanks, WiFiSpy]
WOW, this is huge. Factor in sales, rebates, etc and it can be had for under $400! BRD's fanboys always argued about the PS3, well no more 20gb, (at Best Buy) so that makes the cheapest player $600. Still a $200 advantage for HDDVD. I've always thought price (hardware and software) will determine the winner, NOT titles or numbers. Who cares if BRD has the 2 movies you want IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD THE PLAYER!!
Player prices will ALWAY come down. The same can't be said of content migrating over to the competitors platform. So if BR has 2 movies that I want, wait a year. The price for a player will be at the same price HD-DVD is right now. In point of fact wasn't it last month that Sony announced that their low end BR player was going? What was it? $500? $400? At these price point $100 doesn't make a hell of a lot of difference. Seriously. Think about it. Most people who are by HD right now have bling. They can afford this kinda crap. Its more upper middle class prices that we are seeing right now. If someone is planning on going HD and one platform has the movies they want $100 ain't going to be that much of a barrier.
Do you really think $200 is really that much to someone who probably dropped over 2k on a 1080p HDTV (or whatever amount on any HDTV for that matter). Some people drop that much on the HDMI cables alone.
Price wars = consumer wins....
This is necessary if HD DVD is to have more of a chance at winning this thing. Having the least expensive players is nice, but how about some more announced and dated content... These price drops are really going to help prices on both sides!
Price is meaningless without content. I can have a $199 player and it means exactly dick if the movies I want are on the competing platform. I REALLY hate saying this but unless the HD-DVD camp can convince soe of the studios to at the very least release content on both platforms they are doomed. Right now $400 is tempting however, again, HD-DVD doesn't have what I'm looking for. Hell neither camp does. I'm not replacing my entire collection with HD content. I would say out of 500 movies I'd be interested in about 50-100 movies to be replaced with HD content. I mean really. Do I need to watch CSI or Stargate in HD? But Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jaws, ID4, Last Samurai, Aliens, LOTR...Movies that have a real atmosphere to them. Hell yes I want in HD.
But we/I am not not talking about us, the early adapters. I'm talking J6P. And yes, $100 does mean EVERYTHING to J6P. Gas prices, mortgage rates, inflation, etc, $100 is huge. You are forgetting the WAF. The wife who is asking "why? when that one is $100 less and we can get Charley that cute iPod mini for the same price".
$100 is huge and that Sony player isn't out yet, this cut should take place rather quickly (can't recall from the article off hand tho)
A sincere question: Who/what determined that $299 is the "magic price point"?
That's a price that most people can afford. Not sure if the iPod made that price as standard, or if DVD did. I remember DVD didn't really bloom until it was under $400. Then really took off at $199, and then at $99 and down everyone now has one.
A2 is already at $399 at jr.com
I hope retailers drop the price by the same amount, Amazon is selling the HD-A2 for $350 right now, another $100 price drop would make it a nice little way to spend $250.
I'd pay the extra $50 over the 360 addon for a proper Set-top.
Yes, $200 matters to Bob down the street because now that he put his family into further debt to get that HDTV, he can't convince his wife to drop $600 on a game console. She says the cheaper one or nothing at all. Just because people are suckered into spending $200 on cables (which is a must) doesn't mean they would willing spend $200 more for the SAME THING. There are no advantages to spending $200 more. And if you are NOT a gamer, then it's really even a pointless argument because Bill the office manager wants HD DVDs but doesn't play video games, so why would he spend $200 for a Playstation? He wouldn't. He'd look at the Samsung, and the Toshiba, the price tag and then go with the logical purchase and help Toshiba put Sony to rest.
As for $200 on juts HDMI cables, that's more idiotic than anything. Monoprice.com you can get a 50' for under $100. $200 Monster cable gets you 6 feet, LOL.
This is good and bad...going to $299 is a lot cheaper, but do you then get the moniker as the "cheap" high definition player?
Please.. I just got a BluRay player for $499 from Samsung. The BluRay movies can be had for $15 and up on Amazon.com
You know, if they would start focusing on recordable computer drives they could get a HUGE jump on Blu-ray. This would be an excellent medium for computer backup, and the lower price would put it in a decent range to be competitive with external hard drives.
Highest Ranked.
I won't buy either for a long time, HD DVD has a lack of support right now and I don't want to support Sony and their Bentley of a console.
Hopfully Warner Bros will change their terrible policy on releasing their movies at the same time on HD DVD and BD after this news. Why the heck do we have to wait for Blu-Ray to finish developing their incomplete machines before we HD DVD owners can enjoy the "Matrix" films. "Harry Potter" films and "Blood Diamond".
HD DVD has all that is needed to veiw these films, so lets roll em' out already!
It's not fair and Warner should know we care!
You can actually obtain Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on HD-DVD if you're willing to do some importing, as it was released in the UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Harry-Potter-Goblet-Fire-DVD/dp/B000K0YPNI