HD DVD fires back, slashes hardware & software prices

HD DVD's response to being unceremoniously jilted by Warner going into CES was ... nothing. A canceled press conference, downtrodden Toshiba press conference and rumors of further losses left great doubt that red had anything left in 2008, but now HD DVD is firing back. Leveraging its "approximately 50% market share in 2007" -- we're not sure where that number comes from either, we've contacted Toshiba for clarification -- indisputable lead in the notebook market and 100% compatibility with internet-enabled HDi features, Toshiba has announced it is not laying down yet. Effective yesterday, the HD-A3 MSRP has dropped to $149.99, the 1080p-capable HD-A30 to $199.99, and the top of the line HD-A35 to $299.99. Combined with an extended "perfect offer" of 5 free HD DVDs with every purchase, Toshiba's HD DVD Concierge service, and a sudden 50% off sale on Amazon, it seems this format will not go quietly into the dark. Fire sale to clear suddenly obsolete inventory or real chance to hang onto its remaining supporters? This could be the best -- or worst -- time to pick a side in the HD war.

Update: Amazon is also having a 50% off Blu-ray sale, so whatever your format of choice, pick up some discs and let the movie studios know who you rep.

Read - 50% off sale on Amazon (Thanks Jeremy)
Read - Toshiba press release

[Hawkmankt @ Jan 31st 2008 8:33AM]

It does not matter which one of these formats "wins". They both have already lost.

Ever heard of downloading or streaming? You wanna see what's going to "win"??? Check out either iTunes rentals or Netflix "Watch it now".

P.S. I have HD DVD and love it. Oh no, I'll have to possibly pick up a load of movies for next to nothing that play back in the highest resolution ever available in my home. What am I to do???

[808Mel @ Jan 14th 2008 4:16AM]

GO HD DVD!!! GO!!!!

[IndiaTech @ Jan 14th 2008 6:28AM]

Go Where?

[lordebon @ Jan 14th 2008 7:39AM]

Go gentle into that good night, of course.

[E71 @ Jan 14th 2008 7:42AM]

Choose your mode of death.

You've selected slow and horrible.

[Boostjunkie @ Jan 14th 2008 10:41AM]

I'd love to go buy one of those players, but I just sold my Xbox 360 add on drive because I can see where things are going. It doesn't matter how cheap it is if you can't watch movies on it in a few months.

[John B @ Jan 14th 2008 11:50AM]

@Boostjunkie:

AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! WTF is with people like you!?!

"if you can't watch movies on it in a few months." STOP IT! NOW!

FACT: **ALL** HD DVD players upconvert DVDs

FACT: **ALL** HD DVD players play HD DVD

FACT: Even if HD DVD media is no longer sold, **ALL** HD DVD players will continue to play HD DVD and standard DVD media until the day that each unit breaks

FACT: **ALL** statements that HD DVD players will not be able to play anything in the near or distant future are absolutely, positively, 100% WRONG!

Jesus %$@#*^# Christ! If you are the kind of person that was primarily the purchaser of HD DVD, then maybe it deserves to die!

[Joe @ Jan 14th 2008 12:53PM]

@John B.: The gratuitous use of "FACT:" and "**ALL**" do not make a statement more credible. Please learn how to discuss a topic like a proper grown-up.

[jakep_82 @ Jan 14th 2008 1:31PM]

@ John B

What a ridiculous post. What Boostjunkie should have said is; It doesn't matter how cheap it is if you can't watch *new* movies on it in a few months.

Yeah, you can watch DVDs all you want, but I'll venture a guess that 99.9% of people that bought HD DVD players already had a DVD player. They bought it for the HD, not the DVD. No need to jump up and down screaming like a little girl. He forgot one simple word. Get over it.

[John B @ Jan 14th 2008 1:31PM]

Tell that to the BD fanboys who propagate the lies like those that Boostjunkie fell victim to.

[E71 @ Jan 14th 2008 8:09PM]

@John B

I'm pretty sure when they say it won't play movies in the near future, they mean NEW movies (in that studios will soon cease production of HD-DVDs in favor of Blu-ray).

[D @ Jan 15th 2008 3:11PM]

@John B

I'm with you, even if your arguement is a little too focused.

Y'see, here's the problem I see with this move. HD DVD, no matter what any BD fanboy has to say, is the superior format. It beats out Blu-Ray in every aspect SAVE ONE...cost of production. It has superior capacity, superior capability, and a higher pricetag to produce than Blu-Ray. THAT is where Blu-Ray is winning, the studios want to use the format that offers the best cost-benefit scenario. Now, while a price drop at the consumer end MAY give it enough commercial appeal to convince the studios to pick HD-DVD up, that's a very difficult point to position on, as it really leaves everything up to opinion. And when it comes to money, opinion can be VERY short sighted. The best, and safest, move that can be made to bump HD-DVD popularity is to cut the price for studios to produce the movie disks. Problem is, as I don't know the ACTUAL cost of production versus the cost charged to movie makers, I have no idea what the margin is to work with, so a price cut at that end may not be feasible.

*sigh* What a shame. It really pisses me off when Sony dominates with an inferior product.

[eddie_nutritious @ Jan 15th 2008 6:18PM]

To "D":

Are you sure you didn't get the two backwards?

It's pretty widely agreed upon that BD has the higher capacity, while HD-DVD is the more affordable to produce.

[jesster202 @ Jan 14th 2008 4:16AM]

thats right hd dvd will come back i though this would happen this will make it the most affordable why to get hd dvd and is going to come back man you watch it we wont just lay down and give up but i must say i do want this all to be over so i dont have to buy one format for a movie and anouther for my ps3

[m @ Jan 14th 2008 5:15AM]

Cheaper isn't always better. For example, I wished you'd splurged on some punctuation.

[insertAlias @ Jan 14th 2008 9:13AM]

As affordable as it may be, it doesn't matter if there isn't the content to back it up. If HD-DVD looses all its studios, consumers who bought the cheap players are still screwed. A sale like this may fool some consumers into picking a side (if they even knew a war was going on) but when they can't find the movies that they want, they will eventually buy a Blu-Ray player.

btw, I was on HD-DVD's side, but I can see the writing on the wall.

[J. Evans Turner @ Jan 19th 2008 3:39PM]

Splurge on some punctuation... -grammar, and proofreading too!

[Darrol @ Jan 14th 2008 4:18AM]

I feel that I would have to agree with some that this war is still going to be going for a while. Universal and Paramount so far have decided to stay in support of HD-DVD while they are no longer bound to which means they probably have hope for it as well.

Even before the price cut, HD-DVD was pointed at a larger group of people with it's lower price. Not everyone has the money to go out and spend $300 on a player and then another $30 per movie which just limits the amount of people that will purchase Blu-ray.

[Darrol @ Jan 14th 2008 4:24AM]

I have come to realize that the movie studios are focusing on how much has been sold already instead of how much could be sold for that certain format. The people that have Blu-ray are usually the ones that can go buy a new movie in that format when ever they see it.

I was kind of able to compare it to what I learned in Algebra. If you put different ranges of income on a number line, HD-DVD would start lower and be equal or greater than which basically means that group up. Blu-ray would be higher thus they have less than what HD-DVD does because HD-DVD includes those in the Blu-ray section plus some below that.

[William @ Jan 14th 2008 2:55PM]

I'm Truly Not a Fan of Either Camp, Having Both HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray. But wanted to point out, that most of the statistics are based on the likes of US, ie. early Adopters that have to have the lastest and greatest. The True test will come this year as more and more Joe Blow Consumers start heading to Best Buy and Circuit City to replace their ailing tv's before the big switch to digital next Feb.

And being a person that has worked at such places, i must point out that when Joe Consumer goes into Best Buy, or Circuit City and looks between the two, devices the old Argument that my TV says HDTV, so my Player should say HD also might give a small boost to the HD DVD camp. Yet, when our families ask us what to buy we being of the mindset that HD-DVD got its but handed to it at the end of '07, we tell our family to Buy Blu-Ray.

In the End, only Time will tell which will win, but 2008 will be the year that it is decided.

[Mark @ Jan 14th 2008 4:26AM]

I hope this means Blu-ray prices will drop aswell

[James Ollier @ Jan 14th 2008 5:16AM]

Its already started:

http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=24224

[Chebwa @ Jan 14th 2008 4:26AM]

Anybody who buys an HD-DVD player - regardless of price now - is a moron.

Just because something is cheap doesn't make it useful. A cheap doorstop is still just a doorstop. This is them cutting their losses. Not some awesome last hurrah.

[skulldriveshaft @ Jan 14th 2008 4:36AM]

Whatever!!!

HD output with a bunch of movies for CHEAP!!!

Use it until you can't anymore, then grab a 2nd generation combo DVD-RAY player if you MUST.

Get your HD fix now, upgrade your TV to match, see what you like and don't like, make some more choices later.

That's like saying don't buy a ford from last year because they're gonna discontinue the parts for it 5 years from now, I'll be damned if I'm gonna be waiting to test the DVD-RAY output on my eyeballs.

If you can afford it right now, grab a CHEAP HD PLAYER, and see if you even like it on your TV right now, even if you don't like the movies you get to chose from, they will show you what you've been missing from regular DVD :]

[Darrol @ Jan 14th 2008 4:40AM]

If someone wants Universal or Paramount movies in HD then they should buy a HD-DVD player. The format war is not over so by saying don't buy a HD-DVD player now is like saying don't buy a Blu-ray player now. Just because one format has more supporters now does not mean it will in the end of the battle.

[klew @ Jan 14th 2008 4:42AM]

but if that means that a cheap doorstop is as useful as an expensive doorstop, then wouldn't a cheap HD media player be as useful as an expensive HD media player?

[stephenbratz2 @ Jan 14th 2008 6:24AM]

For all those people who got a HDTV for Christmas and have a bunch of SD DVDs and want to upscale them, this is an incredible deal - and they will snap them up even if they do not use them as a HD DVD player. They will wonder why they should pay $350 for a Blu-ray player to do the same job for $200 less. And don't think it will not happen - there are many people out there that buy an HDTV and connect SD cable to their TV and think they are getting HD, so upscaled will do them just fine.

The thing all the Blu boys are missing is that they do not realize that they ended it for themselves as well. There are plenty of people who are die-hard fans that will continue to buy Blu disks, and there are people who will buy HD DVDs as long as they are available. But people will see the confusion in the marketplace. If HD DVD folds, the average, non-fanboy will be concerned about the future of Blu. We geeks may know who (unfortunately) won, but the guy who wants a good picture does not know the difference, to them upscaled is wonderful. If HD fails, then Blu has the same probablility of failing, and they will be just as afraid to buy in.

[michas_pi @ Jan 14th 2008 6:41AM]

If I "buy" a Toshiba HD-DVD player from MyCokeRewards.com for just over 13000 points does that still make me an idiot? :-)

[Ryan Trevisol @ Jan 14th 2008 6:51AM]

Maybe you want to evaluate how much you spent on coke to get it?

[John B @ Jan 14th 2008 9:40AM]

Name one doorstop that (A) plays HD DVD discs that WILL NOT EXPIRE (unlike Circuit City's DIVX) meaning that the media is still good as long as the player lasts, and (B) upconverts EVERY DVD out there and therefore is a great player for those who just want to upconvert DVDs.

This attitude that HD DVD players are "obsolete" or "doorstops" or whatever other childish metaphor that idiots like you seem to enjoy using is nothing short of pathetic. There is not one HD DVD player out there that will be "obsolete" as long as there are regular DVDs out there that people want to upconvert. Get over yourself.

[Tony @ Jan 14th 2008 9:48AM]

But anyone that just bought a non PSP blu-ray player is left with a device that is not fully functional. are they morons when they find out that they will not get the full blu-ray experience?

[Chebwa @ Jan 14th 2008 3:00PM]

HAHAHAHA...!

There are still people holding out for HD-DVD to make a comeback.

THEY'RE CLEANING HOUSE GUYS, NOT COMPETING. God God, you're all like that person in Monopoly who only has $15 and a hotel n Baltic who just won't stop rolling the dice becase there's that 1% chance the other player will land on it 30 times in a row.

IT'S OVER.

[matthew3009 @ Jan 15th 2008 12:59AM]

For all of you saying "Buy this because it will work as a upconverting DVD player" don't be ridiculous, if your so worried about cost, there are $90 upconverting DVD players at Walmart save yourself $60.

[skulldriveshaft @ Jan 14th 2008 4:27AM]

AWESOME - They're using Wal-Mart tactics, to increase their volume throughput at Wal-Mart.

People will spend money, loads of it, if you give them movies CHEAP, and the hardware CHEAP!

Those bins full of DVD's from times long since forgotten still get a stirring from people who are curious.

"Complete HD packages with awesome titles" are great for the sales reps padding their month end commission cheques, they know you'll BUY BUY BUY when you're new to HD and they can throw in a stack of movies for ya :]

I hope Blu-Ray does the same SLASH AND BURN style market tactics, who's going to BLEED for what they believe in?!?!?

Personally, the dollars in my pocket will be deciding what hardware to grab, and usually the kind that leaves more dollars in my pocket wins!

[David @ Jan 14th 2008 4:37AM]

FIRE SALE!!! Quick, unload all this useless crap!

[Jeff @ Jan 14th 2008 9:40AM]

Yup. This is called a closeout.

My bet is Toshiba has already thrown in the towel and is clearing inventory. Of course, they can't announce that or they'd never make any of the money back on these already-produced units.

[SteveMB @ Jan 14th 2008 3:27PM]

Or maybe they're trying to get more of the market share?

[namtastic @ Jan 14th 2008 5:42PM]

Cheap HD is a marketing oxymoron, and HD DVD has been fighting this uphill battle since the moment they thought to target a budget-conscious audience that is perfectly happy with DVD as it is today, and is enjoying new, lower-fi video in the internet at the same time.

As someone else noted a while ago, the only reason why VHS vs. Beta was so legendary was because there was nothing else to fall back to. Anyone truly budget-conscious is going to wait happily for a clear winner. Anyone who is willing to *splurge* is, generally speaking, going to go for what is perceived to be the premium product.

If Sony wins this battle, it will be because they knew the DVD market was too healthy to convince the "average Joe" to upgrade yet -- and for right now an HD format needs to be marketed as brand-new, cream-of-the-crop object.

HD DVD being discounted like this probably won't work, it will like make the format appear discontinued and liquidated.

[Jeff @ Jan 14th 2008 4:45AM]

Its funny, the only thing that swayed the general public to side with Blu-Ray was the 50GB vs 30GB argument. Despite it being the death of customer rights.

[klew @ Jan 14th 2008 4:49AM]

and we haven't even seen that extra space put to use for tv series yet

[Jamesology @ Jan 14th 2008 5:26AM]

Not yet at least. But with this much space the future is bigger. Devs have more to work with. There's a reason why PC games are not on CD-rom no more. As technology advances it will need more space to work with. It seems like technology is moving fast.

I said it before and I'll say it again, I personally see no difference between the two format. The only reason I use Blu Ray is b/c it came with my PS3. If my 360 had HD-DVD built in, I probably would of gone that direction. Also, these extra feature ppl keep talking about, I believe is useless. Most ppl are tired after a late night movie and just sit the sack, not playing with features.

[Xzavier @ Jan 14th 2008 8:59AM]

Jamesology

I'm just curious... Did you post your comment via your cell phone?

[prouted @ Jan 14th 2008 5:01AM]

RIP HD DVD... this is the end for you !!!

[m @ Jan 14th 2008 5:22AM]

"rip"-- interesting choice of words. despite banana boat's convincing argument, i still think that's what the studios are afraid of.

[Luis @ Jan 14th 2008 4:53AM]

yeah, and when people see these prices they are going to go ask their son or relative who knows about all of this stuff (family geek) and ask if its worth it. And you know what we say?

HD DVD IS DEAD! Buy a Blu Ray player!

HAHA, we have the power!

[BananaBoat @ Jan 14th 2008 4:55AM]

Where all the idiots got the idea that HD-DVD wasn't just as DRM'd up as Blu-Ray, I have no idea. The same idiots still believe whole heartedly that Sony is the sole owner of Blu-Ray. And yes, I know BD+ is there, but DRM is freaking DRM.

Anyway, I think this is more of a they-did-it now-we-have-to sale. Amazon has had deals on blu-ray movies (some as low as 15 bucks I believe) for awhile now. It would have been suicide if they weren't to offer similar deals on HD-DVD movies.

I don't think this format war will end until...well...it begins. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are still in the dominion of enthusiast electronics. Most people still don't have, or want, either format. It's looking more and more like the choice might be made for them though.

I'd hate it if they based their decision on idiotic ideas, such as blu-ray being "anti-consumer" when compared to HD-DVD, or owned by Sony, or any of the other desperate garbage that HD-DVD fans spew across the internet. I own both players, (In the form of a PS3, and HD-DVD add-on for 360), and honestly I could care less which format wins, but to deny that blu-ray has a gigantic lead is...well...stupid.

[newgalactic @ Jan 14th 2008 12:30PM]

DRM is DRM, but Sony formats/media tend to have more of it. Even their DVD's (Casino Royale) are harder to backup then those from other studios. And do I have to mention rootkits? Sony tends to be very pro-DRM, and that trend is continuing with BD. I'll choose the standard with the lower theoretical storage limit over the one that will probably be more restrictive. That's the trend I've seen with Sony formats so far, and I've seen no evidence that anything will change.

[Sageco @ Jan 14th 2008 4:58AM]

Bah, its as good as done.

This recent action is a sign of some desperation on the part of Toshiba, the irony is that it would be impossible for them to support prices like this for any prolonged period of time, so any potential gain they stand to make would be moot once their forced to raise the prices to more financially bearable levels. It would be especially difficult if sony and the rest of the blu camp followed suit.

That leaves only one of three possible tactics:
1.)Their willing to sustain marketing at a loss for a prolonged period of time, seriously hurting their annual profits.
2.)Thier willing to return the war to the status quo; that is, a stalemate, by selling hd-dvd stock quickly
3.)The goal is just to bail out with as little loss as is manageable; ie: fire sale

[nathan @ Jan 14th 2008 4:11PM]

I hope it's #3. Yes, and I'm in the red camp, but I can see the writing on the wall. It's over.

OT: Null Profusion! wooo... That card is hard to build a deckaround though.

[Joe @ Jan 14th 2008 5:02AM]

Awesome.
Obsolete hardware on sale !