HD DVD: Toshiba's $986 Million Loss

What's SOOOOO funny is that all this time I've been sitting on the sidelines awaiting a winner, not really even CARING because I rarely even buy DVDs, since I hardly have time to watch all the TV I time-shift. I've also made the case that DVDs were mostly "good enough," anyway, and also that Blu-Ray was probably superior and would likely win the war, and in the interim got a "decent" upscaling DVD player for about $40 on Black Friday 2006.

BUT, with HD-DVD now closing out at such LOW prices, AND the remaining movie stock closing out at similarly low prices, I'm VERY TEMPTED to get one of the "defunct" players for my OTHER HD TV (the bigger, better of the two), as both an upscaler, and as a chance to get at least A FEW true Hi-Def movies.

At present, I'll likely NEVER be able to afford either Blu-Ray players OR the movies at full price, and both my HD sets are 720P, and I'm unlikely to upgrade to 1080P anytime soon, so getting one of these closeouts just "might be it," lol
Jeff

This is a serious problem we the consumer have to take action to keep our liberty to choose from what is best for everyone. Consumers never had a chance to decide or understand what DVD format they preferred. Many consumers got ripped off now that Blue-Ray is going to be the sole format and why do we get only one choice?, because SONY owns owns movie studios and has money and influences in Hollywood decided in their own benefit? Xbox360 customers are very upset. Toshiba sold many HD DVD Players already, so they are scr**ed now. Consumers should always have choices. Sony has a monopoly going on here. It?s Microsoft?s history repeating itself over again. Sony owns several movie studios and approached many companies with incentives and discounts if companies agreed to go with Blue-Ray format only. Samsung was making a dual player and then stopped, they agreed to only build the Blue-Ray format players. What about all the computers that have HD DVD drives already installed in them? The owners are in a bad situation now. We went to Mutiformat drives before, so why can?t we accomodate different formats again without emptying the consumer?s bank account. Sony is not an American company. The U.S. has to have other alternatives. Sony got over on everyone with the PS2, re-done twice Models 3000, then 5000 and to a smaller version because of design problems and we all had to buy the next units again full price. Our Government has to step in and make laws that protect the consumer from monopolies like what Sony has just created with Blue-Ray. I say, give HD VMD a place in this market. Hollywood should not dictate to consumers. I knew this problem was coming, but when Sony was disappointed with their low PS3 sales, they played dirty. Sony keeps saying they are losing money on every PS3 console, but yet they now have profited near 2 billion lately. Recently Sony just anounced a price cut this upcoming Christmas ?08. Each Blue-Ray movie costs around $23-$25. Even the . blue-ray media disc costs just as much. One format affects our computers, dvd players, recorders, and camcorders, as well as our Flat screen TVs. Allow others to do business in this arena. Let the consumer make their own decisions. Many consumers are angry and confused. They are not going to pay these Sony prices. Sony has other developments that will later play into their monopoly. A foreign company should not be the sole DVD Technology for the U.S.A. It?s never to late to make things right. The Courts need to decide what is in the best interest for Consumers. The stand alone Blue-Ray players need added Audio hardware to acquire the Audio quality in HD. The PS3 is the only console that can have firmware updates, but the gamepad has to be used to play and use features in Blue-Ray Movies. Stand Alone players will need remotes like ?Harmony? to use advanced features. A Harmony remote costs $79-$99 dollars. We must have other choices that give us the same results: watching High Definition Movies using players that are affordable for everyone. DO NOT LET SONY GET AWAY WITH THIS MONOPOLY. If we boycott Blue-Ray, we will get more choices we all deserve as consumers. Did you know Sony?s Audio format is ?ATRAC?? Which is used on the PSP and Mini-Disc Walkman. High Definition can be acquired from your Cable, Satelite or Broadband TV Providers already available. Write to your congressman where you live to fix this mess. Our economy is not doing well. Imagine what the Sony games will cost. What about repairs and warranties from another country? It all adds up to unaffordable Media Entertainment. Make a difference, Be heard!!!

GilinSC, you make some good points here, and you are right. HD-DVD needed more posts like this before they got shut down by Sony. However, Sony was out there lining the pockets of movie execs and the HD-DVD camp should have been doing the same thing.

Great use of the CAPS lock on the first comment, I wouldn't have been able to UNDERSTAND what you wrote without it...

HD DVD was a complete standard from the beginning.

BD was rushed to market because they needed to catch HD DVD before the market was established. So BD players are incomplete, and early BD players will never have the functions of Profile 2 players. When Profile 2 finally ships BD will have similar capabilities to first generation HD DVD players.

BD wins because Sony paid Warner Brother $400 million to go exclusive BD. Warner Brothers was the most profitable studio during the time they made movies for both platforms. BD won not because of quality, but because of exclusive contracts.

Huge price drops for HD players in the last year, free movies to buy a player, buy one get one, buy two get one deals are all gone. BD players have increased in price an average $96 in the last two months. Sony announced their next new BD players with last year's pre-sale price tag.

What a great win for the consumer.

GilinSC - Not a very valid rant. HD DVD was first to market. They had an advantage which they squandered. Also, Paramount was paid to go exclusive to HD DVD and Universal was also exclusive to HD DVD so the advantages of Sony here were negated. Also all the movie houses (Except Sony) were releasing titles on both formats and at the begining HD DVD titles were coming out first.

Second. Microsoft is an American Company! They said they were going to support HD DVD, but then never put the drive in their players and made it an afterthought purchase. How is that support! Sony developed a new console that played the high-def format and was backward compatible.

Third. The consumer and market place did decide. With their wallets and purchases. Blu-Ray titles were far outselling their HD DVD counterparts. This can only be due to consumer demand and not what any company forces onto the market. This is what the American capital model is based on.

All I can say is wow GilinSC... Get back to class and keep furthering your education...you need it.

Blu-Ray was decided by the consumer plain and simple.

Yea... Um... The PSP is a multiformat music player also... ATRAC is not needed. Sony recognized that people are not going to want to be converting music to their proprietary format. GilinSC.. You should really read some information before going on with the mindless drivel you posted above

Admittedly, at 63 I?m not what one would refer too as ?tech savvy?. So I?m in need of someone?s kind explanation. I bought a Toshiba A-30 last fall and do enjoy it. With the advent of Toshiba?s exit from the HD venue, would it be possible for some enterprising individual to come up with an upgrade to allow the HD players to process the Blu-Ray format as well? Panasonic, I think, has a player that will play both. If that could happen, those of us that have the HD players could enjoy both. True, Sony wouldn?t sell a player but those of us that have an HD player would have an economical alternative and could purchase and enjoy the Blu-Ray also.

The key to fixing ignorance is education, so if one or more of you that are up on this, some education would be appreciated.
BP in TN

The comments here about SONY having a near "monopoly" aren't supported by what I see around me every day. My observation is that there are very few industries where the competition is as fierce as it is in electronics. And if SONY "won" by offering discounts, paying companies to endorse Blu-Ray, etc.. . . that's called "marketing". How, for example, do you think AMD got so many computer manufacturers who had used nothing but Intel CPUs for years to take a chance on their CPUs?

I suspect that the commenters making these statements are young. I'm only ? year away from my 70th birthday, so I've been around long enough to know some things they probably don?t. Us old folks remember a nearly identical format war 30-40 years ago between video tape formats ? Beta Max and VHS. Beta Max was superior in just about every way, but lost because the VHS supporters did a better job of marketing. And guess what company invented Beta Max and lost major bucks when it lost the war? SONY!

You are exactly right KNRover, Sony has lost the battle of the format wars once before and they have learned from their mistakes, and took the huge risks. Toshiba developed a technology that was based on current DVD's, they rushed it to market spent to beat Blue Ray. If you look at how much money Sony spent in R&D, the problems they had with the new drives cost huge setbacks which also cost them mega bucks. They dropped the price of their ps3's knowing full well that just as a retail store creates loss leaders they would gain that money back in media.
For the first 2 years of this war, those that jumped ship on the HD DVD waggon are fools, I use that term sparingly But I'll explain why, with so much to lose Sony went all in, They developed a far superior product that will actually make a difference for big movie companies against the online options that consumers have.
The consumer doesn't want multiple media options its too expensive and the PS3 was the tipping point!

Amen, Kman!!! Good point KNRover but I'm only 40 and I remember the Beta Max vs VHS format war (it was only 30 years ago). GilinSC is way off the mark. Sony does not and will not control the content that goes onto blu ray discs. They simple hold the patent for the technology format much like JVC held the patent for the VHS video tape format. My guess is GilinSC is a paranoid delusionist.