New Chinese Involvement Could Trigger HD DVD Price Plunge Options

[0794]

the race to the "golden" $99 hi-def player will be made much easier with the chinese developing a standard that is compatible with hd-dvd. even if the quality is cheap of their units, the average consumer wants cost-effective choices and so with this new development, HD-DVD is really placed into a very very advantageous position over blu-ray.

now it will be interesting to see how the chinese want to market this new standard outside of their own country - or if they even are planning on that...

[NoMention]

This won't really affect those people that are audiophiles or videophiles. However, it will allow consumers to drive which one really succeeds. If you look back at DVD, it wasn't the technology that entirely drove it. DVD was really for those same elites until it was China and other cheap manufactures that came out with the low budget players.

Anyone that has been to Wal-Mart over the past 4 years has certainly seen their Apex DVD player that was like $50. I bought a $300 Toshiba player years ago that is still better than most DVD players today however for the average Wal-Mart shopper, they are going to base their purchase first on price and then on quality. If Wal-Mart and China can pump thousands of these cheap HD-DVD players into the homes of the consumers, you will see a major shift. Those exclusive backers of Blu-Ray like Disney would recognize that the vast majority of people would then be HD-DVD operational and you will see how fast they jump off the Blu-Ray bandwagon.

I already have embraced HD-DVD and my point here is not to get into a heated argument. The same logic above would entirely ensure Blu-Rays success if there were inexpensive Blu-Ray players. However, it looks like Sony is doing the same thing that they did with Betamax, Mini-Disc and now Blu-Ray. They are trying to BRAND their way into people's homes. We all know that 1080p is 1080p and the difference between a Blu-Ray and HD-DVD movie are miniscule at best. Mini-Disc was an awesome technology. I loved it. The downside was that it was expensive and seemed too elitist. The average consumer would not embrace it due to its cost. I would think that Sony would have learned from the past. I think they are still stuck in the Sony Discman mindset where everyone would just have to have one. That was 20 years ago. Get with the times....

This post has been edited by NoMention: Sep 9 2007, 06:52 PM

[Software2]

The HD-DVD spec includes 3 layers to begin with, all players are capable of reading an added layer. At worst, a firmware upgrade would be required.
The Blu-Ray spec only calls for 2 layers, so for a 3rd layer to be added, only new players would play 3 layer discs. Leaving PS3 owners and older standalone players........well, screwed.

Layers? What? The article is talking about the differences in codec that CH-DVD has. Current players won't be able to play it. It's better than region locking!

[0794]

However, it looks like Sony is doing the same thing that they did with Betamax, Mini-Disc and now Blu-Ray. They are trying to BRAND their way into people's homes. We all know that 1080p is 1080p and the difference between a Blu-Ray and HD-DVD movie are miniscule at best. Mini-Disc was an awesome technology. I loved it. The downside was that it was expensive and seemed too elitist. The average consumer would not embrace it due to its cost. I would think that Sony would have learned from the past. I think they are still stuck in the Sony Discman mindset where everyone would just have to have one. That was 20 years ago. Get with the times....

i completely agree with the fact that Sony has not learned from its past mistakes...

and i, too, really, really enjoyed the Mini-Disc as well - it was a really nice technology...especially at that time...

[TGD]

Exactly what I was thinking

Actually 90% of electronic components in very high end products are made in china..

About the news..good, im glad HD DVD still has a fighting chance

This post has been edited by TGD: Sep 10 2007, 03:26 AM

[DarkSky Forever]

I welcome a big price drop In the hd world. But I will stay away from anything chinese. They forgot to look up the difinition of quality in that country. All I can say is cheap cheap cheap!

Most consumer electronics you buy today are Chinese.

Most goods are you buy are Chinese.

Most brand names you associate with 'quality' are manufactured in China.

[Coolpplse]

Layers? What? The article is talking about the differences in codec that CH-DVD has. Current players won't be able to play it. It's better than region locking!

HD-DVD doesnt have region locking from the start unlike Blu-Ray. Region A for America