Ask HDBeat: Who else is going to make a HD DVD player?
By Matt Burns 
posted Aug 4th 2006 11:57AM
posted Aug 4th 2006 11:57AM
This happens to be a very common question around here. Who else is going to make a HD DVD player? The only HD DVD player available right now happens to be from Toshiba; well, there is a RCA branded player but it is really just a re-badge from the Toshiba. The HD DVD team isn't a very big one and besides Toshiba as their star player, the only other consumer electronics makers on the roster is Sanyo and NEC. We did peep Sanyo's first HD DVD player at this years CES, but the HD-S100 is nowhere to be seen even though it was suppose to launch earlier this year. The HD DVD bandwagon has an uphill battle to face once Blu-ray gets their ball rolling, they have so many CE manufacturers behind 'em, the market is going to be bombarded with Blu-ray players. Toshiba will have to stand-up and prevail in a big way before any of those Blu-ray team members cross over to the HD DVD camp.
MS is releasing the HD-DVD add on for 360.
The other issue is: where are the HD-DVD burners? You cant release a new optical medium and not support the PC side of it.
The lack of CE companies supporting HD-DVD is a drawback to the initial lead HD-DVD has. We can only hope that the Chinese electronics firms will licence HD-DVD and produce players. The fees for blu-ray will probably be higher and the players more costly to produce.
There is a possibilty some Japanese backers of blu-ray could defect if they sense that they can make more money by going hd-dvd.
here is a link to all the HD DVD companies:
http://www.hddvdprg.com/about/member.html
Im betting Onkyo will come out with one for CES
I bet we'll also see a new config and price point for the 360 with built-in HD-DVD. That's when I'll buy both for the first time. ;)
Expect an announcement of new CE manufacturer support between September 13th and January 8th. Cryptic yet true!
Cryptic? You mean, like CEDIA starts September 13 and CES starts January 8? Yeah, the Allies will never break that code, chief.
Scuttlebutt is that, apart from the current Tosh models and the 360 drive, there will be *no* HD DVD players from anyone before 2007. Even after that, there is supposedly only a non-HDMI 1.3 model upgrade--aka "v1.5"--from Toshiba.
Furthering the pain for HD DVD, rumor is that there will be no fewer than 8 Blu-ray players announced in the same timeframe, some at ~$500 price points.
"There is a possibilty some Japanese backers of blu-ray could defect if they sense that they can make more money by going hd-dvd."
Considering that both the manufacturers and the retailers are marking up Blu-ray hardware, this is highly unlikely. And if Toshiba undercuts by letting the Chinese screw their margins less than a year after launch (it took nearly six years with DVD), you'll see everybody drop HD DVD like Britney Spears' baby.
Is there a lack of HD news that we have to once again get into the weekly battle of who is winning and why? This is the same journalism that we at the begining of the net blasted mainstream media of feeding us filler instead of useful info. IMO
Zombieflanders notice I said “Expect an announcement”
To which you replied:
"there will be *no* HD DVD players from anyone before 2007"
It’s as if you didn’t even read what I said...
So you have first hand knowledge that no CE company will announce HD DVD players in 2006, outside of MS and Toshiba? I hope not because you’d be dead wrong, chief.
Way to take a quote out of context, dude. Hint: look up "scuttlebutt". If you've got any "first hand knowledge," we'd all love to hear it.
Out of that list posted by WiFiSpy i notice the majority of these members are the outcast Consumer Electronics in their respective industries.
NEC and Fujistu nearly if not totally invisible in Laptops and HDTV plasmas in Japan and the United States.
Sanyo... where's Sanyo? other than at Wal-Mart.
RCA. again, where's RCA? Kenwood, a forgotten audio manufacturer.
Mitsubishi, Hitachi and Toshiba the trio that's always late and are never on track with the big boys at Sony and Panasonic. Hitachi and Mitsubishi are not fully dedicated to one format because they are not sure of neither technology.