Home Video Asylum

TVs, VCRs, DVD players, Home Theater systems and more.

What price drops?

Here in Australia the cheapest Toshiba I've heard of, the HD-E1, retails for $899 Aus and the top of the range, the HD-EX1, for $1599 Aus according to the latest issue of one of our magazines. I can't confirm the prices because I've yet to see one in a shop. As a comparison, the cheapest PS3 here goes for just under $1000 Aus, the Sony BDP-S300 for $1099 Aus when it's released here next month, and the LG BH100 dual format player for $1599 Aus.

Toshiba/HD-DVD launched in Australia 2 months AFTER BD, and around 6 months after it launched in the US. BD launched very quickly after the US launch. HD DVD players aren't markedly cheaper than a lot of BD players here.

Toshiba/HD DVD may be trying to look after the US but they don't seem to give a damn about the market elsewhere. I've yet to see a HD-DVD player in a shop, I've seen discs in only one location. I've seen BD players in a number of shops and discs in a number as well.

I don't know what's happening in markets other than the US and Australia but the same thing isn't happening in both of those markets and I suspect that's probably the case elsewhere. Toshiba/HD-DVD doesn't seem to care about markets outside the US from what I see here and that simple fact may bring them down. The US is a huge single market but the market elsewhere is probably larger overall and they need to start considering other places as well if they really want to come out on top.

Quite frankly, the BD side of things seem to want to capture the market here and Toshiba and the HD-DVD crew appear to really not care about us all that much. We simply don't seem to rate to them when you look at the incredibly late release dates and the fact that their players basically cost the same as BD players here with Toshiba's cheapest HD-DVD player being less than $100 Aus (=$80 US) less than the PS3.


David Aiken


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