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Jose_R.A.M
07-03-2006, 01:15 PM
Jiji Press
07/03/06 7:53 AM PT

Samsung Electronics of South Korea brought the first Blu-ray player to market last week. Sony, Matsu****a Electric Industrial and other companies plan to start selling their Blu- ray players this fall.

Toshiba is selling its first player compatible with the next-generation high definition DVD disc format at a price far below the manufacturing cost in an apparent bid to build a huge lead over a rival group supporting another format, market research company iSuppli Japan K.K. said Friday.

In an analysis report, iSuppli estimated the manufacturing cost of Toshiba's HD-A1 player, sold for US$499 in the United States, at $700 or higher.

Aggressive Pricing

The research firm figured out the cost by dismantling the player to find out what components are used and adding up the prices of the components.


Toshiba's aggressive pricing for the player, put on the market in March, probably reflects the company's effort to expand sales before Sony (NYSE: SNE) and other firms promoting the Blu-ray Disc format launch their players.


The first Blu-ray player was brought to market last week by Samsung Electronics of South Korea.


Sony, Matsu****a Electric Industrial (NYSE: MC) and other companies plan to start selling their Blu- ray players this autumn.
Format Compatibility

iSuppli forecasts that combined shipments of HD DVD and Blu-ray players will expand to 65 million units in 2010, up from an estimated 1.6 million units in 2006.


It is not clear which of HD DVD and Blu-ray discs will turnout to be the prevailing format, the research firm said.


It predicts players compatible with both formats will arrive on the market within 2006.

carcomptoy
07-03-2006, 08:33 PM
We'll see how this goes...it's mighty risky. But that's how American mentalities are, so perhaps it'll work. The average joe'll be like "they're both HD, but HD-DVD is cheaper than BluRay so I'll pick the first one" haha That is, if they actually go out shopping for High Definition media.:cool:

vx2
07-03-2006, 11:19 PM
Not as much loss as Blu-Ray is going to take... ;)

Jose_R.A.M
07-04-2006, 12:30 AM
We'll see how this goes...it's mighty risky. But that's how American mentalities are, so perhaps it'll work. The average joe'll be like "they're both HD, but HD-DVD is cheaper than BluRay so I'll pick the first one" haha That is, if they actually go out shopping for High Definition media.:cool:

I think the name will really help it for general consumers. We discussed this factor in crayze's "Blu-ray another sony flop" thread.

I havent heard journalists/tech sales people talk about Blu-ray much, if at all. More about HD-DVD to go with their HD ready TVs.

Im not sure people will even realise the difference and just go for something thats:

a. already available
b. cheaper than blu-ray

carcomptoy
07-04-2006, 12:59 AM
Yeah it helps that it has DVD in HD-DVD...BluRay to people seems like a completely different thing and so it'll intimidate them and prevent them from even exploring it.