RSSThe true mark of Blu-ray's success, a Toshiba player
By Tim Conneally | Published July 20, 2009, 2:46 PM
Toshiba may finally be surrendering to the power of Blu-ray, if anonymous sources to Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun are to be believed.
The paper says that Toshiba will release its own Blu-ray player by the end of 2009, a move that would be the clearest call of Blu-ray's success since Toshiba ceased HD DVD production early last year, and ended the long high definition format war.
Toshiba remains one of the only major consumer electronics manufacturers not to have joined the Blu-ray Disc Association. When Blu-ray took the dominant market position and Toshiba retired HD DVD, the company announced that it had no plans to manufacture Blu-ray players. Instead, Toshiba briefly took a swipe at pushing top-tier upconverting DVD players.
One year later, Toshiba's marketing push for XDE upconverting DVD players has dwindled, manufacturing costs for Blu-ray players have dropped, and the market is still forecasting tremendous growth. It is still an opportune time for Toshiba to produce its first Blu-ray player and fill out its lineup of home theater solutions.
The timeframe noted in the article suggests that a Toshiba Blu-ray product could enter the market during the holiday shopping season, which is expected to deliver a substantial boom in Blu-ray adoption.
During last year's holiday season, standalone Blu-ray players fell in price by around 15%, and there was a corresponding uptick in consumer adoption. Futuresource Consulting predicts that there will be another drop in price this year, but it will be even greater, knocking 25% off of existing prices.
A Harris Interactive poll released last June (.pdf here) showed that 43% of those surveyed said they were waiting for Blu-ray prices to come down before they purchased their first player. With store-brand Blu-ray players now hitting the magic $99 price point for the first time, and many brand name players falling below $200, Toshiba could be entering a market primed for a Blu-ray explosion, provided it delivers a product at an appropriate price.
Statements from Toshiba and the Blu-ray Disc Association are pending.
Not sure what prices your talking about. Same price as dvd's were in 2000. And even now ne releases on dvd are insane. In some cases the BD's were lower. Now older dvds. yes you can get them for $4 or under, although I've gotten a few BD's for $5
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|I like Blu Ray, but it's doomed to fail. High movie prices are killing this format and the fact that most people have no clue that you need an HDTV to enjoy it. My father in law went out and bought a BD player, then hooked it up component to his 480i set. (sigh).
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|I'm reading this news all over the place but I have my doubts.
A Japanese newspaper says Toshiba has made this announcement so how come nobody is producing a Toshiba press release or Toshiba announcement.
Suspicious pro-Blu-ray 'news' after the recent run of articles showing it is not doing so well?
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|It's not likely doing as well as the group had hoped. I still have my doubts about the players being able to handle everything, just like when HD DVD was still alive. The Blu-Ray specification is a moving target and the only safe player at the time was the one inside Playstation 3 because it could have its firmware upgraded.
A lot of people I know are satisfied with plain old television, so moving up to a better format doesn't matter a lot. I wouldn't be surprised to hear them complain that they can't use composite video outputs and that component video cables are too expensive.
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|Not really seeing this as a big deal like the media is pushing it to be. (Not that the media *ever* sensationalizes anything). It was not a matter of if but of when with Toshiba.
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|I think if I ever buy a new DVD player it'll just be an upconverting one. I am tired of playing the new-format game so BR won't be coming to my house. The only good thing BR has done is push down the price of regular DVDs.
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