Price drops lift HD DVD player sales
MAY 29 | Toshiba’s recent price drop on its HD DVD players and aggressive retailer pricing over the holiday weekend have driven up sales as much as tenfold at some retailers.
Costco is selling Toshiba's low-end HD DVD player for $249.99. Photo by Tyler Pruitt
Since Toshiba began offering a $100 instant rebate on HD DVD players last month, sales have grown between fivefold and tenfold, depending on the retailer, said Jodi Sally, VP of marketing for Toshiba America Consumer Products.
“We’re thrilled to see that consumers are, by far, choosing Toshiba’s HD DVD players as their source for high-definition,” Sally said.
On May 20, Toshiba began offering the rebate on select HD DVD player models, effectively slashing the price on the bottom line HD-A2 model to $299.
Amazon.com cut the price even further, to as low as $238 over Memorial Day weekend. The lower price shot up the player to be the top-selling DVD player on the site, a spot previously held by the Oppo up-converting DVD player, which sells for $229.
The HD-A2 player price was back up to $299 on Tuesday on Amazon and listed as out of stock. Still it remained the top-selling DVD player and ranked No. 7 in sales in the electronics category.
An Amazon.com spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the sales. Other retailers were selling the player for $299 on Tuesday, but comments on the AVS Forum reported seeing deals over the weekend from retailer Electronics Expo, which also sells players on Amazon.com.
Costco is selling the Toshiba HD-D2 (same as the HD-A2) for $249 with a free HDMI cable.
Some other retailers also are offering free add-ons to promote the players. Value Electronics is selling the HD-A2 for $299 with a free HDMI cable and seven free HD DVD movies. HDMI cables cost around $100.Post a comment Return to article View other article discussions
| Submitted by: | clyons 6/24/2007 12:32:15 AM PT |
| Location: | us |
| Occupation: | IT |
So what if Costco can't hold your hand with your new DVD player? They sell cheap...if you want them to hold your hand then you better get ready for higher prices. Go to Tweeter if you want hand holding...just don't expect to save any $$. I can only see the price drops being a GOOD THING. I'm ready for BD to bite the dust already.
| Submitted by: | T MEADOWS 6/21/2007 4:15:39 PM PT |
| Location: | MIAMI,FL |
| Occupation: | TEACHER |
CAN THE HIGHLY KNOWLEDGEABLE SALES FORCE AT COSTCO TELL US THE GREAT FEATURES OF THE HD-D2 OR THE HD-A2 AND HOW HDDVD AND BLU-RAY WORK!!! THE CONSUMER MAY SAVE A FEW BUCKS BUT WHO DO YOU TALK TO AT COSTCO FOR TROUBLESHOOTING AND ANYTHING ELSE!(NOBODY YOUR ON YOUR OWN..THATS WHAT YOU GET!!!)
| Submitted by: | Markus Richter (dvrsinvesting@wmconnect.com) 6/11/2007 3:11:22 PM PT |
| Location: | Edge of Insanity |
| Occupation: | TOP SECRET |
Just a comment to Talkstr8t. If your talking selling things at a loss, the whole video market is guilty as charged. Buying products for backstock and then taking a hit because they decide to drop the price. Don''''t make it sound like Toshiba is th only guilty party.They are all whoring product as far as I am concerned!
| Submitted by: | Mike Neumann 6/4/2007 8:03:43 AM PT |
| Location: | Michigan |
| Occupation: | Photographer |
LOL, Blu Ray and its big advantage in studio support is an utter joke. I own both formats and as of about a month ago both Fox and Disnay have all but disappeared from BD's radar. Fox most likly wont release another title until late 2007 and most likly wont release any of thier major hits until they see how BD+ performs. You can talk all day long about how great Fox and Disneys library of titles are but if they arent releasing them onto BD then it doesnt mean squat and right now they arent. By far the 2 big HD studios in terms of releaeses thus far have been WB and Universal and those are both in HD DVD's camp. Again Ihave purchased both formats and so far have been far far more impressed with HD DVD than Ihave with BD. BD is far more expensive, still doesnt have its interactive software specs finished and I have seen far too many titles released on BD that wer only slightly better than SD DVD's picture quality wise. Do yourself a favor and ignore BD's advantages on paper because in the real world those numbers and that studio support means absolutly nothing at this point in the game and everyone knows that eventualy studios will release on HD DVD if it becomes successful enough which I without a single doubt believe. You can buy a HQ stand alone HD DVDplayer for 200 bucks right now and get anywhere from 5-7 free movies and a free HDMI cable. Blu Ray simply cannot even begin to compete with this deal. I now have over 140 titles for HD DVD and over 45 for Blu Ray and IMO HD DVD is the superior format with advanced special features like IME and a higher percentage of the HD DVD films are using advanced codecs like VC-1 where as alot of BD films are still using the inferior MPEG2. HD DVD is cheaper, has better special featurs, had its specs finished before it even launched, has great exclusive studios that are actually releasing a ton of films with Universal and has consistantly better picture quality. If that isnt enough to get people to go HDDVDthen i have no idea what is. Blu Ray had a shot at winning this war and Iactually favored Blu Ray at the beginning of this war. Fact is they had a terrible lauch, have been plauged with mediocre quality and titles, still doesnt have its intereactive software finished yet and is far more expensive. Blu Ray may survive but its not going to beat HD DVD in the long run. The best Blu ray can hope for is both formats surviving.
| Submitted by: | Jerad 6/4/2007 12:19:24 AM PT |
| Location: | Seattle |
| Occupation: | Software Tester |
1080i is the highest resolution most displays on the market, and already purchased displays can handle. 1080p wasn't even a valid option until this year. Some argue that the premium is still too high for a 1080p display.
| Submitted by: | Wesley (wsniper1@yahoo.com) 6/3/2007 7:18:34 PM PT |
| Location: | PA |
| Occupation: | Designer |
1080i is its best output and that is a HD player???? That is a junk player.
| Submitted by: | Joe Whip 6/2/2007 5:37:30 AM PT |
| Location: | Pa |
| Occupation: | law |
Talk, the same can be aid about your employer Sony and the PS3. Frankly, why should the other Blu-Ray CE's put out their BD players when the PS3 is cutting off their sales and profit margins also? Give me a break.
| Submitted by: | James (ott666@gmail.com) 6/1/2007 12:36:56 AM PT |
I guess Jeff Baker hasn''''t seen the excellent Fifth Element on blu-ray. The quality will blow your mind. There''''s almost no difference in quality when titles using the same AVC codec on BD and HDDVD.
| Submitted by: | Mark H. (straybeat@hotmail.com) 5/31/2007 5:17:29 PM PT |
| Location: | Phoenix |
| Occupation: | Engineer |
Two things wrong in the article, Toshiba is giving away 5 free movies with the player until the end of July, and $100 for an HDMI cable?!? I just got a 6 footer from firefold dot com for $6.98 shipped. It's heavy duty, feels like it weighs 3 pounds and works perfectly. Screw Monster!
| Submitted by: | BRENT LEE 5/31/2007 10:46:03 AM PT |
i wonder how the other vendors feel about sony stabbing them in the back with there low cost players (sony owns blu ray market)??? i wonder how many billions sony is willing to lose to win the battle ??? as the cost of the hd dvd players continue coming down to the sweet spot (under 250)for consumers, hd dvd will reach mass appeal much faster (dedicated players)then blu-ray ,which would basically force studios to go neutral giving hd dvd much more support in the future hd dvd is poised to win this battle by christmas this yr i wouldn't be suprised if we saw hd dvd player at 199 (mass appeal)or lower (walmart)that would send blu-ray down the toilet once that happens and studios will be forced to jump over too hd dvd or miss out on a lot of consumers who buy hd dvd movies
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