Posted on 11/27/2007 2:32:27 PM PST by Las Vegas Dave
More than 750,000 HD DVD high-def disc players have now been sold, according to the North American HD DVD Promotional Group.
The group said the number includes standalone HD DVD players from Toshiba and the XBox 360 HD DVD player attachment.
HD DVD and Blu-ray are rival formats competing for the new high-def disc audience. While HD DVD's 750,000 mark is impressive, it still falls far short of Blu-ray's overall home penetration total.
Standalone HD DVD players are outselling standalone Blu-ray players, but Sony's Play Station 3, which has a Blu-ray player inside, has sold millions of units.
The exact number of standalone Blu-ray players sold to date is unknown, but it's been estimated to be around 40-45 percent of overall standalone high-def player sales. However, Toshiba's recent boost in HD DVD player sales could make that number smaller.
The HD DVD promotional group attributes an increase in player sales to recent price cuts. Retailers have cut the price of the entry-level standalone HD DVD player to under $200. (The lowest priced Blu-ray player, the Sony BDP-S300, has a suggested retail of $499.)
Home Media Magazine reports that the recent price cut for the Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player triggered sales of more than 100,000 units in one week. Several retailers, including Wal-Mart and Best Buy, on November 2 dropped the price of the Toshiba HD-A2 to $99 as a special pre-Black Friday offer.
"HD DVD continues to gain momentum and market share with consumers," Ken Graffeo, executive vice president of HD strategic marketing for Universal Studios Home Entertainment, and co-president of the HD DVD Promotional Group, said in a statement. "With more than four weeks left for holiday shopping, HD DVD is turning out to be a perfect consumer electronics gift."
The pinged subjects will be those of HDTV technology, satellite/cable HD, OTA (over the air with various roof top and indoor antennas) HD reception. Broadcast specials, Blu-ray/HD-DVD, and any and all subjects relating to HD.
Las Vegas Dave
Cheaper ulitmately wins over better, that’s why I believe HD DVD will win over Blu-Ray.
I just said screw it and went out and bought an upconverting DVD player instead.
Except that Blu-ray isn’t better (in this application; watching movies).
I was able to nab one of the $99 players a couple weeks ago. Under the tree it goes, at that price its a great gift.
That’s what I’ll do when I get HD in a month or two. Much cheaper and almost as good as real HD DVD. Let the dualing formats fight it out then in a few years when the price is much lower and a wining format emerges that will be the time to go HD DVD. That is if DVD’s are not obsolete by then.
While the picture from an upconverting DVD player looks good (make sure the player supports 1080p upconverting!), the overall sharpness is still inferior to a true high-definition HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc, since the upconversion introduces weird effects if you see the small details on screen.
I've read several reviews that have stated that on the "upconversion" models of DVD players an HDMI cable is required.
The reason I ask is that I have a 43" Hitachi HDTV that I've had for about 5 years now that does not have an HDMI input jack so if that is the case then an HD DVD player or the "upconversion" models will be useless on my TV. Am I right?
If I have a 720p HDTV, do I have to make sure that the upconverting DVD play is 720p, or doesn’t it matter? I’m a newbie to this HDTV stuff....
If I remember correctly, most upconverting DVD players—if you connect the player to the HDTV set through the HDMI cable—will automatically set the upconverting resolution from the player itself. Mind you, I don’t think you’re going to see really significant improvements in picture quality going from standard 480p to 720p, unlike the leap from 480p to 1080p.
Composite is that yellow video cable and gives the worst picture quality. S-video gives better standard definition (480) picture quality. Component (blue,red & green) and HDMI transmit SD and HD (480,720,1080). The ability to upconvert DVDs is something that’s restricted by the DISC to the HDMI input. A few discs don’t have the restrictive software and can be upconverted over component.
HD DVD players and discs work just fine over component.
I don't know why I keep getting those two mixed up, I had meant to say the Component cables.........thanks
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