My prediction for Toshiba

I have been coming to this site since October 2007, so yea I am going to post my prediction. This is only my prediction and no I have no source to back this up. I think that you will see Toshiba announce that they will produce a dual format player for this summer. With recent news of WB making some HD DVD's in isolated cases, I think you will see a combining of forces. Now you may ask, what happens if retailers totally abandon the HD DVD movies then what? Well I feel that Toshiba will do all of us HD DVD supporters a solid and make the dual player so we can still play what we got and what we can still get.

[Post edited by InvisibleBiker on Feb 15, 2008]

Here's a novel idea. Toshiba makes a dual player. Then, you know how they come out with a movie on DVD and then also (or a week later) they have it on "Special Addition" with all of this bous stuff? What if they released movies on HD with maybe just the movie itself and also put it out as "Special Addition" on Blu ray. Since the BD have more capacity on them, the BD can have the movie and all of the special feature stuff and then no one would really lose out.

[Post edited by Jedi_Soljah on Feb 15, 2008]

I'll remind everyone what others have said... Toshiba makes great HD-DVD players. Just think if they start making GREAT DUAL-FORMAT players (or even Blu-ray only, yeah, I know) - they could 'steal' the market share of player sales away from other BRDA members!

If I were Sony, Sharp, Philips, Panasonic, Pioneer, etc, I'd be worried if and when Toshiba adopts Blu-ray (or dual-format), as with their quality , who will want to buy the competition? Except for the PS3 (which is a popular machine for Blu-ray regardless).

-LH (The Loverboy)

"Except for the PS3 (which is a popular machine for Blu-ray regardless." --Love Hendrix!

The question would be price and functionality. LG and Samsung ran into problems selling their dual-format players because they cost too much (you could buy a pair of separate stand-alones more cheaply) and they would not perform properly.

If Toshiba could produce a du-fo player that was cheap, say as cheap as the cheapest BD players or the PS3, and it could do everything it was supposed to do, they would have winning product.

Think about it: Sony has spent many millions, possibly billions, of dollars in the last two years promoting Blu-ray, and they will probably continue to bleed red ink for the next few years on every BD disc sold. Meanwhile, along comes Toshiba to capitalize on the market penetration Sony has made with Blu-ray. I mean, if the Tosh du-fo player were cheap enough, what potential BD or HD DVD buyer wouldn't opt for it? It provides the best of all worlds.

John

Thanks for pointing that out in better words than me John!

It really makes my mind spin with thoughts of Toshiba 'overtaking' Blu-ray market share for future stand-alone player sales (possibly), and getting back at Sony in their own way! While I'm going to buy an A35 soon (to be my main HD-DVD/Upconverted DVD player), I'm definitely interested in a future Toshiba du-for (or Blu-ray only) player one day.

Remember what Tim said, about the reliability of long-term PS3 use? Well, my only Blu-ray player is a PS3, so I have to consider another Blu-ray player later - PERHAPS A TOSHIBA...?

-LH (The Loverboy)

It is all nice to say that Toshiba produces a cheap dual player. Toshiba has been bleeding red ever since they have been marking their players down. Their income statements will show the affect of discounts they offered last quarter. I think we see a shift in Toshiba's strategy going forward - they are going to price their players at par with the competition. The price reduction is one of the main reasons why retailers are not keen on selling HD-DVD players - low price, negligible profit. Toshiba has no reason to produce cheap dual players, if they have learnt anything from this format war.

[Post edited by rpruthee on Feb 15, 2008]

John... I noticed that 'technically' Toshiba is not a current member of the BRDA - VIEW INFO. Now, do you (or anyone) know if this means it will be difficult for them to get access to Blu-ray patent/hardware info, to produce their own line of dual-format or Blu-ray exclusive players?

-LH (The Loverboy)

I guess this would be the ultimate irony for all of us here on both sides, seeing Toshiba beat Sony and others in the Blu-ray game. And it wouldn't take much for them to slide into Blu - just replace the laser/pickup assembly and chip. Their GPU and decoders don't care what the source is, they don't have to replace anything else. Heck, they can even include the exact same remotes!

Sure they might be subsidizing their HD DVD players now, but I bet they learned a lot with assembly and economies due to scale and could undercut current CE manufacturers while making a profit for once. Imagine a 2.0 profile player (they have practice at this already!) with a Reon video processor, internal DTS HD MA decoding, and analog audio outs for less than $400. I'd have my order in today!

Great post Skyhawk !

For once I agree with the Skyturkey. I'd order that player today if it existed.