What about the Venturer SDH7000 HD DVD Player??

No word from Venturer as to their intent to discontinue player production, they seem to be still selling at around their original $200 MSRP.

Does this mean that after the Toshiba clearance there will still be a cheap standalone HD DVD machine available???

Anything is better than the $799 LG and Samsung units with their plague of problems.... : : :

Wal Mart has them on clearance at their web site.

Being that Venturer is a small company, unable to absorb the cost of cutting the MSRP on their product, for them to simply blow out their product would be financial suicide...but it may come to that, unless they can find a way to justify selling a $200 HD DVD player in the $90 HD DVD player market.

The Venturer is a fine player but it really cannot compete with the Toshiba HD DVD players...

The Venturer is a Toshiba HD-A3, so anyone "scared" of it because of the name can relax a bit. But do keep that in mind when pricing the things.

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unless they can find a way to justify selling a $200 HD DVD player in the $90 HD DVD player market.

And that was the problem why CE companies were apprehensive about investing in the HDDVD technology. TOSHIBA made it difficult to compete with their low prices, sure it was a good idea for consumers. Even TOSHIBA was taking losses in the hundreds of millions.

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The Venturer is a Toshiba HD-A3, so anyone "scared" of it because of the name can relax a bit. But do keep that in mind when pricing the things.

That's good to know. So basically, it was only Toshiba who 'gave up' last Tuesday, right? Venture can keep on keeping on like LG?

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So basically, it was only Toshiba who 'gave up' last Tuesday, right? Venture can keep on keeping on like LG?

That's what I was wondering, when Toshiba's stock is depleted, if there is a remaining demand for HD DVD players, the $200 SDH 7000 remains a cheaper option to the $799 dual format players.

If Venturer has a demand, and they can sell at $200 while remaining profitable, then that would likely be the "go to" platform for anyone that already has an extensive HD DVD library and wants another player.

They have been silent as to whether they intend to continue production, so if anyone hears anything....

Tony said -

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"And that was the problem why CE companies were apprehensive about investing in the HDDVD technology. TOSHIBA made it difficult to compete with their low prices, sure it was a good idea for consumers. Even TOSHIBA was taking losses in the hundreds of millions."

Yeah, that's a good point. Makes you wonder why some here complain about 'high-priced' $399-$499 Blu-ray players, if they can afford a nice HDTV and hi-def movies priced between $15 to $30 each.

Well, as I said in other threads, among others FUNAI will be releasing a Blu-ray player by the summer/fall/winter, at various price points, affordable to most anyone. Will be looking forward to OPPO Digital, and it's future Blu-ray player(s), as they have been a low-priced leader in producing quality upconversion-DVD players.

-JIMI (the Voodoo Chil)