First HD-DVD Player Goes On Sale

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First HD-DVD Player Goes On Sale

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Friday March 31, 2006 @05:42AM from the vhs-or-betamax dept.

An anonymous reader writes "If you live in Japan, you can get your hands on the first commercially available HD-DVD player as of today. Toshiba has launched the HD-XA1, and hopes for sales in the next year to exceed 600,000 units. The device is set to debut in the states in April. From the article: "The player will sell for 110,000 yen (US$936) in Japan. In that market there will also be a cheaper player, the HD-A1, priced at $500. Toshiba said the price in Japan is based on its expectation that video enthusiasts will be first to adopt the technology, while in the United States, the prices are aimed more at average consumers who are more price conscious." Update: 03/31 18:45 GMT by Z : Quoted article updated, quote updated to match the article.

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techie by caffeinemessiah · 2006-03-31 05:43 · Score: 4, Interesting

even for a techie early adopter, somehow the knowledge that there's a war brewing makes these things quite undesirable. i wonder if the people who actually buy it at this point know what's coming...?

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1. Re:techie by AeroIllini · 2006-03-31 05:48 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  even for a techie early adopter, somehow the knowledge that there's a war brewing makes these things quite undesirable. i wonder if the people who actually buy it at this point know what's coming...?
  
  Especially since crippling DRM limiting the fair use rights of paying customers for the sake of stopping a phantom piracy threat are included right there in the spec.
  
  Yeah, this should go well.
  
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2. Re:techie by SIGALRM · 2006-03-31 06:06 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  i wonder if the people who actually buy it at this point know what's coming...?
  Yes, and I wonder if the people buying also realize that today, there are virtually zero movies available in that format...
  
  --
  Sigs cause cancer.
3. Re:techie by Jugalator · 2006-03-31 07:22 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Yeah, and it doesn't get any better that the competing format is the same, as for the main AACS protection. Additionally, Blu-rays will have a disc identification layer to trace mass production piracy.
  
  When I'll get any of these next generation formats, it will be once burners have arrived, and for data storage. I'll likely still go for it when the price and availability matures, because the storage amount is quite attractive.
  
  --
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no region coding by spazoidspam · 2006-03-31 05:44 · Score: 5, Interesting

From TFA: The HD-XA1 has no region coding for the HD-DVD content

I guess thats a slight incentive to buy this early, but not enough to justify the rest of the horribly crippling DRM features it will have.
Math? by AeroIllini · 2006-03-31 05:44 · Score: 5, Funny

The player will sell for 110,000 yen (US$936) in Japan, which is less than the $800 price tag it will carry in North America.

$936 $800.

Smooth.

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1. Re:Math? by AeroIllini · 2006-03-31 05:46 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Curse that Preview button!
  
  My post, with the correct characters:
  
  The player will sell for 110,000 yen (US$936) in Japan, which is less than the $800 price tag it will carry in North America.
  
  $936 < $800.
  
  Smooth.
  
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2. Re:Math? by kraada · 2006-03-31 05:54 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Actually, he was making a subtle joke: less is more.
3. Re:Math? by jrockway · 2006-03-31 07:06 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  > Yeah but can you less | more?
  
  Yes, you can.
  
  [~] 1 (jon@powerwire) $ echo "foo bar" | less | more foo bar [~] 1 (jon@powerwire) $
  
  --
  My other car is first.
Or you can wait until the PS3 ships by WillAffleckUW · 2006-03-31 05:47 · Score: 5, Insightful

And buy essentially the same thing for less than $500 US.

Remember, the first rule of marketing - early adopters of electronics pay $1000 to $2000, people who can wait for the bug-free version pay $500-$1000, and people who can wait until more than fifty percent adoption pay $300-$500, at the zero, one, and two year marks.

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600 to 700k worldwide sales? by garcia · 2006-03-31 05:48 · Score: 2, Informative

Toshiba expects to sell 600k to 700k of these units?! There isn't enough shelf-space worldwide to hold those devices at that size.

They mention in the article that there will be a lower-end version for sale in North America for around $500. I couldn't find any specs or reasons for the lower cost. Anyone else?
1. Re:600 to 700k worldwide sales? by Anonymous+Luddite · 2006-03-31 06:12 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  >> I couldn't find any specs or reasons for the lower cost. Anyone else?
  
  some info here
  
  Sounds like the 300 bucks gets you better soound and usb ports..
  
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not a investment worth making, yet... by yagu · 2006-03-31 05:48 · Score: 5, Insightful
Man, the first people who buy these babies are either crazy, stupid, or just like to spend their highly expendable capital.
For the consumser's cool $1000 he (or she) gets:
- a DVD player that may or may not play DVD's at their rated resolution.
- possible negilible improved quality picture on HD tv's (how many tv's out there are capable of 1080p yet? For that matter, is this unit capable?)
- a tepid pool of possible available selections
- a potentially incompatible format and a worthless future library of media (I know lots o' slashdotters will be too young to remember, but I'm not -- think Beta).
- an unknown quantity -- how onerous will be the DRM on this unit (scary considering this paragraph from the article:
  The player was originally due out late last year, but delays in completing a content protection specification meant Toshiba had to push the launch back a few months. The player goes on sale just over a month after a preliminary version of the specification, called the Advanced Access Content System (AACS), was completed.
  )
- total isolation in the support world -- good luck trying to troubleshoot these puppies... you're not going to get the help you need at Circuit City, Best Buy, et. al.
This new unit is not for the faint of heart, but I know the consumers are out there to break ground for the rest of us. God Bless them and their expendable income.
1. Re:not a investment worth making, yet... by jonnythan · 2006-03-31 06:08 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  They will play HD-DVD's at high res. There's no argument over this.
  
  Also, there is *no doubt at all* to anyone who owns an HDTV of any size that DVD's are significantly inferior to broadcast HD programming. When American Idol has a sharper picture than the newest $20 King Kong DVD, something is wrong.
  
  "Early adopter" gear has never been for the feint of heart. This applies to HDTV's, DVD players, VHS decks, CD players, you name it. You don't buy the first generation of a technology expecting it to work just fine for Joe Schmoe or if $1000 breaks the bank.
  
  HD-DVD offers *clear* advantages to the techie/early adopter bracket, and I'd buy one if I had a spare thou to throw around.
2. Re:not a investment worth making, yet... by blackmonday · 2006-03-31 06:11 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Right on.
  
  In a couple years we'll be playing HD-DVD and Blu-ray through a $40 player made by Apex with a "Secret Menu".
Re:Wha? by log0n · 2006-03-31 05:58 · Score: 2, Funny

$800 is worth more than $936 in Japan ^_^
Re:XBox360? by Azarael · 2006-03-31 05:59 · Score: 2, Informative

I beleive that in a previous /. article, MS was quoted as saying that an HD-DVD drive would be made available later as an add-on for the 360.
Re:XBox360? by Manmademan · 2006-03-31 05:59 · Score: 2, Informative

Wow, way to be behind the times. The Xbox360 plays standard DVDs only. An add on drive was announced a little while ago that would allow one to play HD-DVD's, but this will never, ever be used for games.
I'll pass... by mr_burns · 2006-03-31 06:04 · Score: 2, Interesting

...on both HD-DVD and Blu Ray. Holographic storage hits the market within a year with much greater density and throughput. Online movie distro music store style is likely to hit even before then.

So there's absolutely no point in investing a grand in a technology which will be obsoleted within a year. I'll throw a holo drive in a MythTV, get my movies online legit and tell the consumer electronics manufacturers to suck it.

--
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a new spin on an old joke? by no_opinion · 2006-03-31 06:12 · Score: 3, Funny

New HD-DVD player: $980
HD-DVD titles: priceless (there aren't any, yet)
Not being able to record: priceless
Owning a player for a soon-to-be dead format: priceless
Average Consumer by Anonymous Coward · 2006-03-31 06:16 · Score: 2, Insightful

Toshiba said the price in Japan is based on its expectation that video enthusiasts will be first to adopt the technology, while in the United States, the prices are aimed more at average consumers who are more price conscious

Since when is $500 an afordable price for the 'average' consumer being that the 'average' consumer still doesn't own an HDTV (thus gets no benefit out of a HD-DVD player)?

Honestly I hope people reject HD-DVD and Blu-Ray and stick with Progressive scan DVD players for one reason, I'm sick of having to "upgrade" every couple of years so that a entertainment company can re-sell the exact same product in a different format. Maybe I'm the only one but (even though HD is nice) I don't see a big enough improvement in quality to from progressive scan DVD to HD-DVD/Blu-Ray to justify $30-$40 for a movie and $500-$1000 for a player.
Wake me up when ... by chmilar · 2006-03-31 06:28 · Score: 3, Insightful
Wake me up when:
1. I can get a player that will play all formats: BD, HD-DVD, DVD-movie, VCD, Audio CD, Divx on ISO/UDF, MPEG-TS on ISO/UDF, and the new Chinese format (EVD).
2. The DRM scheme has been cracked, so I don't have to worry about getting locked out from media I have purchased.
3. There is a decent selection of movies, especially foreign/indie/arthouse titles.
4. It is affordable.
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HD-AX1 Specifications by Whom99 · 2006-03-31 06:30 · Score: 2, Informative

Specifications from the Toshiba Web Site: http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/hddvd//

Video
-----
Disc Playback: HD-DVD/HD-DVD-R/DVD/DVD-R/DVD-RAM/DVD-RW/CD/CD-R/C D-RW
HD Content via HDMI (Disc Native Resolution)
Video Up-conversion for SD DVD (720P/1080i)
11-but / 216 MHz Video DAC
Enhanced Black Level (DIRE /7.5 IRE)
Letterbox and Pan & Scan Support

Audio
-----
Built-in Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS, and TDS decoders
Dolby True HD Compatible (2 channel)
Four 32-bit Floating Point Processors
Multi-Channel 24-bit / 192 kHZ Audio DACs
HDMI Audio Support up to 5.1 LPCM
5.1 Channel Output
Dynamic Range Control
WMA and MP3 playback

Connections
-----------
USB
HDMI Output
Colorstream Component Video Outputs
S-Video Input
Composite Video (1)
Coaxial Digital Audio Output
Optical Digital Audio Output
RS-232
Ethernet 10/100
$100 a pop by grumpyman · 2006-03-31 06:30 · Score: 2, Funny

In 2 years, they'll probably be available for ~$100 at Walmart.
Class action? by michaelmalak · 2006-03-31 06:37 · Score: 2, Interesting

Since Toshiba is the manufacturer of the player, has Toshiba manufactured any "HD Ready" televisions that would render HD-DVDs at a lower resolution due to DRM? If so, once the player reaches the U.S., wouldn't Toshiba be open to a class action lawsuit for false advertising? The argument would of course hinge on whether over-the-air satisfies the advertisement, or whether due to the advent of the VCR three decades ago that playback of prerecorded media is a reasonable consumer expectation.
Buy it for its future rarity by dpbsmith · 2006-03-31 06:37 · Score: 2, Insightful

The sooner the format tanks, the rarer it will be, and the sooner the early units will become valuable.

Buy it now and put it in your garage next to your jar of mint-condition Susan B. Anthony dollars, your Coleco Adam, and your Gemstar REB-1100 eBook.

Bound to be worth a fortune; your grandchildren will be so grateful.

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Re:Eh sorry? by The_REAL_DZA · 2006-03-31 06:41 · Score: 2, Funny

When is the first media due out?

In ten days (that's less than a week!!)

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Re:But what about the cables? by u16084 · 2006-03-31 06:41 · Score: 3, Funny

YOu can Have these regular Cables for $10 or We HIGHLY recommend these here monstercables for $200.00

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In soviet russia... by MarkVVV · 2006-03-31 08:10 · Score: 2, Funny

$800 > $936
Not worth it by Brix+Braxton · 2006-03-31 08:12 · Score: 4, Interesting

Thinking about this the other day - I looked over my DVD collection and made a mental note of how many times I watched each of the movies I paid for. My logic was that I would have to watch most movies more than 4 times to really benefit from ownership (guessing I pay about $20 per DVD). In the end - my entire collection was a loss - most of my movies I haven't watched more than twice - not that I don't like them, I do - but there are so many other things to watch between the Tivo and DVD that it's not possible. Using this logic - $900 for an HDDVD player = I could watch 225 HDTV movies via PPV or On Demand before it even became a consideration - not to mention all of the content I would get on Showtime or HBO HD. I know ownershp has it's merits but I think I'm ready to kick the habit and leave the spot empty on my home theatre rack. Just my opinion.

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