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Toshiba Subsidizes $200/Unit on New HD Player

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the making-it-up-in-volume dept.

WestTexasWaltz writes "According to a teardown analysis, Toshiba is losing $200 per unit, of its new HD DVD player, in order to gain some marketshare. Interesting that integrated circuits account for more of the cost than the drive itself. Also, this particular analyst concludes that Blu-ray and HD-DVD will "not be a repeat of VHS vs. Beta" and that a stalemate is the likely outcome."

4 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD, the winner is... by b1t+r0t · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I predict the winner will be... DVD!

    --

    --
    "Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
    "Open source is evil." - Microsoft
  2. Hm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So, is the fact that they're massively subsidizing the HD-DVD players a sign of trouble for Toshiba, or like everything else is it only a bad thing when Sony does it?

    Anyway I for one will just sit and wait a few years until Samsung finally gets their way and gets to start making hybrid players that support both HD-DVDs and Blu-Rays. Samsung's said they want to, they're just being held up by consortium politics. I think those consortiums will get a little more lenient once time passes and they realize everyone's still just buying DVDs.

  3. Don't Confuse /.'rs with Videophile Early Adopters by bossvader · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I love the ./'rs that say I wont touch it until this that or the other...and/or I am just happy with Plain ole Upconverted DVDs....

    All that proves is that you are NOT a Videophile and are certainly NOT a Audio/Videophile early adopter. The fact is Stores are having a hard time Keeping the Toshiba HD-DVD's on the shelf. People are buying them, and the price support is is helping that I am sure, the price is not too bad the PQ is awesome and they do a heck of a job upconverting. And us Videophiles DO care about SD vs HD. I can't certainly tell and enjoy the difference in PQ betwee SD and HD on my fine display.

  4. Re:All we have to wait for is... by RzUpAnmsCwrds · · Score: 5, Informative

    Boy, are you misinformed.

    The only difference there is spindle speed, 1.2:1 difference to be exact, DVD+R to DVD-R. The underlying technology and interface are exactly the same beyond that.

    Wrong. There are significant differences in tracking, linking, and error management.

    HD-DVD uses a standard red laser operating at a much lower wavelength of light

    Swing and a miss. Both Bul-ray and HD-DVD use a 405nm blue laser.

    Beyond the cost for a blue laser system, you then have to support two dual chip sets for processing HD-DVDs and Blu-Ray discs because of the completely different DRM standards being used.

    Nope. Both Blu-ray and HD-DVD use AACS.

    And yes, this is hardware decoded in consumer devices so you're talking about quite a cost if you wanted to build custom ASICs to do both in one chipset, in licensing fees alone!

    You clearly don't understand the IC market very well. There are ASICs that handle the vast majority of the needs for a DVD player, including drive servo / spindle control, MPEG2 decoding, multiple different audio formats (MP2/AC3/DTS, often MP3 and WMA as well), video scaling, OSD generation, and, in many cases, even incorporate a microcontroller.

    Extreme integration is very common for a market this size.