Wal-Mart Begins Massive Push For HD DVD

Several readers sent us word of Wal-Mart's ordering 2 million HD DVD players from China. Hans V wrote, "My kids work at Wal-Mart and the manager there has been talking about this. HD-DVD's are selling like mad there so I hear." Another reader sent us a few links in Chinese and summarized them this way: "The first batches of these blue-laser HD DVD players are to land sometime in 2007, with complete fulfillment of the order [from Fuh Yuan] in 2008. The deal could be worth up to $300 million US, which translates to $150 per player. If so, by the time Christmas 2007 rolls around, Wal-Mart could be selling these for less than $200 retail, although some speculate that the initial manufacturer suggested retail pricing might be in the ballpark of $299. Currently the cheapest high-definition player is a Toshiba HD DVD with an MSRP of $399." By comparison Blu-Ray players, manufactured in Japan, are not expected to drop below $1000 until next year. The International Herald Tribune writes about the risk Toshiba is taking by bringing in Chinese manufacturers to trump Sony in the format war.

Comments

Re:"Writes"?

[DrEldarion]

This is a horrible, horrible Slashdot post. Links to an extremely outdated article, says completely inaccurate information (There's already a $599 Blu-Ray player - the PS3), and on top of that the news about Walmart could have also been mistranslated. From Engadget:

Update: Pull back the reigns HD DVD fanboys, Akihabara now says that they've made a "huge mistake" with their translation: the original source called it "(chinese characters) HD DVD and (same chinese characters) means Blu-RAY." In other words, Blu-ray HD DVD. Huh? Word to the wise: since both formats use blue lasers, it's best to wait for an English press release before either camp celebrates. Way to go Slashdot!

Re:"Writes"?

[Mr.Radar]

If you follow the link trail back to AVS Forum (and from there to the original press release in Chinese) it is clear that the press release, in fact, talks about HD DVD and not Blu-Ray. This has been confirmed by at least one person who knows Chinese who says the phrase translates to "blue laser HD DVD." An explanation for the awkward phrasing is offered in this post which says that there is an HD format in China that uses a red-diode laser, hence the specification of the laser being blue-diode.