With Toshiba slashing the price of their HD DVD players in time for the holiday season, Blu-ray fans have been looking to Sony, and other Blu-ray backers, expecting them to do the same. In a recent talk with TWICE, Stan Glasgow, president of Sony Electronics, indicated that price cuts are on the way. The company plans to cut the price of their $499 player to about $399 but doesn't expect to go much lower than that.
When asked about Blu-ray player pricing from Sony for the holiday season, Glasgow said it should be “in the $399 range ... I don’t expect it to go much lower than that.”

When asked where the industry is in the format battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD, he noted, “It continues. I still find it curious that there are 170 companies backing [Blu-ray] and two companies behind [HD DVD]. I find some abnormality in that. Hopefully when all the [movie] titles reach the market this season and the beginning of 2008, [consumers] will see the [difference] in performance.”
While its good to see that Sony is finally dropping the price of their players, they're going to need to do more if they want to compete with Toshiba. I really can't see the average consumer jumping on the Blu-ray bandwagon this holiday season when they can get an HD DVD player for $200-$300 less. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Over the last week or so, we've seen a number of retailers drop the price of Toshiba's second-gen HD DVD player below $200. As if that wasn't cheap enough, Walmart will be offering the Toshiba HD-A2 this Friday for a mere $98.87.


Take note that this is an in-store special so it is unlikely that you'll be able to order the HD-A2 through Walmart's website at this price. Also, this price is not valid in Wisconsin, Oklahoma or Utah as it is illegal to sell items for less than cost in these states. According to the manager at my local Walmart, those that live in these states will be able to pick the player up for about $198.

Needless to say, there will probably be a mob of people outside of your local Walmart tomorrow morning. Be prepared to get there early and wait in line.

Update - Best Buy has also lowered the price of the HD-A2 down to $99.99. There doesn't appear to be a limitation for those, like myself, that live in Wisconsin either. Add a comment

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ASUS has announced the release of their new HD DVD-ROM drive. The HR-0205T is capable of playing back both single and double HD DVD-ROM media at 2.4x and is backwards compable with most existing CD and DVD formats. With an operating noise of only 21.1 dB, ASUS also claims that the HR-0205T is the quietest optical drive on the market.

Catering to users who need an optical disc drive that is able to provide high definition movie playback, versatile multi-functionality and quiet operations, ASUS, leading producer of multimedia products, has today released the new ASUS HR-0205T Optical Disc Drive. This new generation HD DVD ROM drive supports reading data from DVD+R/RW/DVD-R/RW formats, and is the quietest ODD in the market, operating at a mere 21.1 dB - providing users with the best HD movie playback entertainment experience.

The HR-0205T is able to support 2.4X HD DVD ROM/2.4X HD DVD ROM(DL)/2.4X HD DVD-R Read, 5X DVD±R/ 5X DVD+RW/ 5X DVD-RW/ 5X DVD±R (DL), 15X CD-R/ 15X CD-RW; and 15X DVD-ROM/ 15X CD-ROM Read formats - giving the user maximum flexibility and support for any type of disc media.
No word yet on pricing or availability. As we find out more, we'll let you know. In the mean time, ASUS's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
At a recent press event, Toshiba launched its new digital video recorder (DVR), the HD DVD VARDIA RD-A301. Using its built in HD Transcoder, the RD-A301 can record 159 hours of high-def video to its built in hard drive or nearly 16 hours onto a 30GB HD DVD disc. The RD-A301 also supports Toshiba's new HD Rec feature which allows it to record up to two hours of high-def video onto a single layer DVD-R disc.

Toshiba Corporation today announced the launch of a new digital video recorder (DVR) with HD DVD drive that integrates key new features that bring greater freedom of recording to the HD DVD, including recording of HD video to standard DVD discs. The new DVR, HD DVD VARDIA RD-A301, integrates HD Transcoder, which achieves longer recording time for high-definition (HD) video, and also supports"HD Rec", which allows recording of HD video to standard DVD discs in HD quality. The RD-A301 will be available in the Japanese market in the middle of December, and advance orders will be accepted from November 1.

The RD-A301 integrates an HD Transcoder that converts MPEG2 video, the standard for digital HD broadcasts, to MPEG4 AVC, a high-efficiency video compression technology that supports longer recording times while maintaining picture quality. As a result, longer HD videos can be recorded to HD DVD-R discs. The DVR also supports "HD Rec", which facilitates recording of HD video on conventional DVD discs, such as DVD-R discs. "HD Rec" allows a single-layer 4.7GB DVD-R disc to store up to two hours of HD video, working in combination with HD Transcoder.
The HD DVD VARDIA RD-A301 will ship in mid-December and is expected to cost about 100,000 Yen ($868US). More information, including a full list of specs, can be found here. Add a comment
Panasonic has officially announced its latest Blu-ray Disc player, the DMP-BD30. This next-generation Blu-ray player will be the first to offer full support for the Final Standard Profile (BD Profile 1.1) which adds new functions such as Picture-in-Picture and Audio Mixing. The DMP-BD30 also includes features like 1080/24p output, support for HDMI 1.3B and an SD Card slot for playback of High Definition content recorded in the AVCHD format.

Panasonic, a leader inHigh Definition technology, announced today the introduction of theDMP-BD30, the next generation High Definition 1080p Blu-ray Disc player.The DMP-BD30 is the first Blu-ray player to be introduced with FinalStandard Profile, which adds a variety of new and enhanced features to theBlu-ray arena and one that separates the Panasonic Blu-ray player from therest of the field. Also unique to the DMP-BD30 is the inclusion of an SDMemory Card slot for playback of High Definition content recorded in theAVCHD format. The SD slot also allows for viewing of digital still imagesrecorded to an SD Memory Card.

Final Standard Profile is an advanced function added to the Blu-raystandard, which opens the door to new functions such as Picture-in-Picture(which displays a second image in a sub window) and Audio Mixing (allowsthe consumer to switch the sound between the main and sub windows).
The DMP-BD30 is expected to ship to retailers in mid-November and will retail for about $499. Full details can be found on Panasonic's website. Add a comment

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While not optical storage related, its worth mentioning that Toshiba has introduced a 250GB version of its USB 2.0 portable external hard drive. This pocket sized hard drive features a special shock mounting system and can be powered off a computer's USB bus.

Toshiba Storage Device Division (SDD), the industry pioneer in small form factor hard disk drives (HDDs), today added a 250GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive - the highest capacity available in this form factor - to its lineup of personal storage devices and introduced a new line of internal notebook HDDs for mobile PCs to meet the growing demand for personal storage solutions.

Addressing the explosion in digital video, music, photos and information content, the new 250GB 2.5-inch portable external hard drive is capable of storing up to either 71,000 digital photos, 65,000 MP3 music files, 110 hours of DVD videos or 29 hours of high-definition videos. Toshiba's click-free, switch-free and button-free backup solution is bundled with the award-winning NTI Shadow software, enabling even digital novices to easily embrace data backup and enjoy peace-of-mind in knowing critical and cherished digital files are protected.
Toshiba's USB 2.0 portable external hard drives are available in capacities ranging from 120GB to 250GB and cost anywhere from $109.99 to $189.99. More information is available on Toshiba's website. Add a comment
Earlier this week, Blu-ray backers held an event in Hollywood to help promote the format. At the event Dan Silverberg, VP of high-definition media for Warner Home Video, stated that the company may be changing its strategy. Instead of releasing titles on both Blu-ray and HD DVD, Silverbreg hinted that they may support Blu-ray exclusively.
Also there was Dan Silverberg, VP of high-definition media for Warner Home Video, which since Paramount’s move to the HD DVD camp is the only studio to support both next-generation formats.

That may not be for long, Silverberg said. “One thing that may be changing is our strategy,” he said. “When both formats launched and hardware prices were high, we made a decision to support both formats and let the consumer decide. But now that hardware pricing is affordable for both Blu-ray and HD DVD, it appears consumers no longer want to decide — so the notion of staying in two formats for the duration is something we are re-evaluating now that we are in the fourth quarter.”

Silverberg noted that Warner has the top-selling Blu-ray title of all time with 300 and is consistently No. 1 or No. 2 in both Blu-ray sales market share and in number of Blu-ray titles in the market.
While Silverberg may just be saying what Blu-ray backers want to hear, it's possible that Warner is ready to choose a side in the battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD. Let's just hope they choose a side soon so it can come to an end. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment