While
there has been a lot of hype surrounding Walmarts $299 HD DVD player, DigiTimes has reported that it is unlikely that HD DVD Player will
fall to such a low price this year. According to their sources, the primary reason for high costs is still the tight supply of pick-up
heads (PUHs).
The sources explained that global supply of HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc (BD) pick-up heads (PUHs) is still tight
because yield rates on blue-laser laser diodes are quite low and the world's major suppliers of such PUHs, including Sony and Matsushita
(Panasonic), have assigned their production capacities for own use first. Since PUHs and chipsets together account for 60-70% of the
production costs of HD DVD and BD players, the shortage of PUHs renders it almost impossible to minimize the production costs to below
US$299 this year, the sources noted.
While HD DVD players prices have not fallen below $300 yet, you can pick up the Toshiba HD-A2 from Amazon for about $326. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes.
