Topic: HD DVD/Blu-ray launching in the Phils.

[av_phile1]

The formats are already a year old.  Were either of these two formats ever launched formerly here?  I think there was a DVD launching in 1998, but this time, has there been one for high def?

[allanmandy]

I think the local Sony distributor expects their Blu-ray players to arrive later this year. August, from one store manager I asked. As for the actual discs, I don't have news if the big video stores will begin selling them this year.

 

[pchin]

I think none so far at least not officially but it seems more dedicated AV shops are selling HD DVD/Blu-ray products.

Will be great to see an official launch in the Philippines. SONY will indeed have its edge in terms of marketing budget. Hopefully if they do launch it, consumers can buy the HD players & movie discs at a good discounted introductory price.

[Lantis]

When I bought my Toshiba TV 2 months ago they were demoing a Toshiba A1 in the Toshiba LCDs that was diplayed in their showroom cubicle and I asked the toshiba salesperson if the player is already available.. sabi nya "hindi pa sir mataas pa kasi yung price eh hihintayin muna naming bumaba"

... baka pagkatapos ng format war then they'll start selling one and they would start at Toshiba A1 upwards

[firewired]

Magnavision indicated that there are plans to launch Blu-ray discs locally in the second half of 2007 - as early as August hopefully.

[pchin]

Hopefully HD DVD camp will follow soon & not left behind... 

[firewired]

For HD DVD, I wouldn't hold my breath.

As per Warner Home Video, high-def isn't in their sights until the hardware becomes locally available from official distributors.

[krazy]

Samsung already has the BD-P1000 player listed on the Samsung Philippines website as "coming soon":
http://www.samsung.com/ph/products/dvd/player/bd_p1000.asp

[firewired]

Yup, they were showing it off during the dealers' preview event last month. The sales representative I was talking to was very non-committal on availability though. Like Toshiba, seems to be that cost is a very significant concern to them.

Btw, my post above re Warner was specific to HD DVD. It's unlikely that they'll launch the format this year. An unofficial source also said that when the home video distributors do decide to sell high-def, we're probably looking at less than 2K per title.

[av_phile1]

we're probably looking at less than 2K per title.

Will these be locally packaged like DVDs? (I know the discs would be imported still.)  Because at less than 2K, they won't be far from imported ones.  Although at this time, I would imagine there'd still be no cheap local options for packaging high def titles. 

And as caution, no disrespect to current users, the Samsung BDP-1000 is a first generation BD player that cannot play the BD Profile 1.1 expected to be out this October. (In fact none of the current and forthcoming standalone BD players this summer can. Only the PS3 is hardware adequate to but only with the proper firmware upgrade.) And it's already one year old that is considered obsolete once the Profile 1.1 spec is out.   In other AVforums, this player has been severely criticized since its launch until the right firmware updated its shortcomings and is now heavily discounted in many online stores because very few were buying it last year and almost no one is buying them these days.  It's a real shame that this player will be dumped in this country and expect uninitiated Pinoy high def adopters to fall for it thinking it's new with the local BD launch.   Provided it is not sold here at its launch price of nearly $1000, it can still do a good job though.  It is now discounted at around $600 online.  Still a poor choice for me compared to the PS3 as a BD player.

If BD will be launched in the second half of this year here, it should be released with the  Samsung BDP-1200, just recently released. Still not capable of Profile 1.1, but that for me is the right thing to do, and not launch BD with a year-old model here. 

[krazy]

Will these be locally packaged like DVDs? (I know the discs would be imported still.)  Because at less than 2K, they won't be far from imported ones.  Although at this time, I would imagine there'd still be no cheap local options for packaging high def titles. 

And as caution, no disrespect to current users, the Samsung BDP-1000 is a first generation BD player that cannot play the BD Profile 1.1 expected to be out this October. (In fact none of the current and forthcoming standalone BD players this summer can. Only the PS3 is hardware adequate to but only with the proper firmware upgrade.) And it's already one year old that is considered obsolete once the Profile 1.1 spec is out.   In other AVforums, this player has been severely criticized since its launch until the right firmware updated its shortcomings and is now heavily discounted in many online stores because very few were buying it last year and almost no one is buying them these days.  It's a real shame that this player will be dumped in this country and expect uninitiated Pinoy high def adopters to fall for it thinking it's new with the local BD launch.   Provided it is not sold here at its launch price of nearly $1000, it can still do a good job though.  It is now discounted at around $600 online.  Still a poor choice for me compared to the PS3 as a BD player.

If BD will be launched in the second half of this year here, it should be released with the  Samsung BDP-1200, just recently released. Still not capable of Profile 1.1, but that for me is the right thing to do, and not launch a year-old model here. 

According to the BDA, first-gen players can play BD v1.1 discs (or rather the movie itself), they just won't be able to access the extras/special features like PiP.  My guess would be the "special features" option would be greyed-out/disabled when you play a v1.1 disc in a first-gen player, as well as a disclaimer on the disc packaging saying "special features not available on all players"

[av_phile1]

Yes, you can play the movie on a Profile 1.1 disc but not the BD-J features for IME and PnP for players that can't. But this is exactly what BD Profile 1.1 is supposed to do.  So when I say it cannot play profile 1.1, I meant you can't play the interactive features. Sorry if I wasn't that clear.   

Just reading a review on the new BDP-1200,  I really find it odd it still doesn't support DolbyTrueHD and DTS-HD.  What are they thinking?

[krazy]

...SONY will indeed have its edge in terms of marketing budget. Hopefully if they do launch it, consumers can buy the HD players & movie discs at a good discounted introductory price.

That alone would mean that BD would be the dominant HD format here in the Philippines if only because Sony (as well as Samsung and LG) are much more active in marketing in the Philippines than Toshiba

[av_phile1]

That  could be true.  I find it odd that there's no Toshiba presence in the country to counteract BD marketing.  It is not the concern of Warner Phils to introduce HD DVD here as they are supposed to be format neutral.  It should be Toshiba that should initiate the launch. 

Btw, my post above re Warner was specific to HD DVD. It's unlikely that they'll launch the format this year. An unofficial source also said that when the home video distributors do decide to sell high-def, we're probably looking at less than 2K per title.

[nels76]

That  could be true.  I find it odd that there's no Toshiba presence in the country to counteract BD marketing.  It is not the concern of Warner Phils to introduce HD DVD here as they are supposed to be format neutral.  It should be Toshiba that should initiate the launch. 

Then who distributes Toshiba Products here - LCD, Ref., CRT TVs, etc? Concepcion Industries? 

[Lantis]

That  could be true.  I find it odd that there's no Toshiba presence in the country to counteract BD marketing.  It is not the concern of Warner Phils to introduce HD DVD here as they are supposed to be format neutral.  It should be Toshiba that should initiate the launch. 

ano ba naman ang Philippines for HD?  Not a significant market.. they woudn't care for the small ones yet.. US/Europe decides which format will win

[av_phile1]

Then who distributes Toshiba Products here - LCD, Ref., CRT TVs, etc? Concepcion Industries? 

Just checked with the toshiba site and there are three Toshiba offices here:

TOSHIBA ASIA PACIFIC PTE LTD,
MANILA REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE
37th Floor, GT Tower International 6815,
Ayala Avenue, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines 1226
Tel: (02) 819-1048
Fax: (02) 819-5479

Sales Companies
TOSHIBA ELECTRONICS PHILIPPINES, INC
26th Floor, Citibank Tower, Valero Street, Makati, Manila Philippines
Tel: (02) 750-5510
Fax: (02) 750-5511

Manufacturing Company
TOSHIBA INFORMATION EQUIPMENT (PHILIPPINES), INC
103 East Main Ave. Extension, Special Export Processing Zone,
Laguna Technopark, Binan, Laguna, Philippines
Tel: (02) 842-0988
Fax: (02) 842-0952

Maybe Firewired can call these up as they should be the one to launch their HD DVD here if they really care about it with the impending Sony BD launch. 

[av_phile1]

ano ba naman ang Philippines for HD?  Not a significant market.. they woudn't care for the small ones yet.. US/Europe decides which format will win

True.  There are probably no more than a few hundreds here with either high def players.  And I won't be surprised if most probably still use composite connection. 

But if Sony is planning to launch BD here, Toshiba must have an answer. 

[firewired]

For the content distributors, it's really market size that concerns them. They're already struggling with the original (R3) DVD market. Nowadays it's not even piracy that's the problem. People are generally tightening their belts.

[nels76]

Just checked with the toshiba site and there are three Toshiba offices here:

TOSHIBA ASIA PACIFIC PTE LTD,
MANILA REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE
37th Floor, GT Tower International 6815,
Ayala Avenue, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines 1226
Tel: (02) 819-1048
Fax: (02) 819-5479

Sales Companies
TOSHIBA ELECTRONICS PHILIPPINES, INC
26th Floor, Citibank Tower, Valero Street, Makati, Manila Philippines
Tel: (02) 750-5510
Fax: (02) 750-5511

Manufacturing Company
TOSHIBA INFORMATION EQUIPMENT (PHILIPPINES), INC
103 East Main Ave. Extension, Special Export Processing Zone,
Laguna Technopark, Binan, Laguna, Philippines
Tel: (02) 842-0988
Fax: (02) 842-0952

Maybe Firewired can call these up as they should be the one to launch their HD DVD here if they really care about it with the impending Sony BD launch. 

Toshiba at Laguna manufactures hard disk drives.
I don't think they are doing some High Def Products there. I had been to that plant site for some quality audits.

Are toshiba electronic products officilly launched in the phils?
From what I know, Toshiba laptops are distributed not by Toshiba but by a firm with a service center at Buendia.

[av_phile1]

For the content distributors, it's really market size that concerns them. They're already struggling with the original (R3) DVD market. Nowadays it's not even piracy that's the problem. People are generally tightening their belts.

True.  I used to eagerly anticipate new DVD releases even with reservation deposits.  Now I just wait for them to go on SALE.   

One of the benefits going HighDef for studios is precisely because they have better encryption protection against piracy.  If studios could only replace DVDs with either formats overnight, they would.  As that would render DVDs obsolete.  And the pirated copies with it.  It's just a marketing nightmare as the consumers would definitely raise a howl of protest for obsoleting their DVD players. 

[av_phile1]

Are toshiba electronic products officilly launched in the phils?

I was talking about officially launching a new video format, not a specific electronic product.   

If no one represents HD DVD interest locally, that's just too bad for the format. 

[nels76]

I was talking about officially launching a new video format, not a specific electronic product.   

If no one represents HD DVD interest locally, that's just too bad for the format. 

Sorry. he he he. my bad. 

It may be bad locally. pero sabi nga ng isang poster, number of local enthusiasts for HD DVD may be small.
Baka insignificant na lang kaya they may opt  not to release it here officially.

[av_phile1]

That's ofcourse their call.  But for me a well publicized launching blitz is part of a marketing plan to inform the public about the new formats and raise their interest/expectations.   It's no different from the days when DVD was officially launched in 1998.  At that time, the DVD players and titles were just as expensive relative to what was available then, VCDs and VHS.  And few people have adopted the DVD format then.  It so happened that SONY/Philips were also at the forefront of the DVD launching here.  Now we have about the same market situation, expect that we now have two competing formats where Toshiba, it seems to me, have a weaker marketing presence than Sony. 

[X-®an™]

Are toshiba electronic products officilly launched in the phils?
From what I know, Toshiba laptops are distributed not by Toshiba but by a firm with a service center at Buendia.

I think you're talking about Tricom.  I think they source their Toshiba laptops from Singapore.  Would be cheaper to just purchase it in the computer stalls in Megamall and sometimes it's cheaper to go to Singapore (the price difference is sometimes more than the cost of the two-way flights plus some decent lodging) and just buy the laptop there.

[firewired]

Well there seems to be a shift in the wind for HD fans. Warner Home Video Philippines confirmed that they'll be launching the HD DVD format locally in the next 60 days. Tentative price range for catalog and new releases: Php700 to Php1,600.

[pchin]

Great news! Looking forward to welcoming HD DVD in our home country! 

Pls keep us posted of any new details sir. Tnx! 

[Moks007]

Wow thats  great news indeed on the warners...Actually I saw a toshiba a1 ata in automatic centre glorietta
sa toshiba section and ask the salesman if its on sale, he said no  But I think thats the first time I saw an hd player in one of these appliance stores. There is also a samsung blu-ray in western greenhills beside national book store. (however, not for sale also). At least they are starting to have them in these stores, they only use it for demo ata, Dont know why they dont have hd movies for demo.  But I also agree that the hd market will not take off here in the Phils, dvds are already having hard time here..

[john5479]

^ when you still have a market for vcds then you know that dvd has not taken over yet...originals at least

[Moks007]

Just saw the sony phils. catalog for july onwards, they are advertising na the blu-ray player I think the SE1 around 65 thou..(one free blu-ray disc for purchase of unit, At 65 thou I think it deserves at least 5 free blu-ray movies)..then below it are sony columbia dvds..They say these titles are available in blu-ray in selected Astro, Odyssey etc. I think magna will be the distributor..Any confirmation on this? Launch na ba blu-ray in Phils? I dont see the PS3 in the catalog. Im wondering why..Ps3 is better priced, I think this would sell better.