HD DVD players selling out in major cities
April 18, 2006 4:47 PM PDT
Those eager to get their hands on the first ever HD DVD players in the United States cleared shelves quickly at Best Buy stores in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.
An employee at the Best Buy store in Midtown Manhattan said Tuesday that all 10 Toshiba HD DVD players were sold out on Monday, the day before the players' official launch.
Customers also bought up all the HD DVD movie titles, the employee said.
The Best Buy store in San Francisco sold out of six Toshiba HD-A1 models, which retails for $499, according to a store clerk. Best Buy's branch in Northridge, Calif., about 25 miles north of Los Angeles, also reported that it quickly ran out of the handful of HD DVD players it received.
HD DVD and Blu-ray are competing technologies vying to replace the DVD format. Both sides are represented by movie studios, electronics makers and software companies. At stake is the $24 billion home-video market.
Toshiba is the first company to actually present a player on one of the formats to the public. In addition to the HD-A1, Toshiba also sells the $800 HD-XA1.
Several publications have reported that the number of units made available in the U.S. is around 10,000, a relatively small roll out.
"We don't share the exact the number that we shipped," said Jodi Sally, Toshiba's vice president of marketing. "I can tell you that we're going to be in about 3,000 stores nationwide and we're continuing to ship the devices. We're shipping just as fast as we can."
source:cnet news
Samsung Delays Blu-ray Disc Player
Samsung Electronics will delay the U.S. launch of its Blu-ray Disc player by one month, the company said Monday.
The delay has been called to allow completion of compatibility testing with Blu-ray Disc test media that is due available in April, Samsung said in a statement. Once compatibility is confirmed the player will be ready for mass production, it said.
The new launch date has been set for June 25 and Samsung confirmed the player price at $999.
The player was due to launch on May 23, the same day that Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Lionsgate Films had chosen as the release date for their first Blu-ray Disc movies.
Sony Pictures said it remains committed to a May 23 launch date for its first titles despite the likely lack of any playback hardware. Lionsgate could not immediately comment on whether its launch plans remain in place.
Competing Formats
Blu-ray Disc is one of two new optical disc formats vying to replace current DVDs for high-definition content, such as movies. The format battle has pitted industry giants against each other. The main backers of Blu-ray Disc include Sony, Panasonic, and Samsung while companies supporting the rival HD-DVD format include Toshiba, NEC, and Intel.
News of the Blu-ray Disc player delay comes days after the rival HD-DVD format was commercially launched.
source:yahoo news
One reason firms are being cautious is that HD-DVD and Blu-ray are incompatible formats. You can’t watch HD-DVD movies using a Blu-ray player, and vice versa, and anyone who ends up investing in the losing format will be stuck with obsolete technology.
As a result, many consumers could sit on their wallets until a clear winner emerges.
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