Topic: Venturer HD DVD Player: $199?

[pchin]

Will start a new thread for easy access in follow-up to barrister's first reported on this new HD DVD player.



Venturer SHD7000 HD DVD Player

Today, DVD Town is reporting that according to a Venturer rep, the deck will be made available at a record-low suggested retail price $199.

As we've previously reported, the player's announced specs include 1080i video output via HDMI and Dolby TrueHD support.

No word yet on a release date, nor whether the deck will be carried by Wal-Mart, Venturer's largest North American retail partner. Stay tuned...Source

Previous news

[pekspert]

venturer makes low end products with low prices geared towards the shoppers at walmart. kmart and the like. Personally im not fond of their products kasi talagang mukhang generic ang dating (no offense to anyone who owns one). If you add a little more you can get an OPPO 981 dvd player. Good price though for an hd-dvd player. But i believe toshiba will be coming up (sooner than later) with a player in the same price range.

[Munskie]

If you add a little more you can get an OPPO 981 dvd player.

or add a liitle more and you can get a Toshiba HD DVD player (which can upscale DVDs too)....... 

[barrister]

Let's put the Venturer news in proper perspective.

The effect of a Chinese player on the High Def home video market was first mentioned here by sir  av_phile1 as early as last year.  According to bos av_phile, deep price cuts will ensure HD market penetration, but the only way to do that is by licensing the technology to the Chinese manufacturers.

Avforums are also trouncing on the poor performance of the blu-ray debut.  It seeems SONY is heading the same road as it did with its Beta format.  Too early to tell?   Maybe. 

But whichever wins, I have doubts HD will ever supplant regular DVDs.  Firstly, the reluctance and outright refusal of major brands to licence the technology to CHINA will gurantee it will never approach the price levels of DVD players at this time.  ....

Fortunately, HD DVD quickly decided to license the technology to Chinese manufacturers:

True.  But I just might have to eat my own words later than sooner     And I really wouldn't mind. 

Toshiba has just licensed HD-DVD technology to a number of manufacturers in China.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/20/business/dvd.php

This is direct contrast with the BR camp that considers this a threat to their profits and R&D investments.   I am glad Toshibia did what is best for consumers, not for the business.  But in the long run, with a sizeable market on their belt and with HD-DVD winning the format war, it will certainly to their benefit.  Soon, we can expect lost cost HD players to flood the world as China did for DVD players.  It probably won't be as cheap as those generic DVD players, because hardware royalties would now be paid to Toshiba.  But at least, it should be within reach of middle income wage earners not only here but everywhere.   

In April 2007, rumors surfaced about an HD DVD deal between Fuh Yuan and Wal-Mart:

Fuh Yuan Elec. Corp. builds a new factory in China to manufacture 2 million units of HD-DVD players for Walmart. 

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=836632&page=1&pp=30


. . . well, maybe.

Apparently, no deal ever pushed through:

Kudos to the mods for this new HD section.

Take note, they even got the hyphen right.  No hyphen for "HD DVD"; with hyphen for "Blu-ray".   




================================================================




Fuh Yuan retracts $299 Wal-Mart HD DVD statement
Posted Apr 26th 2007 11:10PM by Darren Murph

http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/04/26/fuh-yuan-retracts-299-wal-mart-hd-dvd-statement/





Wal-Mart Shoots Down Cheap HD DVD Rumor
04.26.07

... A spokesperson for the company said Thursday that reported leak concerning Taiwan-based consumer electronics manufacturer, Fuh Yuan, partnering with TDK in China to manufacture the $250-299 players, had no merit.

xxx

On Thursday, the following statement appeared on Fuh Yuan's site:

"We are sorry to correct the statement that we have two million HD-DVD players order from Wal-Mart and manufactured by China Great Wall Group," Fuh Yuan said. "The actuality is that we had not received yet. We are asked to provide the schedule to Wal-Mart and cost to determine the quantity even more than two million, if the cost is good enough and timing is correct. So the capacity is under consideration. Any qualified manufactured base group will be welcome."

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2122715,00.asp

This year, sir Mouldingo told us about another Chinese deal, this time from the Blu-ray camp:

The first low cost Blu-ray player will hit US shelves this fall from Funai, according to the Japanese-language Nihon Keizai Shimbun. As we reported earlier, Funai makes low costs electronics which are then sold under brand names such as Sylvania, Emerson, and Magnavox. While no pricing or specs have yet been released, expect pricing to be lower than players from top manufacturers, which are expected to drop to around $400 for the holiday season.

At this year's CES, HD DVD announced that they would leverage cheap players from China to reach a wider marketplace. Since then, the camp has been very quiet as to when these players would actually show up. It appears that Blu-ray may match their claim, or even beat it, effectively nullifying any pricing advantage this important holiday season.

No news from the Funai Blu-ray player since then.  Observers do not have high hopes that the Funai deal will push through.



========================================================



After more than a year of rumors, still no Chinese High Def player in sight.

Then came this latest news about Venturer's cheap HD DVD player, which by all indications seems very likely to hit store shelves this holiday season.  If it does, the retail price is estimated to start at $199, and it's safe to say that the price will be dropping very quickly afterwards.

Even if you're not interested in low-quality Chinese players, this should be very welcome news because the arrival of cheap China players will surely drag down the cost of the more established Japanese brands.

[pchin]

Even if you're not interested in low-quality Chinese players, this should be very welcome news because the arrival of cheap China players will surely drag down the cost of the more established Japanese brands.

Yes, I couldn't agree more with barrister.  With the recent news release of Paramount & Dreamworks going to HD DVD exclusive (at least for the next 18 months) & now with the introduction of the low budget HD DVD players in time for the holiday season, this will indeed turn the tide of the forrmat war path which previously the war is heavily bias toward Blu-ray.

According to the news Venturer is a Canadian-based company, which is known for value-priced electronics (different from poor quality). Even if these low budget HD DVD players are made in China or using China components....look at our current local Chinese imported DVD players which last many years without a single break-down (maybe my relative got a lucky unit).

[krazy]

But Wal-Mart won't be carrying the Venturer, at least for this holiday season:

“We have no plans to have Venturer in our stores this holiday,” Wal-Mart merchandise spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien said. “We will continue to offer the best values on popular HD DVD and Blu-ray products from leading consumer brands like Sony, Samsung, Philips, Toshiba and RCA.”

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6473655.html?nid=2705

[pchin]

Yep, too bad Wal-Mart won't be selling there players but I'm sure consumers can easily look else where & locate other retailers or online stores that do sell this. Only time will tell.

[pchin]

Target Sells 'Low-Cost' HD DVD Player

Washington, D.C. (October 3, 2007) -- Target is now selling the 'low-cost' Venturer HD DVD player for $249.99 at its web site. However, the price is $50 more than what Venturer, a Canadian company, said it would be when it unveiled the player last August.

At the time, the company said the player would be "one of the lowest among entry-level HD DVD players."
At $249, the Venturer SHD7000 is less expensive than the lowest-cost Toshiba HD DVD player, which retails for $299.

But HD DVD supporters said the $199 entry-level price would give the format a huge advantage over its rival, Blu-ray. The lowest-price Blu-ray player is now $499 (Sony).

HD DVD and Blu-ray are rival formats battling for the new high-def disc audience. There have been rumors of low-cost HD DVD players form China since January and the Venturer player was expected to be first of the group.

Although Venturer is based in Ontario, Canada, it has a manufacturing partner in China. At its web site, Target says the Venturer player will be available in 2-6 weeks. And the price could drop before the actual launch date.

Source

[Moks007]

Actually I like the looks of the venturer, looks cool, solid. I thought they should sell it at 199 for it to be hot.

[pchin]

The Tosh HD-A2 retails for $299 but tru on-line it's selling around $230.

Probably Venturer players will be in similar situation. So it's possible for the price to drop below the reported $200 mark.

[Mouldingo]

Unfortunately even with a low-priced HD player, its common argument that the only way to fully enjoy HD is with expensive 50" or higher HDTV hooked to a expensive 7.1 TrueHD reciever. J8P will find little benefit from cheap players compared to SD DVD players on small 480 resolution TVs. And the price of HD disc is another turn off compared to SD DVDs.

[rx330]

for tat pricing, i rather get the A2

[Moks007]

Unfortunately even with a low-priced HD player, its common argument that the only way to fully enjoy HD is with expensive 50" or higher HDTV hooked to a expensive 7.1 TrueHD reciever. J8P will find little benefit from cheap players compared to SD DVD players on small 480 resolution TVs. And the price of HD disc is another turn off compared to SD DVDs.

I agree with your audio, that to fully enjoy it, got to have those true hd receivers. But to me this is already mid to high end setup, only selected few can afford this. True the J6P will not get these receivers. However, I dont really agree that one should have a 50 inch to truly enjoy pq of hd. I only have a 32 and the pq on "SOME" titles are really far from sddvds. Some hd titles look really good, it blows away standard dvds. Just by pausing the scene you will see the big difference..However, I dont have those high end upscalers, like Denons or those with Reon chips to compare. But on regular cheap upscalers the difference is huge on some titles.

I think the real impt issue here is the transfer these studios are making. To me, investing/buying into hd, ALL titles should be at least 4 1/2 stars and above. It should really blow away dvds in terms of PQ. This will only be the reason J6P will buy into HD. Some titles are not even worth the upgrade to hd, upconvertion is just fine..So with players pricing this low, its a great start for HD. Imagine without toshiba/venturer/hddvd lowering prices like this, Sony and others/bluray will still have those 1000 dollar players. Grabbing us by the throat. There is no way there will be a 499 dollar ps3 if not for toshiba. Low/middle income groups (like me) get to enjoy hd NOW..This is the positive thing for me. Thats why I rarely buy those new releases at over 25 dollars bec I find them nga too expensive. I go for mostly catalog at 19.95. Actually I like catalogs better, Die hard, star wars, Indy, just to name a few..Unless those new releases are really great, I buy them right away. So far like bourne ultimatum, transformers and I heard Ratoutille (how do you spell this) is good, Pirates 3 (just bec I havent watched it and just to complete my pirates bluray collection) Some people said this movie sucks, Oh well.. I would get these for day/date releases at those premium prices. This is just me tho..

I think it will take years for HD to be accepted..It has to do the following quickly..
1. Lower prices of players (99 dollar) levels.
2. Lower prices of discs, to levels of dvds.
3. When there are more and more players being sold, phase out dvd releases on those day/date movie releases. It will only be in hd. People will be forced to buy those 99 dollar hd players
4. Lower hdtv prices.
5. Studios having great transfers

To me all of this has to happen for this to be a success.

[rx330]

HD will be mnore widespread wen there are pirated versions

think pirated cinema copy in blu ray or HD DVD taken by a HD camcorder 

[Alfie]

I guess that's the true state of it; the one that will allow pirated copies will win this format war .

Ironical but true,

[pchin]

Agree with Moks007. With cheaper HD players at least the consumers, esp those who are considering to try out but can't afford expensive players, are given the option.

Pardon my ignorance what is the meaning of J6P or J8P?

the one that will allow pirated copies will win this format war .

Even in pirated format but it still has to be in either HD or BD isn't it?

[Alfie]

Yup' but the way I see it, HDDVD will eventually allow pirated materials rather than Sony's Blu Ray.

Think Sony PSP.....the UMD (seems impossible to copy/pirate) is on the way down, but the PSP is so popular today due to the flash hack,incorporated on the PSP100, nowadays, nobody willl care to buy even a 200 pesos umd;
One will rather download,and incorporate an ISO or CSO game or movie and to think that downloaded games are making a killing at an exorbitant price of 100 pesos per game.

[et414]

Pardon my ignorance what is the meaning of J6P or J8P?

its short for joe six pack. slang for the common man in english

[pchin]

Yup' but the way I see it, HDDVD will eventually allow pirated materials rather than Sony's Blu Ray.

When that happen, at least HD DVD player sales will not be affected.

its short for joe six pack. slang for the common man in english

Opss my bad..tnx ET414..initially I thought it meant Japan...

[rx330]

i have a feeling piracy will start on hd dvd as well, but not so soon though, most of the households now still are using SD panels, so there is really no point for them to venture into hidef

[av_phile1]

I think pirates won't invest yet to target a market who can't even get their DVD set-ups right using component connection and still not interested in getting widescreen TV sets above 10T.     But a $199 hd player might be the first step on a long journey into that direction.  Next would be P15,000 HDMI 1080p 32" LCD panels.

[rx330]

yea, support av_phile 

my dumb ass fren bought a 32 lcd just so tat he could watch dvds on it connected using composite

" WOW, dvd now look so clear on my newly bought sammy LCD " my fren said 

[pchin]

What happen to this $199 player now?

From some sites have already started taking orders. The listed price is $249.99 & item will arrive in 2 to 6 weeks daw. With that price, many will opt for HD-A2 na lang.

[NeilNo]

Now available at some Wal-marts in Canada for $199.97;




Menus are similar to the Tosh A2/A3;

[pchin]

Any idea how much it's selling for? With the very low price of HD-A2, I wonder how much will Venturer sell for.

[dmaximus]

In your opinion should i stick to my pioneer dv-600 upscaler since i only have a 32" LCD tv?

[SirLaw11]

Walmart Canada is selling it for $199,

In your opinion should i stick to my pioneer dv-600 upscaler since i only have a 32" LCD tv?

You will see a big difference in that pioneer and that venturer hd dvd in terms of picture quality even though you are only using 32".

[Munskie]

In your opinion should i stick to my pioneer dv-600 upscaler since i only have a 32" LCD tv?

if you go HD you will noticeable difference, but not night and day difference you would see on larger screens....

[pchin]

Now available at some Wal-marts in Canada for $199.97;

Hmm...now that the current price of Tosh A3 is also at $200 mark, I wonder how many consumers would choose Venturer instead.

Probably it's a matter of time when the price will drop to $150 level.

[dmaximus]

if you go HD you will noticeable difference, but not night and day difference you would see on larger screens....

Hmm.. Now im thinking twice. Im going to receive my ps3 and tosh a3 this dec. cguro bebenta ko nalang pag wala masyadong diffrence. nakakainggit kayong may mga big screen :'(