Holiday Sales Frenzy: HD-DVD Players as low as $99

[admin]

Over the last week or so, reports that Wal-Mart was stocking the Toshiba HD-A2 just below the sub $200 mark tricked in, spurred by blurry photos of said stock in various A/V forums. More recently, Wal-Mart has confirmed the rumors for the November 2 price drop, but the rumors have spurred action from other retailers as well.

Discuss "Holiday Sales Frenzy: HD-DVD Players as low as $99" here. Read the article.

 

[Matt34]

Damn, I need to find a way to get out of class tomorrow and hit up Sears.

 

[j_garcia]

Black Friday for Sears, not this week...

 

[DavidW]

Damn, I need to find a way to get out of class tomorrow and hit up Sears.

Walmart is tommorow with the A2 at $99.

Sears is Friday after Thanksgiving with the A3 for $170.

Take your pick, lowest price and five free HD-DVDs or current model at a higher price but 7 free HD-DVDs, just show up at the right place and time when you decide.

 

[Gasman]

just show up at the right place and time when you decide.

No, just go buy it today, and have it price matched tomorrow.

 

[aarond]

walmart tomorrow you can get a sanyo 50" plasma for $998 to go with the $99 A2

 

[Matt34]

Black Friday for Sears, not this week...

Ah, misread that.

Like I said in the other thread, none of the Wally Worlds around here have HD players.

 

[aarond]

walmart also has hd-dvd movies for $14.96

 

[youngbuck123]

Does anyone know when the listings for all stores' Black Friday special comes out? A little comparison shopping may be in order.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Are Blu-Ray players going to be that low also? If not, it makes me suspect that HD is losing the format war and they are trying to sell their stock before they become obsolete.

 

[GlocksRock]

Or it could be that they are trying to gain some ground by selling some players for really cheap.

 

[DavidW]

Are Blu-Ray players going to be that low also? If not, it makes me suspect that HD is losing the format war and they are trying to sell their stock before they become obsolete.

The Format War is miniscule, not much more than a bar fight in a large city.

As a percentage, sales of both formats combined compared to SD DVD makes the term 'Format War' hyperbole. Yes, the contenders are big, but few consumers are involved or yet care leaving both formats teetering on the SACD/DVD-A precipice.

Players priced where regular consumers will buy them is the only way to jump start this and make it an actual war.

 

[birdonthebeach]

And considering Wal-Mart selling the Toshiba for $98 this morning, I would say that the troops are gathering...

 

[alexsound]

Love to see the BD camp's response to all this.
It's great prices are coming down for HD-DVD, but
the software is the problem for these guys. It's still
seems to be more expensive overall the BD software
overall.

 

[j_garcia]

The Walmart I went to sold out of them in a few minutes. The Best Buy in the same shopping center said they had none.

 

[allargon]

The Walmart I went to sold out of them in a few minutes. The Best Buy in the same shopping center said they had none.

Go to BestBuy.com and add a Toshiba A3 to your cart for in-store pick up. Notice the price. You get four free HD-DVD's on the spot (two will be 300 and Bourne Identity) with that in addition to the five free mail-in-rebate movies for like $199. It's not $98, but you get more free movies.

 

[evilkat]

Hang on, you can get a better deal at Sears for BlackFriday:

http://bfads.net/Toshiba-HDA3-HD-DVD-Player-at-Sears

Basically the same deal as what allargon posted, except it's at $169.99!!

I think you guys should wait till BF...see what the BR players do...maybe they'll drive the prices of HD players down even further

 

[stratman]

Sony and Samsung will not slash prices on Bluray, on an interview given to Twice and Dealerscope, the top execs said they will not compete with HD DVD slash and burn pricing, this is is their logic: "The target audience for high-definiton DVD is still the early adopter or cinephile who is willing to pay a premium for the experience. What we're not going to do is chase a Black Friday price that's going to last seven or eight hours." That statement came from Samsung's Tim Baxter, executive vp of sales and marketing CE division. The lowest you can expect any BR product this year is $399.00

As for Baxter's remark? Well it's hard sometimes to believe these people actually studied marketing.

 

[evilkat]

Wow, whatever happened to 'market penetration' ?!! I can't believe sony/samsung would go this route!

 

[Joe Schmoe]

HD and/or Blu Ray might catch on with the general public eventually. I would not be surprised, however, to see them remain a niche market only (or even to disappear like SACD.)