Wal-Mart Shoots Down Cheap HD DVD Rumor.

[Smokey]

Wal-Mart denied rumors that it had placed a substantial order with a Taiwan supplier for ultra-cheap HD DVD players that could swing the format wars in that direction. A spokesperson for the company said Thursday that reported leaks concerning Taiwan-based consumer electronics manufacturer, Fuh Yuan, partnering with TDK in China to manufacture the $250-299 players, had no merit.

"The article… was full of inaccuracies and we had no participation in it," the spokesman said in an e-mail to PC Magazine . "Most of the facts, including the purchase, were untrue," she added. "Not sure how it originated."

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."

http://www.physorg.com/news96888339.html

[pixelthis]

In other words they'll be in stores in six months, just in time for christmas!
They are already pretty cheap, 399$ for a 1080i version, I was about to get one just for the heck of it.
The solution to winning the "format war" (or phoney war as I call it) is to get cheap and dirty, make quality a low cost option on an already exelent dvd player.
Toshiba can win this thing if they play their cards right. With dvd players selling for 20 bucks, how many are standing in line for a 999$ blu ray player?:5:

[kexodusc]

Holy 360, Batman. Sounds like WalMart's just tire kicking. They've probably put in RFP's with several companies, and as the article said, have looked at BluRay too. My guess is they will eventually buy an order but not for some time, as the price advantage isn't enough for WalMart to bother with right now. They could probably get those prices from Toshiba if they used their clout. The fact their interested in BluRay as well makes Walmart almost irrelevant in determining a winner in the format war.
Maybe this time next year we'll see the first batch in stores at a lower price.

Smells a bit funny, seems everyone who's bought an HD-DVD player has fanboy goggles on and wants to believe HD-DVD is going to win this thing really bad - that's how rumours get started. We've had some stupid claims from both camps a few times since January. At least this format war is somewhat entertaining.

[GMichael]

At least this format war is somewhat entertaining.

True. But this fence is getting to be a pain in the butt.

[L.J.]

True. But this fence is getting to be a pain in the butt.

Fence, what fence? :)


Fanboy googles......I like that one :lol:

[kexodusc]

Fence, what fence? :)


Fanboy googles......I like that one :lol:
Should have clarified too, I'm not picking on the HD-DVD camp, the BluRay boys have glossy contact lenses that only let them see what they want to see as well. I think we should just expect a lot of these somewhat over hyped rumours/claims being made from both camps for the foreseeable future, and take them with a grain of salt.

[GMichael]

Should have clarified too, I'm not picking on the HD-DVD camp, the BluRay boys have glossy contact lenses that only let them see what they want to see as well. I think we should just expect a lot of these somewhat over hyped rumours/claims being made from both camps for the foreseeable future, and take them with a grain of salt.

You mean like the one about Toshiba backing Blu-Ray. Almost pissed my pants.

[Feanor]

Wal-Mart denied rumors that it had placed a substantial order with a Taiwan supplier for ultra-cheap HD DVD players that could swing the format wars in that direction. A spokesperson for the company said Thursday that reported leaks concerning Taiwan-based consumer electronics manufacturer, Fuh Yuan, partnering with TDK in China to manufacture the $250-299 players, had no merit.
...


So it doesn't matter didley to me. I don't even own a TV capable of showing even full standard DVD resolution. I can afford to wait until the format war is over, or cheap universal HD players are available.

[L.J.]

Should have clarified too, I'm not picking on the HD-DVD camp, the BluRay boys have glossy contact lenses that only let them see what they want to see as well. I think we should just expect a lot of these somewhat over hyped rumours/claims being made from both camps for the foreseeable future, and take them with a grain of salt.

Oh, I just thought the term was funny. I was not refering to any particular side.

[emorphien]

I won't believe one has won until they've both died to direct downloads :lol:

I'm hoping some standard disc format wins out. With the limited future some forecast for discs HD-DVD seems more logical in terms of expenses but we'll see. I still prefer to have the physical disc but I'm sure many would opt to just buy them on some online store and keep them on their hard drives.

[Smokey]

Going by all these rumors that is going back and forth, I don’t think Walmart will commit to
either format in large quantity until a clear winner is in sight. They want to make a profit, not get involve in format war.

Selling off brand HD-DVD players for $299 did not make sense to begin with as Toshiba already selling their own brand for $399 (and can be found on the net for $350), and probably will come down even further by Christmas.

I think what make this format war complicated is the fact more studios support Bluray than HD-DVD, but HD-DVD is much cheaper than Bluray. So its catch 22 scenario, and consumers are caught in the middle.

GMichael, is there more room on the fence :D

[GMichael]

GMichael, is there more room on the fence :D

Yeah, but you won't like it. I've got splinters in my.... well, where no one should ever get splinters. Got any beer? And maybe a little ice?

[Woochifer]

Bill Hunt of The Digital Bits (http://www.thedigitalbits.com) posted a new commentary on this subject today. He picked up the rumor that the WalMart player would actually be more in the $199 range. But, given that this whole rumor has for the moment been debunked by all the parties involved, that's neither here nor there for the moment.

Hunt's commentary though did bring up some interesting questions on whether a $199 WalMart HD-DVD player would have the market impact that some of the HD-DVD fanboys are hoping for.

First off, he questions how an off-brand HD-DVD player can arrive in stores relatively free from bugs. Given that every generation of Toshiba's players have had software glitches that required firmware updates, how would a generic model fare? And who would take care of the customer and walk them through the update process? Bill points out that a Joe6pack Wal-Mart shopper will likely be far less tolerant of bugs and firmware patches than early adopters.


It's no surprise that Wal-Mart is investigating making available in their stores the cheapest players possible, whether they be HD-DVD or Blu-ray. Driving prices in their stories down as low as possible is what they do. But here's the problem with cheap Chinese HD-DVD players that a lot of people are glossing over. The kind of people who might buy a $199 HD-DVD player at Wal-Mart are not the kind of people who are likely to want to have to deal with software glitches, firmware updates and disc/player incompatibility problems. Right now, Toshiba and Universal can't yet tell me why the HD-DVDs of The Good Shepherd and Children of Men aren't working in Toshiba's top of the line player. If Toshiba is having issues with their BEST player, does anyone really think a $199 Fuh Yuan player won't have even MORE problems? Who's going to do tech support for Fuh Yuan? Wal-Mart?

Second, Bill points out that a typical Wal-Mart or bargain-based shopper might not appreciate the rude surprise awaiting them when they find that movies from half of the major studios are unavailable in HD-DVD, especially the movies from Disney.


One would also expect the kind of people who want a $199 high-def player are also going to be the kind of folks who might also want Disney movies for their kids. That's not going to happen on HD-DVD. Not to mention, with cheap Chinese players available at $199, what other major hardware manufacturer is going to want to try to compete with that? There's no profit margin. LG and Samsung are making combo HD-DVD/Blu-ray Disc players available because they rightly perceive that there's a market for such players with high-end enthusiasts. But those players are going to cost in excess of $1000. There's no incentive at all for companies like LG or Samsung to try and compete with the likes of Fuh Yuan on budget players at Wal-Mart. Meanwhile, the prospect of $199 HD-DVD players will force Sony, Pioneer, Samsung, Panasonic and the other major Blu-ray Disc player manufacturers to lower their prices faster (which, as Home Media editor T.K. Arnold pointed out in a recent editorial, may be an unexpected advantage of the HD format war). By the end of the year, a number of name-brand Blu-ray players will be available for $399 or less, with even cheaper models likely to follow in 2008. Cheaper players that WILL play those Disney high-def movies.

The rest of his post has some more spot-on points about what this all means, and puts some much needed perspective into the discussion.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents

[bobsticks]

I wonder how many Wallyworld CEOs,ViPs, and CFOs have stock in Toshiba.

Remember: buy low and sell high.