Onkyo HD-DVD player discontinued?

[musicman1999]

There is a rumor coming from Europe that Onkyo has discontinued their new HD-DVD player.Don't know if it's true or not but bears watching.


bill

[L.J.]

Yeah, why go with Onkyo when Toshiba is giving 'em away buy 1 get 1 free

I know, I know.

[drseid]

There is a rumor coming from Europe that Onkyo has discontinued their new HD-DVD player.Don't know if it's true or not but bears watching.


bill

Looks like the rumors are true... Not surprising really as LJ mentioned, the cost versus the current Toshiba offerings was too high. You can buy 6 Toshiba HD-A3s for the retail of the Onkyo (or a couple XA-2s that it was based on).

---Dave

[Mr Peabody]

Actually, I'm surprised they even planned to put one out at that price. They saw where Toshiba was taking the market and it's not like they were building a higher quality unit either. In my opinion this was a huge mistake and it doesn't look like Onkyo showed it's best integrity toward the consumer with it's intensions here.

[musicman1999]

Agreed.I can not help but think that a lot of people are buying new receivers,to get on board
decoding when they likely don't need it anyway.Players with proper decoding built in is all we really need and would make life simpler for everyone.

bill

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Actually, I'm surprised they even planned to put one out at that price. They saw where Toshiba was taking the market and it's not like they were building a higher quality unit either. In my opinion this was a huge mistake and it doesn't look like Onkyo showed it's best integrity toward the consumer with it's intensions here.

I personally knew this was going to happen long before I posted it. This is where insider information really pays off.

At the time of the announcement of this new player by Onkyo, Toshiba had been telling some manufacturers they were discontinuing the XA-2. With the upper end price structure finally abandon, Onkyo thought they could position themselves where the XA-2 was, make some money off of its player, and become a viable manufacturer within the HD DVD community. Unfortunately for Onyko, Toshiba did not discontinue the XA-2, and continued to discount and discount which has pushed the market lower and lower. When Onkyo began sending out samples to European AV websites, it became apparent the market had shifted to a lower cost market, and there was just no point in Onkyo releasing a money losing player as RCA did. There is just no way for anyone to compete with Toshiba in the current HD DVD market plan. Toshiba is losing money hand over fist, how does the HD DVD PG think they can coax other manufacturers into this format. The cheaper Venturer player scheduled for a $199 price release is not going to be carried by Walmart who is the logical choice for this player, as they prefer to stick with Toshiba and the A3. With Toshiba doing what they are doing, the next victim of this cost slashing effort will be the venturer, because there is no need to make shelf space for a player already priced within range of the A3.

Another hint for the direction of HD DVD. There is a certain HD DVD exclusive studio that is A) No friend of the other HD DVD exclusive studio, B) is hopping mad that what they got for exclusive support of HD DVD is not nearly as much as what the other exclusive got. The one exclusive is still angry at the other for hyjacking a prominent director from their midst, but the payoff may just be the straw that broke the camels back. This information is so loudly propogating all over Hollywood, that only a deaf person could not hear it. I am going to be hanging with a film school buddy who is a higher up at a HD DVD exclusive (one that I have not worked at) and I am going to try and milk him like a diary cow.

Stayed tuned, this is getting interesting.

[pixelthis]

Actually, I'm surprised they even planned to put one out at that price. They saw where Toshiba was taking the market and it's not like they were building a higher quality unit either. In my opinion this was a huge mistake and it doesn't look like Onkyo showed it's best integrity toward the consumer with it's intensions here.

Integrity had nothing to do with it.
they were putting out a product with no market niche using a dying format, it would have been stupid to continue. I think they did their fans a favor, not sticking them with what would have been an expensive mistake.
I have had an Onkyo product for three going on four years, never had such a nice piece of gear that worked so well and was so well designed.
This is a big blow for the HDDVD camp , that a high line player has jumped ship.
Look for them to be putting out a Blu ray player, probably high end, in the near future.
Will the last person out of the HDDVD camp please turn out the light?

[drseid]

Integrity had nothing to do with it.
they were putting out a product with no market niche using a dying format, it would have been stupid to continue. I think they did their fans a favor, not sticking them with what would have been an expensive mistake.
I have had an Onkyo product for three going on four years, never had such a nice piece of gear that worked so well and was so well designed.
This is a big blow for the HDDVD camp , that a high line player has jumped ship.
Look for them to be putting out a Blu ray player, probably high end, in the near future.
Will the last person out of the HDDVD camp please turn out the light?

Actually I think it is no blow to the HD DVD camp at all. Those players were never going to sell from the get-go. It was a bad Marketing decision by Onkyo plain and simple.

---Dave

[pixelthis]

Actually I think it is no blow to the HD DVD camp at all. Those players were never going to sell from the get-go. It was a bad Marketing decision by Onkyo plain and simple.

---Dave

Its a blow.
not only did onkyo scratch a hi-line player, you probably wont be seeing a "low" line HDDVD player anytime soon.
Nothing to stop them, they turn out plenty of "cheap" HTIB and HT RECEIVERS.
They just saw the writing on the wall, mainly that most who want "high end" are going with bluray. In other words the primary market for a "hi-line" hddvd player are going to be HT
and audiophile geeks like the ones who populate this board, and they are gonna choose BLU for the same reason they choose moving coil over moving magnet in a turntable,
for the same reason they reject BOSE, Sony receivers, etc.
Mainly that BLUray is better.
Know why there are only a few DVD's out there that use the full potential of DTS?
Disc space for one. Dancing with wolves has a superb DTS track but it took two discs to do it. Same way with 12 monkeys.
Get a dual layer HDDVD disc and what do you have? A disc that is less than the sum of two layers because of engineering limitations.
In other words a dual layer HDDVD disc is barely bigger than SINGLE LAYER BLU RAY
Add in all of the gee-gaws that movie lovers consider just a distraction...
I have been watching DVD limited in space by one "making of" documentary after another,
audio comments by idiot actors , etc.
I want as much space as possible with any new DISC format. I want that format
to be as technologically advanced as possible, because after it becomes entrenched
thats it, you'll be watching these discs for decades.
HDDVD is a 30 gig DVD based on outmoded tech, and I am glad that Onkyo sees this for the loss leader that it is. And others see it too, hell, they're practically giving the players away, losing a hundred bucks a player on each "199.00$" player they sell.
Onkyo has exelent marketers, marketers who saw no future for HDDVD.
Thats a "blow"

[drseid]

Its a blow.
not only did onkyo scratch a hi-line player, you probably wont be seeing a "low" line HDDVD player anytime soon.
Nothing to stop them, they turn out plenty of "cheap" HTIB and HT RECEIVERS.
They just saw the writing on the wall, mainly that most who want "high end" are going with bluray. In other words the primary market for a "hi-line" hddvd player are going to be HT
and audiophile geeks like the ones who populate this board, and they are gonna choose BLU for the same reason they choose moving coil over moving magnet in a turntable,
for the same reason they reject BOSE, Sony receivers, etc.
Mainly that BLUray is better.
Know why there are only a few DVD's out there that use the full potential of DTS?
Disc space for one. Dancing with wolves has a superb DTS track but it took two discs to do it. Same way with 12 monkeys.
Get a dual layer HDDVD disc and what do you have? A disc that is less than the sum of two layers because of engineering limitations.
In other words a dual layer HDDVD disc is barely bigger than SINGLE LAYER BLU RAY
Add in all of the gee-gaws that movie lovers consider just a distraction...
I have been watching DVD limited in space by one "making of" documentary after another,
audio comments by idiot actors , etc.
I want as much space as possible with any new DISC format. I want that format
to be as technologically advanced as possible, because after it becomes entrenched
thats it, you'll be watching these discs for decades.
HDDVD is a 30 gig DVD based on outmoded tech, and I am glad that Onkyo sees this for the loss leader that it is. And others see it too, hell, they're practically giving the players away, losing a hundred bucks a player on each "199.00$" player they sell.
Onkyo has exelent marketers, marketers who saw no future for HDDVD.
Thats a "blow"

More delusional FUD. Keep that imagination of yours going strong Pixel ol' boy. :-)

---Dave

[pixelthis]

More delusional FUD. Keep that imagination of yours going strong Pixel ol' boy. :-)

---Dave

You're the one who will wake up one day and realize that your "imagination" is playing tricks on YOU.
And all of the money you "invested" in an inferiour format will have been wasted.
Keep a spot in the attic for that HDDVD player of yours

[PeruvianSkies]

Its a blow.

Know why there are only a few DVD's out there that use the full potential of DTS?
Disc space for one. Dancing with wolves has a superb DTS track but it took two discs to do it. Same way with 12 monkeys.

You are referring to the Image Entertainment release from 1998/1999 for DANCES WITH WOLVES, which was available for a short period of time and was not a dual layer disc, therefore it was on 2 discs and did feature a great DTS track, at least you got that part right. There was also a non-DTS DVD issued as well but then the rights went to MGM who released the film WITHOUT DTS here in the US a few years later, but you can get an import version of the film (in Korea) with DTS that contains both the directors cut or the theatrical cut, both DTS and they are on separate discs, but the entire film does fit on ONE disc, it's a dual layer disc. That set comes in a brown leather pouch with still cards and is a nice collectors item. If you want to hear the film the way it should in DTS look no further than the DTS Entertainment sampler disc that was released, which still to this day features some of the best samples of full-bit DTS audio, the 'suicide run' clip is the one featured from DANCES WITH WOLVES and is superb.

12 MONKEYS was never a 2-disc DTS set, the entire film was on one disc in DTS. This was recycled from the 12" Laser and was pretty good overall, but is in need of a new transfer.

[pixelthis]

You are referring to the Image Entertainment release from 1998/1999 for DANCES WITH WOLVES, which was available for a short period of time and was not a dual layer disc, therefore it was on 2 discs and did feature a great DTS track, at least you got that part right. There was also a non-DTS DVD issued as well but then the rights went to MGM who released the film WITHOUT DTS here in the US a few years later, but you can get an import version of the film (in Korea) with DTS that contains both the directors cut or the theatrical cut, both DTS and they are on separate discs, but the entire film does fit on ONE disc, it's a dual layer disc. That set comes in a brown leather pouch with still cards and is a nice collectors item. If you want to hear the film the way it should in DTS look no further than the DTS Entertainment sampler disc that was released, which still to this day features some of the best samples of full-bit DTS audio, the 'suicide run' clip is the one featured from DANCES WITH WOLVES and is superb.

12 MONKEYS was never a 2-disc DTS set, the entire film was on one disc in DTS. This was recycled from the 12" Laser and was pretty good overall, but is in need of a new transfer.

Monkeys wasnt on two discs, sorry if I gave that impression, but the bit rate was higher
than on most dts dvds