Quote Originally Posted by kexodusc
I think we can't really blame Toshiba here - they're strategy all along has been to extend the DVD license cash cow they have enjoyed for as long as they feasibly can. This is a low cost hardware investment that could conceivably be profitable on its own, and if it stretches the life of DVD even by weeks probably makes sense from their point of view.

Stuff like this is always part of the exit strategy of any product past maturity.

Still...a part of me just wishes the world would move on sooner rather than later.
Kex, this solution is not so cheap, and their DVD royalties have been falling for years. Each year the royalties are re-caluclated, and Toshiba's cut of the pie get's smaller and smaller. Secondly this is not a low cost piece of hardware. It incorporates a less powerful version of the PS3 Cell processor, which is smaller than the PS3's cell processor, but nevertheless an expensive processor. The parts cost make this player more expensive to produce than a standard bluray player, so most everyone believes that they are losing money producing this player(as Sony did using the Cell in the PS3).

The problem is, its going to take more than a player to stop the slide of DVD sales. The next feature you are going to see on this player(if it actually sells, and the studios actually support it) is a ethernet port that supports downloads of added value extra's, much like bluray has with BD live. The problem is Toshiba originally wanted to market this player as a bluray killer(or at least a BR hinderer), and the studio I work for has openly told Toshiba that if this product is developed to start another war of sort, it will not produce any downloadable value content to support the player if and when it get's that ethernet port. Sony has already said it wasn't already, and I am not surprised if Fox said the same thing.