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The Venturer SHD7000  (Source: Venturer Electronics)
Cheap HD DVD player coming this holiday season

The mainstream consumer is extremely price sensitive – or so it seems when comparing the acceptance of DVD and high-definition media such as Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD.

For the HD DVD camp, its stance has always been on the lower price point of its players. Toshiba has been leading the way in affordable HD DVD players with its entry level players selling for under $300 along with free movies.

The entire HD DVD camp will soon gain the help of another entrant, but one that is known for producing electronics for budget-conscious consumers. Canadian-based Venturer Electronics announced that it will launch its first HD DVD player, the SHD7000, in time to meet the holiday 2007 sales season.

The Venturer SHD7000 will feature all the basic features expected of an HD DVD player, including 1080i video output, HDMI connection, Ethernet connectivity and Dolby TrueHD support.

Although no price was announced by Venturer, the company said in its press release that its machine will be “sold through national retailers with retail prices expected to be one of the lowest among entry-level HD DVD players.”

Earlier this year, a report cited that Wal-Mart was planning a deal to purchase 2 million players produced by Great Wall Corporation in China in a $100 million deal – working out to be $200 per player.

With Toshiba’s recently announced third-generation entry-level HD DVD player priced under $300 – and will likely sport a street price of even less – it is conceivable that budget brands could go even lower.

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Nice
By mdogs444 on 8/29/2007 9:44:48 AM , Rating: 5
This is exactly what we need. Budget hardware will start to show fate of the format. I still wont spend $300 on an HD-DVD player, then $25-35 on each movie when an HD-Upconversion works fine, and regular DVD movies are much cheaper.

Perhaps if they sell this at a $150 price point, then bring down movies to under $20 retail, it will start a movement by average consumers.

Enthusiasts are a very very low percentage of the market - so just because certain people viewed the initial $600 PS3, $300 1080i HD player, and $800+ dual format players as "values" - in reality, the average cosumer says "rip off".




RE: Nice
By creathir on 8/29/2007 9:50:00 AM , Rating: 3
This swath of players could be what determines the HD wars...

This actually might be why several recent studios jumped on the HD-DVD bandwagon.

If this goes according to plan, this could be the breakout needed, much as what happened to the DVD format in 1999/2000. (Budget players determined the acceptance of the format.)

- Creathir


RE: Nice
By TomZ on 8/29/2007 12:09:13 PM , Rating: 4
I agree 100% - the format war will be determined by low-cost players that will be sold in relatively high volume. This will in turn drive demand for that media, which will drive demand for more players, etc.

Sony's strategy of leading BD with PS3 was smart, however, they needed to follow it up with high-volume cheap players at big retailers like Wal-Mart. PS3 is not a high enough volume device to itself carry the format to dominance.

Furthermore, I think that Sony's licensing fees are probably enough of a financial disincentive that it gives HD-DVD quite an advantage in the low-cost player market. I've read that the license fees are pretty high ($30?).

Unless Sony changes their strategy, IMO BD is going to be relegated to a smaller niche market with the bulk of sales going to HD-DVD.


RE: Nice
By therealnickdanger on 8/29/2007 10:05:51 AM , Rating: 2
Well, Wal-Mart will lead the way, methinks. We've already seen the impact the Visio brand has on the HDTV market. Make it cheap, sell it cheap, dominate by volume. It's what the majority of people want. While I probably won't ever buy this particular HD-DVD player, the mass-market penetration by Wal-Mart and the ensuing media sales will help bring down costs for everyone. It won't be long before Best Buy starts offering in-house Dynex variations as well.

HD-DVD's only weakness is the combo discs. Sure, I like it that I can play it on both DVD and HD-DVD players, but I wouldn't buy the combo IF they offered a non-combo version. No movie is worth over $30 - but I curiously spend it anyway because I have no alternative. *sigh* Such is life. Rumor has it that Warner is going to re-release non-combo versions of their current combo offerings in November.


RE: Nice
By Quryous on 8/29/2007 11:48:15 AM , Rating: 4
When WalMart typically sells tons of standard DVDs for from $5.99 to $9.99, and CostCo, etc., do the same, I think it will be a LONG time coming before I buy my first HD- anything. $30.00, for a MOVIE? You have GOT to be kidding. There is SO much more that you can do with your money than vegetate in front of an overpriced movie. Get them down under $15 and I will occasionally buy one, but if you want serious sales, they have to be under $10. Then, I will START looking at the under $100.00 players.


RE: Nice
By TomZ on 8/29/2007 12:13:43 PM , Rating: 2
You're comparing the prices of apples and oranges. New release / blockbuster HD-DVD's may cost around $30, but $6 DVDs at Wal-Mart are older, less popular movies. The actual cost difference between the same movie in standard vs. high-def format is actually just a few dollars.


RE: Nice
By therealnickdanger on 8/29/2007 2:20:34 PM , Rating: 2
There's no denying the excessive sellthrough power of sub-$10 DVDs at Wal-Mart, but the majority of new releases and special edition DVDs are $16 and up. Most HD-DVDs can be had for under $25, with combos tilting over $30.

Example #1: The Fugutive
DVD - $9 at Wal-Mart/Amazon
HD/BD - $27 at Wal-Mart
HD/BD - $19 at Amazon

The Fugitive is well-known as being a horrible hi-def transfer. This is the movie that represents the small minority of initial transfers that simply suck beyond all measure (although still better than the best DVD transfer). Clearly, this is not worth even the $10 premium for even its cheapest price.

Example #2 - The Departed
DVD - $19 at Wal-Mart/Amazon ($23 for two-disc)
HD - $29/27 at Wal-Mart/Amazon (combo)
BD - $23 at Wal-Mart/Amazon

This transfer represents one of the better video and audio experiences you can have with either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. HD and BD give you all the extras of the $23 2-disc DVD plus much improved audio and video fidelity. If it wasn't for the combo format of the HD-DVD version, it would cost the same as the BD version, which costs the same as the standard DVD version.

If you focus on the pricing desparity between bargain-bin DVDs and top-shelf MSRP combo discs, you'll never see the value. We won't see $6 BD or HD discs anytime soon, but they are very often competetive with new release DVDs in price, and always superior in quality.


RE: Nice
By Aikouka on 8/29/2007 10:10:06 AM , Rating: 3
Personally, I think the lack of cheaper titles for the hi-def formats is more damning than anything else. I have an HD-DVD player for my XBOX 360 and consequently, I buy HD-DVD titles (rather than renting). There are a few good titles at $20, which seems like a decent price when the DVDs tend to cost $10-15; however, titles tend to be $30 or more. This is simply too high, especially when HD-DVD touted a lower entry cost that merely required machine upgrades/retools.

Sometimes you do get the benefit of extra bonus features, but often enough... you just get the same old features, and sometimes, they're almost all in SD! I think Blades of Glory is one of the few movies I've seen where almost every bonus feature is in HD.

I have a hard time wanting to pay for these when the benefit is just better clarity over an upscaled DVD at 2.5x the price. Although, I do find Amazon to be a nice source for $20 HD movies.


RE: Nice
By therealnickdanger on 8/29/2007 10:56:46 AM , Rating: 2
I would also suggest that you regularly check out Buy.com and Target B&M stores. I currently have about 35+ HD-DVDs and all (except a couple combos and imports) I have found available for $19-24. Given that most new DVD releases are $15-19, I find the premium worth every penny - regardless of HD extras. Extras have never been important to me, though, I'm all about technical advantages.


RE: Nice
By timmiser on 8/29/2007 4:26:02 PM , Rating: 2
I agree. Most of the HD-DVD's I've purchased have been in the $20 range.


RE: Nice
By CapZap on 8/29/2007 11:01:12 AM , Rating: 3
I'm with Mdogs444. $150 for the player and I won't buy movies until they're under $20. I also need an HD DVD burner for under $200.


RE: Nice
By timmiser on 8/29/2007 4:28:14 PM , Rating: 1
Might need to actually release an HD-DVD burner first since you can't buy them or buy any blank HD-DVD media to burn on to!


RE: Nice
By omnicronx on 8/29/2007 11:12:21 AM , Rating: 2
The second i see this player at around $200, I am picking one up. Finally an advantage of being Canadian other than bacon.

What i want to know is if it will actually be a cheaper alternative, with the us exchange so low, prices in Canada still have not adjusted to what they should be. So even if this would have been a 250-300 dollar player in the states, my guess is that it will be 300-350 in Canada. It may still be cheaper to buy a player from the states off ebay, or get one on my monthly visit to the dirty buffalo ;)


RE: Nice
By mdogs444 on 8/29/2007 11:15:30 AM , Rating: 3
You do know that the Toshiba 1080i HD-A2 is already $211 with 8 free HD movies with it. So whats the point in waiting for a no-name brand alternative at $200 price point?


RE: Nice
By omnicronx on 8/29/2007 11:49:01 AM , Rating: 1
quote:
you do know that the Toshiba 1080i HD-A2 is already $211 with 8 free HD movies with it.
211 American.. plus shipping, plus duty. Essentially i don't want to pay more than $230 including taxes, until then as you said its dvd upconvert for me.


RE: Nice
By ATC on 8/29/2007 12:05:02 PM , Rating: 2
Amazon.ca does not have it and Amazon.com doesn't cater to Canadians.


RE: Nice
By omnicronx on 8/29/2007 12:25:58 PM , Rating: 2
Not only that, the HD-A2 still costs $399 at bestbuy along with pretty much any other big retailer in canada. Companies are making a killing in Canada right now with electronics for what the exchange rate it, its really sad that we are not getting any of the benefits at all of the higher dollar, especially since its been $.85+ since 2001-2002


RE: Nice
By ATC on 8/29/2007 3:03:58 PM , Rating: 2
Tell me about it. This is OT, but at least digital cameras don't incur duty importing from from the US and for the most part warranty is usually a north American one so it's fine. But with anything else, we've been getting hosed for a while.


Chalk up one more win in the HD-DVD camp
By 16nm on 8/29/2007 9:50:52 AM , Rating: 4
Good, another cheap HD-DVD player. This is why I hope HD-DVD becomes the standard. I think Bluray should be left for the elite HD camp, sort of like Betamax. I figure the first format to have players under $100 will become the HD standard. Too bad Bluray == Sony == Rootkit == Evil. I do not trust Sony. I think they are an unethical company.




RE: Chalk up one more win in the HD-DVD camp
By mdogs444 on 8/29/2007 9:55:07 AM , Rating: 3
Well, not too many major companies out there scream good "business ethics" or "morals".


By Seemonkeyscanfly on 8/29/2007 10:52:30 AM , Rating: 2
Hmmmm....well most of the big name companies became big companies because of good business ethics and morals. However, it seems when a big US business has outside influence from other countries (mainly China) their morals and ethics are out the door.... Example of companies that have change: Dell, New Egg, Walmart, and now GM is starting (well has been) out sourcing over there - funny how customer service is and has dropped at these companies? There is a ton of companies that have out sourced and lost the ethic, moral - which I believe shows in their customer service (how they handle problems). So, I'd say big business is losing their ethics and morals because of out sourcing verse holding onto tradition values. However, there are still many companies out there with good ethics and morals, just not that easy to find. :)