Onkyo teeters on HD DVD decision, ponders Blu-ray and combo player
Although this certainly isn't the first retraction we've seen in regard to HD DVD support, it sounds like Onkyo could indeed be rethinking its decision to crank out a standalone player for the format this year. While the company seemed passably gung-ho about supporting HD DVD at this year's CES, a recent press conference at the outfit's headquarters injected some serious doubt. Reportedly, Keith Haas, director of sales, was quoted as saying that the company is currently "looking at both formats," and also added that it was trying to decide "whether to field either a standalone player or a multiple-format model." Of course, you won't hear any complaints from us about another hybrid HD DVD / Blu-ray unit hitting the shelves, and while this all remains up for debate presently, Onkyo is purportedly planning on entering the HD player market one way or another sometime "near the fourth quarter."[Via E-Gear, thanks Dave]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dave @ May 20th 2007 1:03PM
one by one everyone will drop hd dvd, soon universal will jump ship too, just watch
diabolos @ May 20th 2007 1:36PM
The news is almost a month old. Rumor has it Onkyo has been demoing its HD-DVD player to dealers as of late. Supposedly this player is replacing the DV-SP1000.
I am sure though like samsung all CE companies are looking at dual format options.
tranzparentl @ May 20th 2007 1:56PM
Yes, I heard this news a month ago too unless this was a new press confrence where they said the same thing.
Andrew @ May 20th 2007 2:40PM
http://www.twice.com/article/CA6436066.html
TWICE, 4/24/2007
In its launch, Onkyo also expanded its $1,000+ A/V receiver selection by adding two price points long absent from its Onkyo-brand models: a suggested $1,699 and $2,099. They help fill the gap between the $1,099-suggested print point and a $5,000 modular A/V receiver, said Paul Wasek, national marketing manager for Onkyo USAs Onkyo and Integra brands. The $1,000-plus market is certainly a growth area overall, he said. It is of even greater interest since the Onkyo brand hasn't addressed this price band in quite a while. We believe these two new advanced AVRs are well-positioned to make a serious impact.
Onkyo USAs current Integra-brand lineup, targeted to the custom-install market, already offers A/V receivers above and below $1,000. New Integra brand products will debut later in the year.
In other product developments, Onkyo USA unveiled one new Onkyo-brand DVD player and three Onkyo-brand HTiBs, said it is reevaluating its Onkyo-brand DVD strategy, and is on track to offer its first HD DVD player later this year. It will carry the Onkyo brand name.
Kevin Murphy @ May 20th 2007 2:45PM
Sure, why not another dual player. It can join the non-moving LG player (currently #9,418 in electronics at Amazon). Versus #3,124 for the Sony, #1,936 for the old Samsung, #1,416 for the new Samsung.
And, oh, my, look at that #182 for the Toshiba HD-A2; #167 for the Toshiba HD-A20; and #162 for the Toshiba HD-XA2.
Yeah, Blu-ray looks like the hot sellers. Double that for dual players. Only PS3 is keeping Blu-ray alive, and each new standalone player means as many disc sales as what, 5 PS3s?
ed w @ May 20th 2007 2:47PM
Come on guys, HD DVD has lost the battle.
Blu-ray it is!
Jypson @ May 20th 2007 3:59PM
If Onkyo made a dual format player, they would have my hard earned money.
hmurchison @ May 20th 2007 6:19PM
Notice how Dave is the first poster in every HD DVD thread adding his nuggets of FUD. "Get a life" only someone on Sony's payroll would be so committed.
Tomorrow I'm picking up the Toshiba HD-D2 at Costco for $249 plus I'll get 5 free discs via mail-in rebate. It's a no-brainer to grab a HD DVD player at these prices. Onkyo is no fool...why would they want to enter a market that has already seen severe price erosion on both sides? The key to margins now will be Universal players. Samsung is going there. LG is working on a 2nd generation unit. I'd love Onkyo to deliver a Uni player. I hope they add DVD-Audio and SACD support as well. People will upgrade. I'm looking at a Universal player as my next HD player after the standalone that I purchase tomorrow.
Kevin Murphy @ May 20th 2007 7:38PM
So, looking at the Best Buy Sunday circulars, one sees that the Sony Blu-ray gets prominent placement in both ads, at $799. HD DVD's $299 in both, somewhere in the back. Guess that's Sony's marketing muscle -- they have a lot of products to push with their ad-support dollars.
But when you get to the store, it's really hard to argue for the $799 player over the $299 one. Five hundred dollars can buy you 20 movies. The "more room for special features" argument only goes so far, and "uncompressed audio" means nothing to folks listening to HD through their TV speakers.
Wellinformed @ May 21st 2007 2:48AM
hmurchison, you should have a few HD DVD players by now. After all, you DO work for Toshiba (he really does)!
I guess it must be nice convincing people to through away their hard earned money on the losing format with almost no CE manufactuer support and only 3 out of the 8 major studios supporting it (only on of those is an HD DVD exclusive). Are people just suppose to have player almost no variety in content? Do people buy players for content or just to have players? Blu-ray has 7 out of the 8 major studios releasing content on Blu-ray (5 of the 8 are exclusive to Blu-ray). That's not going to change.
Studios are enjoying the extra security they will be getting from BD+, AACS (cracked), and BD-ROM watermark. HD DVD only offer studios AACS which will continue to be violated as long as the Xbox 360 add-on exists. Pirates already have HD DVD titles on the streets all over the world. Blu-ray discs can't be mass produced by pirates. The studios lost around $3 billion to pirating last year. Security and the added bandwidth and space Blu-ray affords studios is why Fox and Disney are not leaving Blu-ray. Fox and Disney have already noted this (of course it won't stop HD DVD fans from believing differently).
Kevin Murphy said, "But when you get to the store, it's really hard to argue for the $799 player over the $299 one. Five hundred dollars can buy you 20 movies."
You can get a 1080P Blu-ray from Amazon for under $490 shipped. HD DVD movies are about $5 more expensive than Blu-ray movies on average. If you are buying a good deal of HD DVD movies, how long do you think it would take to make up the difference in the player prices? The real cost is in the titles...not the player.
Blu-ray is out selling HD DVD by over 500,000 discs and climbing. At this rate, the disc sales gap should be around 1.5 million by the end of this year. HD dVD is getting smashed in the rest of the world (yes...even Europe). There are less than 12,000 standalone players in Europe (HD DVD and Blu-ray combined). Now there are over 900,000 PS3s. Why would you try to deceive these good people into thinking something else? That's just shameful!
andy @ May 21st 2007 11:38AM
Hey wellinformed,
Are you really saying that there is a DRM system that WILL NOT BE CRACKED? You're apparently not very well informed.
On a side note, did't I see somewhere that BD+ had already been cracked?
Xyzzy @ May 21st 2007 12:22PM
"Studios are enjoying the extra security they will be getting from BD+, AACS (cracked), and BD-ROM watermark. "
And that's exactly why consumers should *NOT* buy Blu-Ray.
Besides, if BD is "smashing" HD DVD so badly, like you say, why did Planet Earth outsell BD?
thomas @ May 21st 2007 5:16AM
Making hybrid players is the best way to see the battle last forever, the consumer will never decide...
You r Hi @ May 21st 2007 1:02PM
PE outsold on HDDVD outsold BD in the U.S. the only place that HDDVD is surviving. It is also the only movie to do so. It's funny. The more that Americans plop there money down on HDDVD, the more it makes the rest of the world want BD. Why? because most of the world thinks that Americans are pig-headed morons. BTW ONLY retarded pirates that want to watch shitty You tube movies for the rest of their lives care about DRMs on movies.
raymond @ May 25th 2007 9:32PM
I certainly care about retarded DRM when it makes the discs extremely difficult to play. Why should I have to break the DRM and copy a disc just to get it to work properly?