Posts with tag prices
We'd give you two guesses on how we feel about this trend, but you only need one. BenQ has just followed Pioneer's lead and dropped the price of its BR1000 Blu-ray optical drive a full 33% in Taiwan. Post-discount, the BD-ROM unit now sits at around NT$3,650 (or $120 to you Americans). SonyNEC Optiarc projected that we'd see these internal drives selling for under $100 before 2009, and it looks like its prophecy will indeed come true. Now, as soon as the standalone players start heading in the same direction, we'll be all smiles.
Poll: Are you HDTV shopping with the lowered prices?

[Image courtesy of StarTribune]
HDTV manufacturers lowering prices to cope with bulging inventories
We've yet to be able to confirm any of this in our local stores, but HD Guru has it that major television manufacturers are lowering their retail prices in order to deal with swelling inventories. Despite upticks in demand from the upcoming Olympics, the overall economy here in America has apparently taken a toll on HDTV sales. Samsung, Sharp, Mitsubishi and Panasonic have reportedly notified their dealers of the drops, with some sets plummeting as much as $400. Of course, in-store (read: street) pricing will vary (sometime significantly) from the figures posted in the read link, but regardless, you ought to save a few bucks from just weeks ago. Oh, and if you're not desperate for a new flat-panel right this moment, let us remind you that Black Friday 2008 is barely two months away.
[Via The Boy Genius Report, image courtesy of StarTribune]]
[Via The Boy Genius Report, image courtesy of StarTribune]]
Pioneer lowers Blu-ray combo drive price in China, Sony unit to hit Taiwan

Read - Price drops
Read - New Sony drive
Poll: Have you purchased a Blu-ray player post-fallout?

Poland's Cyfra+ to raise prices, add in HD offerings
Just weeks after hearing that Poland's Cyfra+ would be acquiring Eurosport HD in late May comes word that the satellite provider will likely be raising its rates in the near future. Based on a local report, customers will have to pay more (exact bumps were undisclosed) for the Basic, Komfort and Prestige packages starting in June, though the fee for National Geographic HD would simultaneously fall. Thankfully, the price hike isn't for naught, as it's planning to add in HBO HD (along with several others later in the year) and its very own VOD service to boot. Make that HD VOD and we're really on to something.Lack of competition sends Blu-ray player prices upward
Late last month, we actually posed the question of buying a Blu-ray player now (being that the format war is over and all), or waiting things out until prices sink and Profile 2.0 players flood the market. Aside from the PlayStation 3 -- which is actually priced fairly reasonably if you were in the hunt for a new console anyway -- it seems as though HD DVD's exit has actually caused Blu-ray player prices to creep back upwards. Granted, this is about as far from surprising as it gets -- after all, it's nothing short of supply and demand working its magic. Still, it wasn't too long ago that we saw Toshiba actively putting pressure on the Blu camp to reduce prices in order to stay competitive, and now that said pressure has vanished, stickers on the whole have headed north. Ah well, it's not like the consumer didn't ask for this, um, right?
BDA not licensing Blu-ray technology to Chinese manufacturers
When we posed the question of buying a Blu-ray player now or simply holding tight for prices to inevitably fall, we received a variety of responses. Still, just about everyone could agree that lower prices on standalone players would be excellent for consumers, but those delectable deep discounts may be quite aways off. According to Stan Glascow, the president of Sony Electronics, the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) -- the group that maintains control over the BD standard -- has yet to license the technology to any Chinese manufacturers. In other words, prices are staying relatively high due to the lack of competition from China, not to mention the lack of another major format to keep things in line. Continuing future, he did admit that there would eventually be Chinese Blu-ray players on the market, but he did note that it didn't "need to drive that and hand the technology over" any time soon. So much for those Christmas in July (2008) wishes, eh?
[Thanks, Jake B.]
Update: For whatever it's worth, China Hualu Group Co., Ltd is listed on the BDA's website of licensees. Interesting. Thanks for the heads-up, Dave!
[Thanks, Jake B.]
Update: For whatever it's worth, China Hualu Group Co., Ltd is listed on the BDA's website of licensees. Interesting. Thanks for the heads-up, Dave!
Cox adds nine HD channels in Lafayette, Louisiana -- for a price
Considering that Charter provides 44 HD options to its Louisiana subscribers, it was about time that Cox Communications did something to make its lineup look even close to comparable. Thankfully, the cable carrier has finally saw fit to add in nine (unnamed) high-def channels to its Lafayette lineup, and better still, subscribers will also see a boost in internet speeds. The move brings Cox's total HD count in the area to 33, but alas, it won't come free. Oh no, customers can expect programming packages (save for basic cable) to cost around $2 to $3 more per month for the boost in service after April 1st, but there's always satellite if you feel the value's just not there.Shocker: content providers raising rates in 2008
While the actual sets you enjoy high-definition programming on continue to get cheaper and cheaper, the content itself continues to become more costly. In case you couldn't already guess, 2008 will be no different than the years prior, meaning that cable, satellite and fiber subscribers across the country will all likely be seeing rate hikes. According to a recent article in the Denver Post, Comcast users in Colorado will see a rise of about four-percent in their bills, and company spokeswoman Cindy Parsons stated that the hike reflects "...increasing choices in HD viewing options and a $150 million investment in Comcast's Colorado network." Of course, these poor souls aren't alone -- DirecTV is said to be pumping up bills by around four-percent as well, and we've all ideas most other carriers will be jumping at the chance to hop on this bandwagon. Nevertheless, it's worth keeping an eye on your cable bill over the next few months, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to bark in someone's ear if you can't figure out exactly what you're paying extra for.
[Image courtesy of Flickr]
[Image courtesy of Flickr]
DirecTV's HR20 / HR21 HD DVRs drop to $199.99
The title pretty much says it all here -- DirecTV's HR20 / HR21 are now available at a number of places for just $199.99. For new customers, there's even a $99 rebate that will bring your up-front costs down even further, and we all know there are deals to be had if you fling the word "cable" or "fiber" around while on the phone with a CSR. So, any of you DirecTV users springing for the upgrade?
Return your HDTV? Or buy more stuff to go with it?
If you're one of the brave ones who went out today to return unwanted Christmas presents -- yeah pastel socks, we mean you -- perhaps you saw one of the estimated 10% who will return an HDTV set this season, as Information Week interviewed the analysts who are predicting poor consumer satisfaction for those who just bought a set and are expecting some magic increase in quality on their old collection of VHS tapes. Of course, you could also be one of the many who realize a good flat panel display deserves a PS3, Xbox 360, or HD DVD player to go with it to throw on some quality images, and dived in to buy some new gear, and a movie or three. So let us know in the comments, do you plan to return some swag this holiday? Or are you planning on getting some more? And if so, can we come over and check out your setup?Read - Up to 20% could return sets, or...
Read - Shoppers return to buy more
Toshiba's HD-A30 hits new low: third-generation HD DVD player for $200
How convenient. We whip up our HD-A30 review for you to take a peek at today, and P.C. Richard & Son goes and drops the price of this very unit to an oh-so-tempting $199.97. We'll go on and assume you know good and well what's expected of this third-generation player by now, but just in case you still aren't moved by the price, it should be noted that both 300 and The Bourne Identity come right in the box, and five other titles are included for free after mail-in rebate. Best of all, shipping is thrown in gratis, but it looks as if the unit has slipped out of stock for online purchase. 'Course, there's always the in-store pickup option if you're located near a B&M location, but if you're more the armchair shopper type, just keep refreshing (and checking other sites for similar slashings) and hope for the best.
[Thanks, Chris W.]
[Thanks, Chris W.]
Toshiba planning to undercut Blu-ray, snip MSRP of HD DVD titles
In case you haven't had enough of the coaxing carousel, a recent writeup by David Kaplan lays out Toshiba's plan to hack a few dollars off of the MSRP of HD DVD titles, presumably in an attempt to persuade Warner to not go Blu-ray-only. Reportedly, the outfit is getting set to lower the retail price of each disc to $31.74, which is currently around $2.00 less than Blu-ray's suggested price. 'Course, it remains to be seen what difference such a minor change will actually make -- after all, when is the last time you were forced to pay retail for an HD DVD / Blu-ray disc? That being said, we certainly won't complain if Tosh wants to start up a price war.[Image courtesy of BigPictureBigSound]
DVD player sales sinking, no one surprised
Earlier this year, we saw reports that hinted at "flat" DVD sales for the remainder of 2007, so it follows logic to hear that standalone DVD players are seeing a similar fate. Reportedly, around 80-percent of US consumers have a DVD player somewhere in their domicile, which reinforces the fact that the market is pretty well saturated. Furthermore, sales of the aforementioned units have "declined 15-percent for the 12 months ending September 2007," and that's coming off of a 24-percent slide the year before. As for DVD recorders, things aren't look too much brighter; sales of these gizmos were also down 15-percent during the year ending September 2007, which is quite a change from the 50-percent uptick it saw during the same window last year. Still, none of this should come as a surprise to anyone remotely paying attention, as the age of HD films has officially arrived -- even though we've yet to choose a single format to lead us down glory road. Nevertheless, we still foresee quite a few people picking up incredibly inexpensive DVD players as gifts this holiday season, but we highly doubt you'll need to throw down on anyone in aisle five this year to get your hands on one.[Image courtesy of NY Times]





















