About six months ago a rumor emerged on the inter-tubes that Wal-Mart was private labeling a sub-$200 HD-DVD player for Christmas. Sony stock closed down that day.
Today, November 2, if you walk into a Wal-Mart you can buy a Toshiba HD-DVD player for $98. I typed that right. $98. After today the price will be $198 but the damage has been done. On Amazon this same Toshiba unit is selling for less than $200, presumably in response to Wal-Mart's move.
The cheapest Blu-Ray unit on Amazon is $400, or you could always buy a Playstation 3, which plays Blu-Ray. That'll set you back $500.
The first chink in Blu-Ray's armor came when you could add an HD-DVD player to an XBox for a couple of hundred dollars. Today, nearly 20 million people will shop at Wal-Mart and they will see Toshiba's HD-DVD featured right up front for the equivalent price of 2 video games or 4 cases of Bud. The price barrier to entry has broken and the only advantage Sony has left is its exclusive content.
So as of right now, you can watch an HD-DVD of 2001: A Space Odyssey for a grand total, disc plus player, of $120. Or just Netflix it and save the 20 bucks.
A friend of mine just walked into Wal-Mart, intending to buy one of these machines, but at $98, she went ahead and bought two. In technical terms, Blu-Ray is probably superior to HD-DVD. Then again, so was Betamax. Sony is doomed to repeat the past. Today would not be the day to own Sony stock.
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A Warner executive said recently that they don't even know how much longer they will remain format-neutral and are leaning toward going exclusively with Blu-ray.
Those who side with HD-DVD over Blu-ray because they think Sony is evil need to be reminded that one of HD-DVD's biggest backers is Microsoft, a company that is considerably more vile than Sony.
Not the best of moves if you want to be the one who wins.
OK. If you think WM is so great for bringing this deal to their customers, how about trying this exercise out.
Replace the first part of this sentence, leaving only "but the damage has been done" and you have essentially summed up Wal-Mart's short-sighted approach to everything from the environment to tax ervasion to its relationship to suppliers in China, to employee healthcare, to screwing over small and large communities all over the country.
Here, I will write one to get you going, ha:
"If we pressure our suppliers from China to lower prices, then we can charge less and make more. It would also mean that quality could be compromised [and it is]. Oh well, THE DAMAGE HAS BEEN DONE."
Those little plastic things?
Yeah, I think I remember those.
Why can't I just bring my video-iPod into a store for, you know, a "fill-up?"
Think .. outside .. the .. plastic.
And the quality is not any better.
I don't shop at Walmart and don't know anyone who does.
Blu-ray can hold twice as much info in the same space and has superior quality.
I'm very happy with my decision.
A PS3 on Amazon is $399, not $500. Very easy to search, go to www.amazon.com and enter PS3 in the search.
Also, just remember, the Toshiba that's $98 is a discontinued model that is only capable of 1080i.
HD-DVD wins on price, and it won't be long before all the movies and games start mysteriously cropping up in that format. Sony will scream "piracy" and it won't make the slightest bit of difference.
I wonder if they'll start selling Blu-Ray units at a loss to stay in the race.