Toshiba CEDIA press conference (1 Viewer)

[Robert_Zohn]

The theme was Star Trek and the presenters were dressed in Star Trek outfits and the stage was set with Star Trek decorations. The first presentation was all about their new LCD panels, however, I'll just discuss the HD DVD side of the presentation here.

Here's the list of the new news.

1. All Gen 3 players will be packed with Born Identity and 300. All ValueElectronics.com Gen 3 advance orders qualify for the two additional titles packed with the players.

2. Buy a HD DVD player and the Star Trek box set and there is a mail-in rebate for a Star Trek HD DVD phaser remote control unit, very cool looking and sound effects. All ValueElectronics.com pre-orders are eligible.

3. The 5 free HD DVD movies will be extended till 2/28/08 and new titles are added to the selection. xBox and notebook PC with HD DVD drives will qualify for the 5 free HD DVD movie offer.

4. Just considering Warner, Universal, Paramount, Dreamworks and Dreamworks Animation more than 125 new titles will be release by the end of '07.

5. Shinco, Ventura, Alpine, Onkyo and Integra and the 3 new Gen 3 HD DVD players will all ship by early Q4 '07.

6. Total HD DVD player unit sales are expected to reach more than 1 million stand alone units by the end of ‘07. (I know this number sounds high so I'l confirm my notes tomorrow and correct it if I am mistaken)

7. Amazon and ValueEletronics.com report the A2 is the #1 best seller.

8. According to NPD data, BD stand alone players have 16% market share, HD DVD enjoys a 33% market share, while SD DVD holds 51%.

9. All studios are going to expand the connectivity features, like on the Star Trek HD DVD you can connect to CBS's server and get a tour of the Star Ship Enterprise.

10. All Toshiba products are Earth friendly and will carry the "Earth Protection" logo on their packaging. There is a long list of things Toshiba has developed to ensure their Earth friendly compliance.

HD DVD boldly goes where no other format has gone before.

-Robert

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Thanks for the report back, Robert. Since I know I want the Star Trek HD-DVD box set and the thought of buying another HD-DVD player doesn't scare me like it should, I am seriously considering taking advantage of the deal to get my grubby little nerd hands on that Phaser Remote Control - Most of my wallet says no, but my unflinching love of all things Trek and insatiable desire to have cool things might veto my wallet on this

Set Phasers to Stun-ningly good looking Star Trek on HD-DVD!!!!

 

[Chris S]

I think even 3 million sounds high for standalone players only.

 

[Steve...O]

Robert, thanks for the summary; it's much appreciated and I look forward to hearing more about Toshiba's products.

In addition to the seemingly inflated 30 million total, the other statistic that looks suspicious to me is the market share date. There is no way that HD DVD+Blu Ray = 49% of the standalone players market. If the HD-DVD camp is putting out these figures thinking people will believe them they must not have a very high opinion of the intelligence of their consumers. This is just as bad as the misinformation that the BluRay supporters were spreading after the Paramount announcement about alleged bribes from Microsoft, etc.

Steve

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I have a copy of that slide. in 2009 they were expecting 27.7 million HDTVs to be sold (greater than 30 inches in size and with HDMI). With that they were expecting that 8.8 million next gen players would be sold (can't remember if that was just HD DVD or HD DVD+BD)

 

[Ed St. Clair]

The correct # is 1 million.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I am looking at a picture I took of the slide. Toshiba is estimating that in 2007 there will be 1.6 million HD players sold (both formats). In 2008 there will be 4.25 million sold, and in 2009 there will be 8.8 million sold. Again these numbers are estimates for HD players of both formats. These numbers were dependant on HDTV sales continuing to increase.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

So where are the Tosh display announcements?
Thanks.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Ed-
I'll get display info posted tomorrow. They only talked about Regza LCD TVs, didn't cover rear projection.

 

[Robert_Zohn]

Thanks Ed and all others who knew my number was way off. Sorry, I confused my notes on this item. All other facts are correct.

-Robert