Toshiba Deploys New HD DVD Marketing Initiatives Based on Strong Fourth Quarter Unit (2 Viewers)

[Jay Gregory]

And why would Toshiba mention that they are losing WB support in a press release touting new marketing initiatives?

What would they say?

We've still got WB support for the next 4 1/2 months!

Best of luck in the future, WB! It's been great fun! Sorry that it didn't work out, but we're soldiering on!

Regardless of when this was prepared, I don't think it would be considered an appropriate vehicle to discuss WB's impending departure.

But I dunno...

 

[Cees Alons]

A "No more DVD" strategy would solve another potential problem signaled by many opposed to the "format war": J6P not having bought into HD being confused. The disc in the brown/red case WILL play on his/her player.


Cees

 

[bigluigi]

Sanjay,
I bought my HD-A2 in June, 2007 when Universal was the ONLY HD-DVD exclusive studio. Why? Because of PRICE ($244 Vs BR $500) and because of Universal's catalog titles.
What is with you Blu-ray supporters??? It's like your all clones...all bred with the same message---Kill HD-DVD by any means possible!!!
If Toshiba wishes to continue selling HD-DVD players....what's the big deal???
If Universal and Paramount wish to continue supporting HD-DVD....what's the problem???
Let the market forces and consumers decide. Choice of product is one of the corner stones of a free market system and should not be "auctioned" away.
BTW, I was not "suckered into buying a losing format." As a HD-DVD user and supporter I will NOT be made to appear as a "victim" in my choice of format. The HD-A2 has provided many hours of movie enjoyment. I have absolutely NO REGRETS concerning this purchase and I would recommend to anyone that enjoys the added benefits of greater title selections to buy the Toshiba HD-DVD player.

 

[Doug_H]

I agree 100%!

 

[Robin_B]

I think the same could be said for either side of this debate

 

[Brandon Conway]

Except all of those other currently released titles that won't.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

I work in a Sears electronics dept. We've had a few customers come in and ask about BD players having heard that the "format war is over". When told the cheapest price of entry is $399 they walk out empty-handed.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

And therein lies the rub.

 

[Bryan X]

If you have a 1080p display, it simply doesn't matter whether you feed it a 1080i or a 1080p signal. The resulting displayed image will be 1080p. As long as your TV correctly de-interlaces there is no difference in the resulting image from a 1080i versus 1080p player.

It's just not an issue.

As for HD DVD, I think this is too little, too late. I bought an HD DVD player a few months ago and am dispointed in it's apparent demise. Deep down I'm still hopefull they can pull something out, but if not, I'm out a couple hundred bucks. I've wasted more than that on other $hit.

 

[Cees Alons]

Correct, Bryan!


Cees

 

[Scott-S]

Yes there is. You have half the data, you have flickering on pan shots of skyscrapers, etc.

There is a big difference between getting every other line and getting all the lines.

If your statement was correct, why do they even make 1080p stuff?

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Regarding 1080i-> 1080p conversion:

with *film source material* you can get complete frame-reconstruction as long as the deinterlacer does the proper 3-2 pulldown reversal on the incoming 1080i60 feed.

The number of TVs that do this "3-2 pulldown" with 480i is pretty comprehensive. But the number of TVs that do it properly with 1080i is less common, though growing.

It's hardly a non-issue for anyone who's display does *not* do the proper pulldown, though I agree with the steady flow of newer and better HD displays that apply 3-2 pulldown reversal to film-based 1080i60 signals, it's a moot point.




As long as those unsuspecting consumers manage to place that disc in their DVD drawer right-side-up. I can imagine the calls to the customer service line now... consumers not realizing that one side of the disc won't play in their DVD machine.

 

[Bryan X]

No, you still have the whole image. Your 1080p TV always displays a 1080p image regardless of what you feed it (of course if you feed it a 480 signal it has to create the additional lines). So if your TV correctly de-interlaces the 1080i signal it is putting all the lines back into 1080p before it displays them. Hence, no difference.

 

[bigluigi]

Soooo true...but I have to believe that some kind of release agreement has been reached. I remember reading several months ago on the "Bits" that BRAVEHEART might be released on HD-DVD. Also, I think it was in this forum, someone alluding to a Spielberg title being released by Universal during this quarter.
Perhaps it's time for Fox to fire back with some grandiose new release title announcements. Anybody...anybody. SOMEBODY!!! Beyond stale title announcements, what else can we look forward to in 2008 in the way of new releases???

 

[Todd H]

With this move Toshiba killed any chance of another manufacturer producing HD DVD players. Who would want to try and manufacture one when Toshiba is practically giving them away.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Regarding this sale-price strategy of Toshiba:

my bet is that they got Paramount and Universal to hold off on going blu long enough to sell off some significant portion of their HD DVD hardware inventory. Once those two studios go blu the hardware will essentially be impossible to seel (except at DVD player prices).


If the display doesn't do proper 3-2 pulldown, then the way it fills in the skipped lines in the 1080i signal is be repeating every line twice. This creates a slight blur-effect when the image is viewed side-by-side with the 1080p native image, and it called "bobbing". It was a cheap way out (basically it's "fake" deinterlacing if you will) that almost all manufacturers used to use with deinterlacing 1080i signals. Thankfully, more and more displays are doing it correctly to provide the full resolution fidelity of the 1080p original when they do 3-2 pulldown reversal. But if they don't, the vertical resolution of the image is noticably softened in comparison.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

like DVD? (I just couldn't resist).

I think Toshiba talking about the upconversion is their way of keeping their product at retail, and trying to get people who aren't ready to step up to HD yet to get their player and use it with their current DVDs. Considering their lack of options it's a decent strategy. I don't believe these prices were planned before WB, and I don't think it's a fire sale to clear out their wharehouse before they kill the format. It's their way of starting to fight back.

 

[Scott-S]

In a 1080i signal, the player will send only half of the lines for a frame (odd or even) Then on the next frame, it sends the other. If the images changes between then, you get artifacts. 1080p players send both the odd and the even at the same time so this is not an issue. This is why watching sports on 720p is better than 1080i.

If 1080i was as good as 1080p then why do they even bother with 1080p?

There is 2x the information ion a 1080p signal. And I am pretty sure the blu-ray and hd-dvd discs are mastered at 1080p. So if your player is only sending odd, then even it takes twice as long to get he full frame. This shows up when watching images with high speed changes.

I am really confused how the same crowd that is worried about lossless audio does not seem to think there are benefits from 1080p outputs.

 

[Bryan X]

Ugh. I give up. I'm sure someone else can explain it better than I.

 

[Cees Alons]

In real time signals, like TV broadcasts, that could be true. If the image elements are the two halves of a scanned film frame, it isn't.


Cees