Any newer players out

[kirtis_m]

how mnay hd players are there now

im really wanting to buy one of the two formats, either hd, or blu, but , Im not sure which one is going to make it to the norm

[bobgpsr]

kirtis_m wrote:

how mnay hd players are there now

im really wanting to buy one of the two formats, either hd, or blu, but , Im not sure which one is going to make it to the norm

There are several HD DVD notebook PCs, Toshiba, Acer, Asus, LG, HP and Samsung. Two media PC's, HP and Niviea (sp?). Just the two old/(and replaced by new versions) models of Toshiba (including OEM'd for RCA) built standalones for now. But rumour has it that Sanyo and Onkyo are due to come out soon. Sanyo may even in November. Microsoft will have the Xbox 360 HD DVD player add on in mid-November. Denon and Marantz may announce in January. New rumors about Pioneer having a possible HD DVD player out in the Spring. LG and Panasonic may have hybrid (HD DVD & Blu-ray) in the Spring. Some rumors about Yamaha also.

For Blu-ray just the Samsung standalone and the Sony Vario notebook for now. Panasonic may have a limited quantity of players avail late next month or November. Pioneer and Sony maybe small quantities in mid-November. Sharp, Philips and LG are also possible. But these pending Blu-ray standalones have all been constantly delayed and have been hurt by limited availability of the Sony/Nichia blue laser diodes (unlike the Sanyo supplied blue laser diodes that go into HD DVD players). Sony Playstation 3 in November is supposed to have 400k available (will be likely sold out in an hour).

There you have it. Fresh grist from the rumor mill.

Bob

[MrPorterhouse]

As of right now, There are only 3 stand alone models TOTAL on the market.

HD DVD has 1)Toshiba A1(same model also relesed by RCA) 2)Toshiba XA1

Blu-ray has the Samsung BD-P1000


About the time that Toshiba will be releasing its 2nd generation replacements of the A1 and XA1 with the A2 and XA2, Panasonic will have its Blu-ray player out and Pioneer and Sony will be launching their Blu-ray players. Sharp and Philips will be coming some time after that with the Blu. There will be PC drives of both formats out from a buffet of companies, but as far as stand alone players, Blu-ray will outnumber HD DVD. Blu-ray still remains the winner on paper, but is behind on the score board. Its early, its very early. Simply put, there are going to be a healthy diet of discs on both formats that will keep anyone busy no matter what side of the fence you fall in first. Even with the faulty start, my opinion remains that Blu-ray has the stronger chance of winning.

[bobgpsr]

Oh I almost forgot, two Chinese manufacturers are also prepping to release HD DVD players.

IMHO by next February, Blu-ray will not have more CE standalone players than HD DVD. Opinions vary on this and feelings are strong. We hear of conflicts now between past product announcements versus what dealers are now being told by manu reps now. The rumors have been proven lately to be more accurate, like the poo-poo'd rumor of the new Toshiba models to be announced in Sept that was leaked last July.

Bob

[bobgpsr]

Newest rumor news on the chinese HD DVD player is that it may come out in November or early December at a $299 price with large quantities available.

Bob

Edit: seems like the real schedule is January or later.

[Deane Johnson]

bobgpsr wrote:

Newest rumor news on the chinese HD DVD player is that it may come out in November or early December at a $299 price with large quantities available.

Bob

If that happens, I should think that might change the dynamics dramatically.

If there is a marginal quality difference between the competing formats, it will take a major back seat to price if $299 is competing with $999.

[bobgpsr]

The Toshiba second generation model HD DVD player, the HD-A2, starting arriving in users hands last Thursday, Dec 7th. Both Value Electronics and some Best Buy's have been getting them. Reports so far are that they are considerably faster in operation (39 sec to open door from power on vs 60 seconds) and fast to play (5 to 15 sec versus 45 sec). No "skipping" reports. Much less expensive build qualilty -- no longer built like a tank (as the 1st gen models were). Other valued engineered items were omission of the 5.1 analog outputs and the coax S/PDIF output -- still has Toslink. It would seem that Toshiba will make a reasonable profit out of this model (not sold below build cost like the HD-A1 really was). To really get the most audio quality (for Dolby TrueHD) out of this model you need an AVR that can take in linear PCM via HDMI (1.1 or higher). Same $499 list price although already have seen reports of them being offered for $439 or less.

Bob