CEDIA 2007 - Day 1: Us vs. Monster Cable, Sony's New Projectors and Toshiba on HD-DVD
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Manveer Wasson on September 5, 2007 11:45 PM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
Toshiba and Star Trek
Toshiba's press conference at this year's CEDIA was definitely the most original. Presenters "beamed" onto the stage for a "Star Trek: The Original Series" themed press event. The audience was also treated to Star Trek sound clips throughout the show. It was definitely cheesy, but also creative and very entertaining.
The reason for all the treky love was that one of the big announcements for Toshiba was the joint promotion with CBS of the release of the first season of "The Original Series" on HD DVD. The 10-disk set will feature re-mastered versions of the entire first season and be able to play on both HD DVD players as well as standard DVD players. The biggest selling point to this set, however, is the limited edition Star Trek Phaser remote control which you can get with the purchase of both the box set and a Toshiba HD DVD player. The box set will be available nation wide on November 20th.
The first part of Toshiba's press event was centered around the huge growth of LCD televisions in the 30" to 40"+ segment. This area, which used to be dominated by rear projection TVs, is now starting to get taken over by LCD based TVs based on data taken by the Consumer Electronics Association for the 1st half of 2007.
Toshiba continued by announcing their new line of REGZA 1080p LCD televisions which feature the "worlds thinnest LCD TV bezel" measuring less than 1" wide. Also called Super Narrow Bezel (SNB) televisions, Toshiba states that these TVs will fit in into spaces that used to be reserved for smaller screen sizes. Toshiba says that the 40" SNB model has the same dimensions of Toshiba's conventional 37" LCD TV. These TV's feature many of the features of the current REGZA line including 10-bit LCD panel, xvYCC signal support for more colors, dynamic backlight, and 3 HDMI ports. The SNB models will come in two sizes, the 40" 40RF350U and 46" 46RF350U. Prices are set at $1,899 and $2,499, respectively. Both sets should be available this month.
Scott Ramirez, Toshiba's VP of Marketing and an SNB REGZA
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leexgx - Friday, September 7, 2007 - link
my higher end pcs i sell come fitted with conbo BD Reader and an dvd-Rw buner and an 24" Wide monitor to support that as well (1920x1200 screen/1080p/HDCP)combo BD Read/dvd-RW drives are £140 (not looked at hd-dvd prices) once thay get to better price i fit them as standered on my med range pcs
burner for BD or HD are like £300
considering the buner but depends on customer
leexgx - Friday, September 7, 2007 - link
online stores only seem to have BD/dvd combo and BD buners so hd-dvd cant realy be pushed yet on the PC side if there is lack of an drive (good for BD then)compareing them disk size HD-dvd 15gb/30gb and BD 25gb/50gb, i not buy an HD-dvd buner
Locutus465 - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
By focusing on laptops you have the advanatage that it becomes more likely users will look their laptop up to their TV... After being wowed by the quality of HD off their laptop, they might start considering also investing in a stand alone player so they can forgo the inconvinience of having to mess around with wires and cables all the time just to watch HD movie content.Owls - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
to use adult titles as a selling point.. I don't know if that's a joke or something sad.mcnabney - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
The argument is valid. The marketing of adult content (previously only available on film) for home viewing on the VHS standard is considered one of the contributors to the victory of VHS over Beta. Recording time length and cheaper players also had an impact.Locutus465 - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
Perhaps it's just me but I think the confidence sony is showing right now is the first step in their down fall... HD is still very much an up and coming market, just getting ready to make it down to regular consumers (i.e. to the point that single guys like me who aren't rich are finally getting HD-TVs, families are next). Here is where price/quality really matters, and that is where HD-DVD is delivering compared to blueray. Sony is completely off their rocker to think they've any where near won.AlexWade - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
HD DVD won CEDIA with the announcement that HD DVD will be pushed by Sunday Night Football. Monster is right about consumer ignorance (but wrong about their overpriced cables). Most consumers still have little clue about HD DVD and Blu-Ray. A lot of people watch football. And it comes at a time when a sub $200 HD DVD will be entering the market. Blu-Ray better counter, or else Blu-Ray will become What?-Ray.AlexWade - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
Oh, and one more thing. Neither side has won the MAJORITY of average consumers. Blu-Ray, according to Sony, has won the enthusiasts. But those are the vast vast minority. The winner of this format war is the one that gets the majority.Locutus465 - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
Blueray has won the segment of customers that think higher price tag some how means better HD quality from your DVD player... It won't take the average consumer long to figure out that HD-DVD gives you the same quality at a much lower price point...tuteja1986 - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
Well i bought a 360 external drive and removed it from its casing and installed it on pc via mini ATAPI to IDE cable ;)A cheap $150 HD-DVD drive that works great on my PC.