Washington, D.C. (January 14, 2008) -- Toshiba said today that it will slash prices on HD DVD players and expand its marketing campaign for the high-def disc format.

The announcement comes a week after Warner Bros. said it would endorse Blu-ray in the high-def disc format war. (Blu-ray and HD DVD are competing formats for the new high-def disc audience.)


The move gave Blu-ray a 5-2 'major studio' advantage over HD DVD -- and has led to analyst speculation that Blu-ray will be the eventual winner.

But Toshiba said it's dropping the suggested retail price of its entry-level HD-A3 player to $149.99; its HD-A30 player, which has 1080p output, to $199; and its HD-A35 model to $299.

The entry-level HD DVD player is now more than $200 less than the lowest-priced Blu-ray player.

Toshiba, the leading backer of the HD DVD format, added that it will launch joint advertising campaigns with supporting studios to "spotlight the superior benefits
of HD DVD as well as the benefits HD DVD brings to a consumer's current DVD library by upconverting standard DVDs via the HDMI(TM) output to near high
definition picture quality."

"HD DVD is the best way to watch movies in High Definition," said Jodi Sally, vice president of marketing for Toshiba. "Our HD DVD players not only play back approximately 800 HD DVD titles available worldwide and deliver an entirely new level of entertainment but also enhance the picture quality to near high definition on legacy DVD titles by all studios. In short, we added high def to DVD which already is the defacto standard format created and approved by the DVD Forum that consists of more than two hundred companies."

Link to Toshiba's HD-A3 player for $134.

Comment on this article!

____________________________________________

____________________________________________

Click TVPredictions.com to see today's Swanni Sez.

© TVPredictions.com
____________________________________________

Swanni (Phillip Swann) is president and publisher of TVPredictions.com. He has been quoted in dozens of publications and broadcast outlets, including CNN, Fox News, Inside Edition, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Financial Times, The Associated Press and The Hollywood Reporter. He can be reached at swann@tvpredictions.com or at 703-505-3064.

Click TVPredictions.com to read more news and features on TV technology.