Venturer to release HD-DVD player, price expected to break $150 barrier

[Zeus]

Budget consumer electronics specialists Venturer are reportedly preparing to to release a new HD-DVD player which will under the cut the price of all HD-DVD players in the market and is expected to retail for less than $150. However, with such a low price, some features will obviously not be too advanced and specs include 1080i video output via HDMI and Dolby TrueHD support.


With Toshiba's HD-A2 retailing at under $250, and the Xbox 360 Add-on at under $179, it's a good bet that the Venturer player might break below the $150 mark.

Details on the new player were still sketchy at press time, but as you might expect at that price, the player does come with some trade-offs. According to a post on the company's web site, specs will include 1080i video output via HDMI and Dolby TrueHD support.


News Source: <A href="http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Industry_Trends/Venturer/Hardware/Venturer_to_Release_Budget_HD_DVD_Player_for_the_H olidays/905" target="_blank">Highdefdigest.com</a>

[kayjay]

why arent there any good news on the bluray camp?
its the superior technology in any way... but its just too expensive.

i hope sony has something up their sleeve. i mean price-wise.
otherwise the future of bluray looks bleak.
the mass market for nextgen HD movies is big.

[lee6370]

wow, the hd-dvd camp are really pushing it now, if this is a success then it should put hd-dvd right back in the game.

and at this price people will be prepared to take a chance, if it turns out to be the losing format well all not lost it's only $150, on the other hand if you want to take a chance on blu-ray and it's the wrong choice then it's going to cost you $500.

So even those that favour blu-ray, may be tempted to get one, if only to watch moives that are exclusive to hd-dvd.

[firaX]

why arent there any good news on the bluray camp?
its the superior technology in any way... but its just too expensive.

i hope sony has something up their sleeve. i mean price-wise.
otherwise the future of bluray looks bleak.
the mass market for nextgen HD movies is big.

I think we all learned from the success of the Wii that technology isnt everything - price plays a big factor for most ppl, not everyone wants to spend their entire salary on technology, and quite honestly, the movies on HD DVD will look and sound just as good for 99% of all ppl , so noone really cares about that. Getting a $150 player compared to $500 is a big deal. Next step would be getting the discs down to a reasonable price, i personally dont want to pay 30 to 35 for a movie ill watch 1-2 times. Then again can only hope rental will pick up.

[MadMax31]

And so it has begun, wonder when will they reach the $99 dlrs price (maybe coby or some other crappy brand).

Make no mistake the format war will not be won by the most advanced format, but by the best price (and so far it looks like the HD-DVD is the way to go).

Peace

[big46uk]

panic attack i say.

[Banfro]

EXCELLENT
bluray = RIP

[felixm477]

wow its already at a competitive price vs many popular brand name dvd players that upscale. i cant wait till xmas i just might go buy a few and upgrade the family to HD movies.

[Xenogears V]

Nobody wants an obsolete technology as the Hd-Dvd.

Hd-Dvd R.I.P.

[Ichijoe]

If this is true...
THEN WE HAVE WINRAR!!!11

My TV is only capable of 720p/1080i anyway so no loss there.
It has HDMI (good I guess), but does it have Optical, or Coaxial Audio-Out?!

Hopefully this will give the "next" DVD-Generation a much needed kick-start.


As I always said the the One true winner (of the HD Wars'), will be the One who succeeds in producing a Sub-¤100(Insert Currency HERE), Player.

On the back of this News I might actually begin to ~start thinking~ about adopting this new format...

*Edit: So ypu see Xenogears V Tech really ~isn't~ everything!!

[felixm477]

Nobody wants an obsolete technology as the Hd-Dvd.

Hd-Dvd R.I.P.

considering that alot of companies and alot of budget brands are makin hd-dvd players where only the few big boys are bringing out expensive blurays. ide say hd-dvd is far from dead. i think colby and the budgets sell way more units than sony does.

[KPunk]

Wow this is an amazing deal, if this is true i might have to get one of these. BUT im also hoping that with the launch of this player, it will only lower the price of the 360 HDDVD player.

[grapeape]

[QUOTE=kayjay;656330]why arent there any good news on the bluray camp?
its the superior technology in any way... but its just too expensive.[QUOTE]

Really? In what way? Capacity is currently higher but Toshiba has already had success with multi layer disks that will bring capacity within 5 gigs of each other soon. Uncompressed audio? While its true that Blu-Ray now has uncompressed audio as an option, the actual minimal specs for both audio and video support are lower for Blu-Ray than for HD-DVD so while there is the capability for questionably superior audio who is going to really take advantage of it? Blu-Ray is a moving target as far as specs go, they keep changing it but werent smart enough to even make ethernet a standard requirement so some of the early players cant even get upgraded to current specs. The cost of HD-DVD is negligible because they can be pressed on the same assembly lines as DVD's since HD-DVD is simply an extension of existing technology, Blu-Ray is several times more expensive to manufacture due to the physical differences that cannot use existing equipment. Special features are starting to slowly trickle in but are few and far between and will continue to be due to the difficulty and time involved since the effort now requires actual programmers not someone who can basically point and click. Yes it has the potential for a more engaging experience but who is going to spend the money?

[N1GHTRA1N]

why arent there any good news on the bluray camp?
its the superior technology in any way... but its just too expensive.

i hope sony has something up their sleeve. i mean price-wise.
otherwise the future of bluray looks bleak.
the mass market for nextgen HD movies is big.

Really other than a slightly hight bitrate (which is barely noticeable on a 100" screen) and larage capacity HD-DVD is superior, I mean the IME HD-DVD offers kills the java offerings from BRD.

[Mikeyy]

Everybody stop.

This $150 peice of junk only does 1080i

LAME.

[grapeape]

Everybody stop.

This $150 peice of junk only does 1080i

LAME.

Think about what you just said...its $150, the people going after a low end HD-DVD player are most likely going to have a low end TV as well and most likely dont have 1080p support anyway.

[N1GHTRA1N]

Everybody stop.

This $150 peice of junk only does 1080i

LAME.

On most TV's you'll never notice a difference between 1080i and 1080p. Even on a 65" TV we have a hard time seeing a difference if any. At 100" and bigger it will make a difference but those aren't common place.

Most people use 42" or smaller.

[felixm477]

Everybody stop.

This $150 peice of junk only does 1080i

LAME.

lame? its stil the same the only thing different is the player is leaving all the de-interlacing up to the tv, wich even a mid-range 1080p set can do. heck even 720p would look amazing or does that only apply to the ps3 suddenly lol. all in all this player is a great deal and expect many others to do the same to counter this. the benefit of hd-dvd being the same technology as dvd is that your only paying basically for the added processing chips wich is why they are starting to drop to the price of dvd players that can upscale. as for bluray its having a hard time lowering its price the only thing selling is the ps3 and thats basically a forced bluray player in the statistics of players sold. i dont use my ps3 for bluray movies...

[cardboardbox]

If there is a $150 cheapo hd-dvd player this year, and the article is speculating so its not certain, and there is no blu-ray player at $299 or less, things will get rough for the blu-ray camp.

[sparda0]

Oh wow, HD-DVD groups are really getting desperate now! I remember
hearing the HD-DVD players costing $500 a couple of months ago, now its
costing $150, in just a couple of months. Its like there is a stock crash in
HD-DVD sales and the value of this crap has depreciated even more...
serves them right. I guess next month we'll hear the blue-ray sails keep
dominating even with HD-DVD players costing $20 then, HOW?

I

Don't

KNOW...:D

[pwntendo]

You can already pick up an HD-DVD player for just over 200. Venturer's previous stuff has been junk. This turd is only going to tarnish the reputation of HD-DVD.

[DEDDOA]

It was cheap players that finally got DVD's out selling VHS and cheaper VHS players that got VHS out selling Betamax. I don't think the claim that porn was what gave VHS it's victory, as everyone I know who bought VHS when it first came out and when it finally took off did so for the price (as noone could get pornm for it at the time :D ). The PS3 may well help Blu-Ray at present, but it is cheap standalones which will be the deciding factor, as the vast majority will want somthing cheap but half decent to play films on only, and the PS3 is far from cheap for just films.

[billysastard]

according to dvdtown (http://www.dvdtown.com/news/hd-dvd-player-srp-199/4707) this is going to be $199 srp with walmart selling it for around the $150 mark, that should mean around £80 for a durabrand version at asda in the uk.

it'll fly off the shelves at that price.

[kmoed]

Oh wow, HD-DVD groups are really getting desperate now! I remember
hearing the HD-DVD players costing $500 a couple of months ago, now its
costing $150, in just a couple of months. Its like there is a stock crash in
HD-DVD sales and the value of this crap has depreciated even more...
serves them right. I guess next month we'll hear the blue-ray sails keep
dominating even with HD-DVD players costing $20 then, HOW?

I

Don't

KNOW...:D

Once HD Players hit the shelves near the $100 price point, blue ray is dead.
It's VHS/BETA all over again, Sony's arrogance will once again be there downfall.
Price point is all that matter's when it comes to consumer electronics.