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Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida comments on possible Blu-ray support

post #1 of 59
6/24/09 at 4:32am
Thread Starter 
Quote:


Toshiba Corp. (6502) President Atsutoshi Nishida did not rule out the possibility of selling DVD recorders using the Blu-ray Disc format when addressing shareholders at the firm's general meeting here Wednesday.

"It makes no sense to decide not to enter the Blu-Ray market simply because we lost the DVD-format war. We cannot change the fact that we lost, but we would like to keep our options open," he said.

Toshiba pushed for global adoption of its HD-DVD format, but failed to gain sufficient support from major U.S. movie studios. This prompted the firm to pull out of its HD-DVD operations in spring 2008, declaring at that time that it would not handle Blu-ray products.

But Nishida's latest remark appears to indicate that Toshiba is considering reversing that decision in light of the significant growth in the market for these products.
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post #2 of 59
6/24/09 at 5:04am
Never say never, regardless of what some say around here. I thought Nishida was gone by now?
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post #3 of 59
6/24/09 at 5:11am
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Originally Posted by bt12483 View Post

Never say never, regardless of what some say around here. I thought Nishida was gone by now?

He's leaving today.
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post #4 of 59
6/24/09 at 5:33am
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Originally Posted by Grubert View Post

He's leaving today.

So on his last day he opens the door to bluray speculation.

What a coincidence (I'm sure).

Out with the old.....
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post #5 of 59
6/24/09 at 6:19am
When did they add the "-" to HD-DVD?
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post #6 of 59
6/24/09 at 6:26am
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Originally Posted by Everdog View Post

When did they add the "-" to HD-DVD?

The hyphen is not the issue here, Dude.
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post #7 of 59
6/24/09 at 6:33am
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Originally Posted by Grubert View Post

The hyphen is not the issue here, Dude.

But that hyphen really tied the room together....
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post #8 of 59
6/24/09 at 6:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bt12483 View Post

So on his last day he opens the door to bluray speculation.

Now the new CEO can actually announce BD support without looking like he's reversing the old CEO (who is staying as Chairman) and make him lose face. Which is something very important for Japanese executives.
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post #9 of 59
6/24/09 at 6:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grubert View Post

Now the new CEO can actually announce BD support without looking like he's reversing the old CEO (who is staying as Chairman) and make him lose face. Which is something very important for Japanese executives.

Hey, you don't have to tell me.....from last month......

Thread: "When do you think Toshiba will release a stand alone Blu-ray player?"
Quote:
Originally Posted by bt12483 View Post

When is Nishida "bowing out" again?

Oh that's right:
Quote:


TOKYO -- Facing the prospect of a record loss and the possible need for additional capital to shore up a battered balance sheet, Toshiba Corp. said its chief executive will step down in June and be succeeded by a veteran of the company's nuclear-power business.

Norio Sasaki, the 59-year-old head of Toshiba's infrastructure systems group, will become the next president and CEO in June, pending shareholder approval. The current CEO, Atsutoshi Nishida, 65, will become the company's chairman as part of the management change. Tadashi Okamura, the current chairman, will become an adviser to the board.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123736435351268601.html

So in a few days the old guy is out. Wonder if anything will change....

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...2&postcount=66

In response to all of those people that said "never".....
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post #10 of 59
6/24/09 at 7:13am
With Blu-ray players selling for as little as $130.00 now I'm not sure what advantage they think they can bring to the market, but I'm game to find out.
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post #11 of 59
6/24/09 at 7:42am
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Originally Posted by Calamus View Post

With Blu-ray players selling for as little as $130.00 now I'm not sure what advantage they think they can bring to the market, but I'm game to find out.

I don't think it's so much what they can bring to the market, but what the market can bring to them. Others have said that perhaps they're losing sales on TVs that they might otherwise get, where customers would rather buy a BD player *and* a TV from the same maker. I mean, personally I could care less - I have a Panny BD player and a Sony TV, brand loyalty doesn't matter to me, but some people are big on that. Even if those potential customers do buy their TVs, they could still get a good amount of BD player sales by covering both bases. It seems like a market ripe for them to get into, and it would certainly make sense for them.
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post #12 of 59
6/24/09 at 8:11am
Blu-ray Recorder Sales Hit Record Levels

http://news.ecoustics.com/bbs/messag...81/535351.html

Quote:


The average sales price has begun to come down. In the first week of June 2008, the average sales price of Blu-ray disc recorders was between 110,000 -- 120,000 JPY. By the third week of October, it dropped to between 100,000 -- 110,000 JPY.

That's $1,049 to $1,154 in USD

Not too much of a stretch to understand why Toshiba would be interested in this market. And the UK is opening up as a market for these SAT HD DVR BD recorders also.

Quote:


Nishida said that BD recorders, in particular, appear to be a viable option. They are quite successful in Japan.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=2974
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post #13 of 59
6/24/09 at 8:11am
I wonder if this means they have hit a stumbling block with their plans to move every thing to flash and other related media? No point in propping up BD if your plan is to stab it in the back as soon as possible, unless you think you can do more damage from the inside than the outside.
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post #14 of 59
6/24/09 at 8:19am
DVD format war?

So what happened to the magical upconverting tech that was supposed to make regular dvds almost as good as Blu-rays?
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post #15 of 59
6/24/09 at 8:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kram Sacul View Post

DVD format war?

So what happened to the magical upconverting tech that was supposed to make regular dvds almost as good as Blu-rays?

It's Toshiba. Over promising and under delivering. I'm trying to think of an electronics company who fail so bad at making a decent product than these guys. Samsung, once a laughing stock is light years ahead of Toshiba now.
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post #16 of 59
6/24/09 at 8:46am
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Originally Posted by eightninesuited View Post

It's Toshiba. Over promising and under delivering.

Kinda reminiscent of the promises made concerning the interactivity for BR (remember "Limited Interactivity" vs "Superior Interactivity"?) At least HDi worked all the time, as opposed to the Java crap BR is saddled with (BDA: "It will work.... we promise... with the next FW upgrade.")
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I'm trying to think of an electronics company who fail so bad at making a decent product than these guys. Samsung, once a laughing stock is light years ahead of Toshiba now.

The company you refer to in the second sentence fulfills the first. In some non-bargain markets, Samsung is still a laughing stock.
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post #17 of 59
6/24/09 at 8:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by eightninesuited View Post

It's Toshiba. Over promising and under delivering. I'm trying to think of an electronics company who fail so bad at making a decent product than these guys. Samsung, once a laughing stock is light years ahead of Toshiba now.

I disagree. If they can produce a BR player that performs as well as most of their HD DVD players I would take a look. That's not to say they won't come up against the same BD Java issues the other CE's have. But they supported their players fantastically.
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post #18 of 59
6/24/09 at 8:49am
This is like the game of "telephone!"

Quote:


Nishida said that BD recorders, in particular, appear to be a viable option. They are quite successful in Japan.
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post #19 of 59
6/24/09 at 8:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Stewart View Post

This is like the game of "telephone!"

I think most of us are just making the natural assumption that if Toshiba was to make/market a BR recorder a player wouldn't be far behind.
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post #20 of 59
6/24/09 at 8:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kram Sacul View Post

DVD format war?

So what happened to the magical upconverting tech that was supposed to make regular dvds almost as good as Blu-rays?

When the Circuit City in my area went out of business they had a load of these players and could not sell them even at $80.00. Toshiba used to produce innovative products but as written above, they seem to have lost their way and now the Samsung brand seems to be way ahead of Toshiba.
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post #21 of 59
6/24/09 at 9:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gluvhand View Post

I think most of us are just making the natural assumption that if Toshiba was to make/market a BR recorder a player wouldn't be far behind.

Making/selling a $1000+ STB versus a $300 BD player? That's quite a leap.
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post #22 of 59
6/24/09 at 9:27am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Everdog View Post

When did they add the "-" to HD-DVD?

It is a Japanese to English translation so there are a few minor grammatical errors. Note though that the source of this information is Nikkei which is one of the largest media companies in Japan.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Stewart View Post

Not too much of a stretch to understand why Toshiba would be interested in this market.

Blu-ray recorders have sold at a faster rate in Japan than DVD recorders did and this article notes that Blu-ray recorders sold over 122,000 units in June of 2008. Also just to mention this but the article notes that Blu-ray recorders without hard drives could be found in the summer of 2008 for as low as $420 so there was a wide range of Blu-ray recorders being sold in Japan.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Stewart View Post

This is like the game of "telephone!"

Lee, do you still believe that Toshiba will never release a stand alone Blu-ray player?
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post #23 of 59
6/24/09 at 9:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Paul View Post

Lee, do you still believe that Toshiba will never release a stand alone Blu-ray player?

Not at this time.
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post #24 of 59
6/24/09 at 10:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Stewart View Post

This is like the game of "telephone!"

Are there any Japanese CE makers selling BD recorders in Japan and not selling BD players in USA/Europe?
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post #25 of 59
6/24/09 at 10:52am
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Originally Posted by Grubert View Post

Are there any Japanese CE makers selling BD recorders in Japan and not selling BD players in USA/Europe?

I don't know. Are there?

Toshiba does very well in the laptop business. One of their successes.

I would think that their laptops could benefit from the addition of a BD drive and get better results ($ wise) then trying to sell a BD player for $299 and start out at the bottom of the pile (CEM's).

Doesn't Toshiba jointly own TSST with Samsung and one of the drives is a BD drive?
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post #26 of 59
6/24/09 at 11:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Stewart View Post

Doesn't Toshiba jointly own TSST with Samsung and one of the drives is a BD drive?

Toshiba 51%, Samsung 49%. They do not list a BD drive on the site.
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post #27 of 59
6/24/09 at 12:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by eightninesuited View Post

It's Toshiba. Over promising and under delivering. I'm trying to think of an electronics company who fail so bad at making a decent product than these guys. Samsung, once a laughing stock is light years ahead of Toshiba now.

Please go and praise Samsung in the "Dual Format Players" section and see what kind of response you get.

For the record, I still don't see Toshiba releasing a standalone Blu-Ray (only) player in the US market this year. If they ever release one, I see them taking LG's route and releasing a combo of Blu-Ray and streaming.
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post #28 of 59
6/24/09 at 12:59pm
The funny thing is that I dont think Toshiba is as emotional about this, as some here believes.

They will release BD when it makes sense from an economical viewpoint.

And its here it will get complicated. Because there is so many factors to consider it almost impossible
to do it with the rather small amount of data we have here.

I think a Toshiba BD standalone has a greater value for them, in just having it in their product range
then it has a value in profits. The same goes with their laptops etc.

But this also must be taken into what they actually make with BD not succeding.

I dont know what they make on royalties with the DVD format today, but I guessing they have some very
bright guys sitting down an calculate on all variables.

To BD or not to BD, thats the question.
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post #29 of 59
6/24/09 at 1:17pm
1.i wonder if the shareholders are putting pressure on toshbia.
2.options open for what?
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post #30 of 59
6/24/09 at 1:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kram Sacul View Post

DVD format war?

So what happened to the magical upconverting tech that was supposed to make regular dvds almost as good as Blu-rays?

the reviews i read said bottom line they don't do what they say they do.
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