Fuh Yuan to make 2M HD-DVD players for Walmart; Wal-Mart denies rumor - Page 2  

If the $50 number holds up, we should see players on WalMart shelves for $99 pretty much pushing all the BR Exclusive fan boys to go out and grab an HD DVD player just to be neutral. Plus with 1.5 - 2 million STAND ALONE units in the wild (Wal Mart wouldn't order 2 million plus another potential 6 million if it only planned to sell 200,000) we would see a huge uptake in movies sales.

Think about it, a bunch of fanboys got together for one day to purchase movies and that action skyrocketed sales for a day past Blu Ray. If one Website can have that impact, imagine what effect you would get when you have 10x more HD DVD players than you have now.

It won't end the war, but it will put HUGE pressure on Sony to bring to market a low end BR player to compete with the FY Player (either through Sony themselves or through a Chinese OEM) and that won't thrill their fellow manufacturers who were hoping to sell high end $600 and up players for a while longer.

What it boils down to is that the price curve for High Def Discs will drop MUCH faster than the price curve for SD DVD simply due to a format war that everybody seems to hate.

If it weren't for the format war, we would still be paying at least $500 for a low end player. This format war has spurned COMPETITION which means we are talking about potential $100 HD DVD players by the end of the year and SIGNIFICANT pressure on the BR side to match or come close to that price point.

Now why do we hate format wars again?

$50.00 for blue laser assembly
$X for Microsoft/Broadcom BCM7440 SOC set
$few bucks power supply
$few cents for case.

$100?

If we know TDK is involved in Blu-ray development is there a chance that the references in the article to "blue light HD DVD" could simply be a generic term, not neccissarily a true HD DVD product?

I hope it is HD DVD specific but be careful-

If these players hit before Thanksgiving, we could see some studios going nuetral before Christmas. Wal-Mart has more maketing power than all the studios and Sony combined.

This is big!

I consider myself a j6p and I don't take it as a offense. I have a moderate income, but I try to school myself in AV. Of course I love this stuff so I take more of a interest then any of my family. I work for a pool of lawyers at a national bank and they have no clue as to what this is all about. You could consider them j6ps. My boss is the General Counsel of a major Midwestern bank and he asks me questions about considered/future purchases as far as display devices.

In this forum I think of j6p as an average consumer that needs to keep up with all this stuff to become an educated consumer.

People ask, what will end the "war", but this is it. Nobody is going to go to Wal-Mart, look at the red rack with a player at $199, and movies at $19.98, and not feel some kind of unpleasant emotion when they look at the blue rack with players at $499 and movies at $28.98. Regardless of the reality of these cheap players, this type of marketing is what will win the war for somebody.

I went blue first, but in my library red outnumbers blue about 8:1 just because of price!

They're already 18.99 at costco for the non-combo HD-DVDs. RIGHT NOW. If this story is true, and Walmart does buy 2 million HD-DVD players, I can guarantee they will have affordable HD-DVD movies for sale. Walmart is insanely good at squeezing their suppliers to lower their prices.

Samsung, HP, and LG are on the blu-ray board too and producing HD-DVD now.

I think that if they meant blu-ray they would have said it with all those references to blue lasers.

If it pans out, it's quite significant news no matter how any spinmeister tries to paint it, and you best believe if we junkies here notice developments like this, the studios sure as hell do <<<< thats KEY, folks! =)

Been saying all along, it's not content, but price that will win the day...I have several friends that think I'm nuts when I tell them how much I've been enjoying my movie hobby in HD - they laugh because of the money invested...my brother in law for example - guy lives in a new 500k+ home (in north ATL, that's living pretty damn sweet), earns 120k yr, hardly a J6P anyway, and he won't even consider buying into this stuff until its MUCH more affordable...a practical thinker with a wife, mortgage and youngins to feed. Price does matter big time, maybe not here, where everyone is addicted to this stuff, but we are small potatoes in the grand scheme, period.

There was a link here to an article a few weeks back where somebody at Sony said America was the "land of the cheap" - how ironic, "cheapness" might just do IT for his competitors. =)

I just don't see how even a $99 HD-DVD player will convince JSP to go and spend $1000+ dollars on an HDTV (not to mention an AV receiver) as soon as the players hit the streets. Heck, how many with an HD-DVD player right now would buy one of these except as an additional unit for the bedroom, or to possibly sell their current one and pocket a few bucks? I see this as a way for people who want to be format neutral to do so cheaply. Until JSP HAS to switch to an HDTV, I think sales numbers will remain relatively small. Of course, the quality of the player will also be a factor, IMO. Just my 2 cents.

J6P won't need to be convinced to get a $1000 HDTV just because he has HD-DVD, just like there are HDTV owners now not viewing HD anything. Besides, there are plenty of displays less than $1000 that would shine with HD-DVD and $99 to get your foot into HD will be hard to ignore for anyone even remotely looking at purchasing some kind of player.

J6P won't even know they need a new TV. It's just magic in a box folks...

I will take all of this with a healthy pinch of salt, until more info trickles out on this.



No. Don't forget licencing, various other stuff, and dealer markup.

I still predict Chinese players will come in at $199 street, late 2007.

BTW, lots of J6Ps already have HDTVs. They just don't use the HD part of it much, although some do for football games.

That would be me. I asked that question to people who complained that dual format players would simply prolong the format war and not end it. They wanted to end the format war instead (as I'm fairly certain most if not all of us want as well) but offered no way to do so. I was simply trying to make the point that dual format players was the next best solution to one format for all.

True...true, It's a great way to introduce consumers to a low cost HD media player, Shortly you'll be able to buy a 720p set for $400 to go along with it...The problem lies with getting consumers to spend $30.00 on the media content...Wally World is a surviver and profit maker...I'm sure they will offer some 9.9 APR to sucker them in.

J6P is buying HDTVs on his own. Flat panels sold like hotcakes last Christmas and it will only get better this year.

I have a coworker that went from a 27" CRT to a 37" LCD last week. It's funny to now hear him talking about the lack of HD content. My guess is "no black bars" is what he means but if you can pick up a $200 player at Walmart, that's not bleeding edge anymore.

IMO, audio isn't as high up the priority list for J6P. Whether it's WAF, complexity, cost, etc., the built-in TV speakers still rule the roost. HD will sell mostly on picture, not on lossless PCM soundtracks.

lol, that was below the belt

Though this is fantastic news for mass adoption of HD-DVD, I can't help but question how cheaply-built these machines will likely be. Is it possible they won't perform up to snuff and give HD-DVD a bad name? I'd hate to see the format reviewed poorly after such a great launch. Don't get me wrong -- I love the news. Hopefully it sparks some BD studios into neutrality sooner than later.

My reaction to the news of at CES of the coming Chinese players was that it would determine the outcome of the war in HD-DVDs favor. After the initial excitement wore off, I began to feel that the PS3 would give BD high enough sales numbers to limp along ad infinitum, this to end anything, but it without doubt obliterates and notion that HD-DVD is or will ever be on anything resembling a "death bed".

Mainly for me, the thought of cheap HD players flooding the market means that I won't have to worry about not getting any more great HD content, so I'm very happy that things like this are in motion.

Yeah it already did...Fanboy's favorite media link was changed to Kibble and Bits...hmmmm, "here boy"..."fetch"

Your very modest, however your not J6P!


J6P is J6P, not someone who is educated about A/V, nor is 'he' becoming educated about A/V. J6P just "buys stuff". No research, no discussion, just features & price point. If you go to BB & stand around the exit, you'll see "J6P's" rolling stuff out w/a smile on their face (and rightfully so, as they just bought what they wanted), that you wouldn't be happy/pleased w/if some gave it to you.

Some people do find it a derogatory term. I've always reveled in it simplicity to convey a certain type of consumer precisely.

OP,
Thanks for posting this.

This does not "win" the war. It prolongs it. Which is indeed a "win" for HD DVD.
After all, Sony said it was over earlier this year & the Blu-meanies have been saying its been over since '05.

This is what HD DVD is all about, HD on Disc for the masses!
Hip, hip, hooray!

I almost forgot...
Good news for Blu-ray!

J6P refers to a consumer who does not follow a product to the degree of the hobbyist but still is a potential customer of that product. In a sense ALL of us are J6Ps as I doubt we spend hour after hour pouring over the minutiae about Power Tools, Flash Lights, Cars, etc. all of which have forums, magazines, and huge followings that consider everyone else a J6P.

J6P has NOTHING to do with income or lifestyle, it is simply a reference to the guys who purchase items without the dedication or research of a hobbyist.

It is very likely they won't perform quite as well. So if you are a techie maybe you need to spend a bit more and get a better player. Many J6p's will be more than happen with the performance of the cheap player. Just like today we have sub $100 players that flood the market but many of us spend more on better players.

Of course, we may be surprised and the cheap players could perform identically to what we are used to.

Oh it definitely seems to refer to actual blue-laser HD DVD, although I admit I'd like to have a more complete translation somewhere of the actual text. (Google's translation is very difficult to understand. )

What I really want to know is what exact piece of electronics they are talking about. Is it a simply an HD DVD-ROM drive? That would make sense for a $50 product, but why would Wal-Mart be ordering drives and not complete machines? Or is Wal-Mart ordering machines, and Fu Yuan simply the company who is manufacturing the drives, or some other blu-laser component for players to be made by someone contracted to Great Wall?

And could it still just be a rumour piece, and not an actual press release?

Does someone here know Chinese and do a decent translation and tell us what it really says ?

Looks like Walmart is buying 2M HD DVD drives - $50 a piece - towards the end of this year.

I can almost hear the BD fans passing out and falling in a heap

The licensing fee is built into the decoder. You don't pay a seperate fee, you just buy the decoder.

I certainly hope this is true.

O my God!

This is hard to believe.
I bet a lot of CE companies and movie studios in the BR camp are taking note.