Onkyo Dumps DV-HD805 , Blames Toshiba Price Cuts?
Posted by Tyler Pruitt
closeAuthor: Tyler Pruitt
Name: Tyler Pruitt
Email: tyler@formatwarcentral.com
Site: http://www.tylerpruitt.com
About: As a life long Geek, Tyler is pretty much addicted to anything that has to do with technology. He became hooked on HDTV in early '04, and hasn't looked back since. Tyler is a HD video content addict, and has been since the days of recording HD movies onto D-VHS tapes.
At his day job in the aerospace industry, he is never too far away from the latest FWC related news thanks to Google Reader on the iPhone.See Authors Posts (351) on November 27, 2007
Filed Under: Format War, HD DVD
According to a Google translation of the Italian site AVMagazine.it, Onkyo is stopping production of its DV-HD805 HD DVD player. In the article they cite Toshiba’s aggressive price cuts as the main factor in Onkyo’s problem in positioning its player in the market. Rumors are swirling that Onkyo is prepping a HD DVD/Blu-ray combo player that set for debut at CES in January. We have no confirmation if this applies only to Europe, or is a world wide decision.
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According to a Google translation of the Italian site AVMagazine.it, Onkyo is stopping production of its DV-HD805 HD DVD player. In the article they cite Toshiba’s aggressive price cuts as the main factor in Onkyo’s problem in positioning its player in the market. Rumors are swirling that Onkyo is prepping a HD DVD/Blu-ray combo player that set for debut at CES in January. We have no confirmation if this applies only to Europe, or is a world wide decision.
Ha, that was a joke anyway. Who would buy an onkyo player?
I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that it’s now common knowledge that this is the same player as the Toshiba HD-XA2 which sells for hundreds less.
Mr.B,
I did a story on it last week:
http://formatwarcentral.com/index.php/2007/11/21/is-onkyos-dv-hd805-hd-dvd-player-just-a-rebadged-toshiba/
But, I guess I should have also mentioned it in this story as well.
Well my thing was this; it’s Toshiba’s baby. They make players, and quite good ones at that. Why would anyone buy a second rate player (even if Onkyo built it on their own) over a Toshiba? Especially once you factor in the pricing differences (originally it was slated for $100 more than the XA2 @ the time) and inexperience of Onkyo in this market (the HD formats).
The Onkyo is/was a Toshiba player – what would make it second rate?
Personally I think that having only one manufacturer for a format is not a good thing, and Toshibas approach is alienating other manufacturers, not encouraging them.
It would not surprise me if we never see an HD DVD player from another manufacturer.