Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater HD DVD and Bluray units at Future Shop

Price on HD DVD.

Price on Bluray.

Something tells me those Blu-ray units are preorders. AFAIK, they aren't shipping yet.

I wonder why Toshiba is releasing it with such a high MSRP here in Canada. With the dollar the way it is, even a generous (in their favour) rate of 1.25 would put the player at $625CAD based on the $500US MSRP. Where did they get $700CAD from?

Estimated release on the Blue Ray 6/30, I wouldn't even count on that date.

Indeed! Don't get me started on the real price differentials between US and Canadian products. I don't know who does the exchange rate calculations but they certainly don't make me very happy.

J

Is anyone actually going to buy either of these right away?
I'll be buying a PS3 when available but definitely won't jump on either of these platforms as a dedicated player.

Read the HD-DVD forums at the AVS Forum. Quite a few have already purchased the HD-DVD player. There seems to be some software issues with Phantom of the Opera and Last Samurai where the audio was recorded about 10 dbs too low making listening at reference levels near impossible. For $500 you are probably better off with a universal DVD player that can upconvert to 1080i.

And $1299 for the blu-ray? Zoinks!

I had heard that Sony was putting $900 into each PS3, but that they could only launch the product at up to $400 USD to have a chance at their sales targets. No wonder it hasn't launched yet.

It's not just the exchange rate, it's also taxes and tariffs. They are higher in Canada.

I think Blu Ray is gonna be the winner. The playstation 3 will be seen as the one piece that will overwhelmingly tip the consummer in the Blue Ray direction. Blue Ray also has the number one manufacture of electronic goods in its hip pocket.

That being said the Playstation 3 is probably the only HD DVD I'll be getting for some time. I'm just not buying into the hype. The visual improvement is just not good enough.