Correction.  Based on the latest Neilson report from last week, blu-ray's lead is no longer 2-1.  It's already below that at 1.85-1 in disk sales.  So on a lot of sites, you won't see "2-1 lead".  Instead you will see "nearly 2-1 lead" being stated instead.

The thing is that Toshiba merely has to get the price to $199, which it has. The large retailers will take additional discounts to sell discs and HD TVs. That puts the buy in price well in the range of the average consumer for the holidays.

One has to wonder why Blu-ray players are so much more expensive. Are they that much more expensive to manufacture? If so, then they will alway be a step behind in pricing.

Sony, Panasonic, and Samsung are all offering their entry-price Blu-ray player at $499. That alone shows that the costs are still high on those units. Third party manufacturers won't take a loss on hardware to push a format, it doesn't help them in any way down the road. Sony has incentive to drop price below cost, which is what we're seeing Toshiba do (and consequently, no one else is pushing HD-DVD hardware right now). So, it seems that Sony is content to lose their ass on the PS3 while keeping their stand-alone stuff above cost (hence their price parity with Samsung and Panasonic).

Meanwhile, Toshiba is in full bleed-money mode and offering $98 players today. Then there's that Chinese company that will be offering $200 players over the holidays in Wal-mart and other big box retailers.

As I've always said, this war is far from over. Toshiba is really going all-out this holiday season and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out in the end. If Toshiba can move 1m players this holiday, it would be a real coup for the format.

There is another reason you wont see super cheap Sony blu-ray players (or super-cheap PS3's). The reason hardware manufacturers were happy to make the jump to next-gen dvd's is too get greater margins on players than with regular dvds. What they didn't expect was prices falling so fast in this war. The reason blu-ray has more manufacturer support is because its easier to compete with Sony. If Sony removes this advantage by dropping stand-alone or PS3 prices too quickly, they will lose a lot of hardware support

First thing, you can't really say Toshiba may be cheapening their brand.  There's no comparison because no other HD DVD player out.  Maybe in fact it is very cheap to manufacture so Toshiba is offering at a premium already at $199.99.  They are not blu-ray and you can't use blu-ray prices as comparison as to whether or not Toshiba is low-balling.  That's the goodness of HD DVD drives, cheaper to manufacture and that's a fact.

Second, you don't know if Toshiba is bleeding money.  Maybe it cost them $50 to make, they sold it to retailers at $100, kept the MSRP at $299.99, retailers sell it between $199-299 for a 100% mark up.  Walmart sell it for under $99, maybe Walmart is the only one losing a dollar per HD DVD player sold.  No one has announced the cost to make a HD DVD player yet, but we all know it costs Sony hundreds of dollars to make a PS3.  Fuh Yuan had initially said it was rumored to sell 2Million HD DVD drives for the player to Walmart.  From what I read, those drives only cost $50 dollars...so...Just because Toyota sells Camry for cheaper than a BMW, it doesn't mean it's a "cheap" brand since it's so reliable and popular.

I understand what you're saying but it's unrealistic. If the A2 only cost Toshiba $50 to make, they would have launched them at that price. They want to squash Blu-ray and right now and will use any price advantage they can. It would be illogical for them to try to hold out for profits while Sony is moving PS3s out the door by the millions.

Besides, you can't realistically think that Toshiba isn't losing money with a $98 player and 5 free movies. Just the 5 free movies run them a fair amount of money.

Yeah I reckon Toshiba is selling them as cheaply as they can afford to. Sony just came out and said they don't see Blu ray getting below $400 before 2008.

 Yeah, it is AMAZING.  Watching Happy Feet right now with my 4 year old.  Also got Transformers, 300, Troy, Knocked Up, and The Reaping.  The ones I've watched so far all look and sound amazing.

 @ Whatever - did you have a print ad - a circular - or printed something off the Web? Thanks ...

went to walmart early this morning and there were people lined up to buy it.
I don't know how many they had to sell but they sold out in 15 minutes
And it didn't come with any movies.