[official] Next Generation HD Format General Discussion

[TruckWEB]

The menus have nothing to do with Profile 2.0 but rather studios not being comfortable with BD-J. The menus have been getting better as more titles are released. Look for Disney titles to get the best user experience thus far.

So, in the end, HDi is better/easyer than BD-J. Another strong point for HD-DVD.

Now that I have both, it's easy for me to have a better "opinion" about the product. Right now, I still can't understand why Blu-Ray is in the lead. Higher overall price, BD-J that studio seems to have a harder time to understand, no interactive stuff (only if you care about that, but still, it's missing).

But, I'll say it again, as long as I can watch my movie, I'm happy.

[kak]

HDM isn't going to succeed DVD based on menus and extras. People will buy the media based on the film itself. Blu-Ray is in the lead because its being pushed very hard by Sony. Like it or not, Sony is a great brand name in America and people buy into their products thinking they're the best [which in the TV market, they usually are]. You also have to look at the amount of studio support behind Blu-Ray. The BDA did a good job rounding up support before the war officially took off. Toshiba has put in plenty of work as well, but the BDA's supporters hold more weight in the industry.

[DrCheese]

Apparently, Circuit City have put Toshiba's 3rd generation players on Clearance (When its gone, its gone) and lowered the prices.

http://forums.highdefdigest.com/showthread.php?t=39256

People have rang around stores and confirmed it and there's photos of the tag on page 9 of that thread.

At the moment its just speculation that they are dropping it and CC have said nothing official at this stage.

[Boz]

Apparently, Circuit City have put Toshiba's 3rd generation players on Clearance (When its gone, its gone) and lowered the prices.

http://forums.highdefdigest.com/showthread.php?t=39256

People have rang around stores and confirmed it and there's photos of the tag on page 9 of that thread.

At the moment its just speculation that they are dropping it and CC have said nothing official at this stage.

No..it's not clearance..it's sale before restocking..a lot of stores does it.. and for A3s is also clearing out the ones with the 300 movie in them. The new ones will come in with new Bourne.

Will people stop spreading FUD. This is getting old really.

They do have A2s on clearance. A2 is $85. A35 HD DVD player is not lower there though. Still $299, but them that's a nice player too.

I just came back from my Best Buy, they are absolutely selling out non-stop out of HD DVD players. They will even price match at $100-$120 for the A3. There's a PILE of Blu ray player nobody is buying.. They've been there for weeks now every time I go in..

Btw, now HD DVD players have BIG - AS ADVERTISED stickers too to draw attention.

The sales are kicking in BIG time.. everybody is picking these up..hell why wouldn't they..it's an incredible DVD player that plays HD for $100-$120. I can't even imagine what the Super Bowl commercial will do. It's probably going to be GREAT.

Edited January 27, 2008 by Boz

[ctebah]

Format war central is reporting faster growth of HD media compared to DVD's.

We read at Video Business that HD Disc format growth is ahead of the standard DVD curve.

Price-driven promotions are the main reason for high-def?s steeper growth curve, according to Paul Erickson, DisplaySearch director of DVD and HD Market Research.

source: formatwarcentral

NPD is also reporting that free blu-ray players had a lot to do with blu-ray outselling hd-dvd in previous weeks

That 93% lead for Blu-ray in hardware sales in the week following Warner's exclusivity announcement? NPD (the research group that tallied the numbers) says don't read too much into it.

That's according to a new article at BetaNews, which quotes an NPD official as saying that a series of free player bundles led to inflated weekly numbers for team Blu.

they also went to acknowledge that the overall sales of hd-dvd players went down.

All of this is not to say that it was a good week for HD DVD hardware sales. Although Baker declined to get into specifics, he did confirm a drop in overall HD DVD player sales for the week.

source: highdefdigest

[kak]

No..it's not clearance..it's sale before restocking..a lot of stores does it.. and for A3s is also clearing out the ones with the 300 movie in them. The new ones will come in with new Bourne.

Will people stop spreading FUD. This is getting old really.

They do have A2s on clearance. A2 is $85. A35 HD DVD player is not lower there though. Still $299, but them that's a nice player too.

I just came back from my Best Buy, they are absolutely selling out non-stop out of HD DVD players. They will even price match at $100-$120 for the A3. There's a PILE of Blu ray player nobody is buying.. They've been there for weeks now every time I go in..

Btw, now HD DVD players have BIG - AS ADVERTISED stickers too to draw attention.

The sales are kicking in BIG time.. everybody is picking these up..hell why wouldn't they..it's an incredible DVD player that plays HD for $100-$120. I can't even imagine what the Super Bowl commercial will do. It's probably going to be GREAT.

FUD? Its only fud when it isn't useful to you. As advertised? What, going out of business? The software numbers in this week show another domination, without a bogo. What of that?

[ctebah]

first 85:15, now 83:17, and with no hd-dvd's making the top 10 I think warner clearly made the right choice.

an interesting quote from the article from engadgetnethd:

You might be quick to say this is Warner's doing, but we can't forget that it has been a month since HD DVD released a decent title. So this situation is as much Universal and Paramount's fault as anyone else. Of course the real bad news here for the red camp is there aren't any hot titles to speak of until American Gangster hits the street in about a month. And to top this off -- looking at the entire release schedule for the red camp -- there are only ten HD DVD exclusive titles. If HD DVD is really trying to win this thing, they need to push Universal and Paramount to release the hottest catalog titles in their vaults, otherwise we don't see how this thing can be turned around.

source: EngadgetHD

[Mathachew Veteran]

first 85:15, now 83:17, and with no hd-dvd's making the top 10 I think warner clearly made the right choice.

an interesting quote from the article from engadgetnethd:

source: EngadgetHD

Um..

Pre-Warner Announcement: HD DVD sales are decent to good.

Post-Warner Announcement: HD DVD flat out suck.

If you ask me, Warner's announcement had everything to do with HD DVD movie sales.

[Boz]

Um..

Pre-Warner Announcement: HD DVD sales are decent to good.

Post-Warner Announcement: HD DVD flat out suck.

If you ask me, Warner's announcement had everything to do with HD DVD movie sales.

Correct, it's still stabilizing.. people were just hesitant to buy movies until they saw what will be response from HD DVD Group.. if I am correct, with new true sales of lowered prices of HD DVD players and more aggresive marketing we will see results coming back to normal. I'm getting more and more confident that HD DVD will come back with a bang. There's talk that HD DVD announcements of killer titles are getting ready for Q2 and I"m talking huge huge titles. I hope it's true, but Toshiba is kicking up marketing quite significantly. I've been watching USA Network all day and they sponsored the shows with HD DVD TV commercials going one after the other.

I have a feeling that if TL51 and triple layer twin discs come out on HD DVD with increased bandwith, we will see Disney going neutral as that was one of their biggest "issues" with HD DVD.

It's slowly pacing now, but the HD DVD players are creating a mass market. Hopefully they sell another million players by Q3 unless they have problems with supply, but I think that Chinese are suppose to start hitting in Spring too.

[DrCheese]

Will people stop spreading FUD. This is getting old really.

I'm not spreading FUD, I'm posting what's online. The topic was posted by a CC employee who supports HD-DVD.

They wouldn't be in THAT much of a rush to sell off the 300 pack nor would they lower prices that much if they was just going to replace it with a different SKU. The only one spreading FUD here is CC for labeling stuff Clearance if they are just "restocking"

we will see Disney going neutral as that was one of their biggest "issues" with HD DVD.

Back in dreamland I see? Have you seen recent Disney adverts? They go out of their way to diss HD-DVD sales and mention the huge studio support BD has. Even if HD-DVD suddenly comes out with TL51 (Which are currently unreleased vapourware) I doubt Disney would suddenly switch over considering there's no real reason to do so.

Not really sure how you can say the market is stabilising when for the past two weeks BD has kicked HD-DVD sales to the ground in both software and hardware sales. This is after BD had beaten HD-DVD all year round in software.

[DrCheese]

The thread poster has now stated

"But yes, I can confidently confirm now that this whole thing IS a pricing error, and the prices and tags should be fixed company-wide very very soon, if not already."

So yeah, it's probably a mistake. It's pretty poor play on CC's part for a mistake like that to happen especially when people will jump on errors like that pretty quickly.

[ctebah]

Gartner: Blu-ray to win in 2008, HD DVD price cuts are "useless resistance"

Gartner, the fat lady of research firms, is singing HD DVD's swan song this morning. Hiroyuki Shimizu, Principal Research Analyst in Japan, says in Gartner's Semiconductor DQ Monday Report that, "Gartner believes that Toshiba's price-cutting may prolong HD DVD's life a little, but the limited line-up of film titles will inflict fatal damage on the format." He goes on to call the recent price cuts "useless resistance" in avoiding the inevitable. What's that, you coyly ask? According to Shimizu, "Gartner expects that, by the end of 2008, Blu-ray will be the winning format in the consumer market, and the war will be over." With 5 of the 7 major studios now backing Blu-ray exclusively, Gartner's certainty on the subject doesn't appear to be much of a stretch.

Source: Engadget

Confirmed: Circuit City?s HD DVD Players On Clearanceb>

We had heard Circuit City was clearancing their stock of HD DVD players, so we went to check for ourselves. We did indeed find all of the third gen HD DVD players on clearance. With the HD-A3 for $100 and the HD-A30 for $149, which are killer prices that even beat Amazon??We do wonder if this this is the beginning of the end of HD DVD players for sale at B&M stores.

Source: Formatwarcentral

with a couple of smaller retailers dropping hd-dvd, the ever growing sales of ps3 outside the us, cnet article telling consumers to drop hd-dvd, I think the war is going to be over sooner than later.

no one can deny that hd-dvd players are in fact cheaper, but with 5 out of 7 major studios on the blu-ray side, hd-dvd has no chance.

[Boz]

Gartner: Blu-ray to win in 2008, HD DVD price cuts are "useless resistance"

Source: Engadget

Confirmed: Circuit City's HD DVD Players On Clearance

Source: Formatwarcentral

with a couple of smaller retailers dropping hd-dvd, the ever growing sales of ps3 outside the us, cnet article telling consumers to drop hd-dvd, I think the war is going to be over sooner than later.

no one can deny that hd-dvd players are in fact cheaper, but with 5 out of 7 major studios on the blu-ray side, hd-dvd has no chance.

I have issues with "experts" making predictions based on 2% of market share in the marketplace for both HD formats combined. Obviously another PR fueled article.

Second one was confirmed that Circuit City sales of HD DVD players are not CLEARANCE. It was a mistake in pricing as the "CLEARANCE" was not applied to all stores nor it was applied online.

Before you post garbage from a Blu-Ray oriented web site please do some research as you are otherwise spreading lies.

[ctebah]

I have issues with "experts" making predictions based on 2% of market share in the marketplace for both HD formats combined. Obviously another PR fueled article.

Second one was confirmed that Circuit City sales of HD DVD players are not CLEARANCE. It was a mistake in pricing as the "CLEARANCE" was not applied to all stores nor it was applied online.

Before you post garbage from a Blu-Ray oriented web site please do some research as you are otherwise spreading lies.

there goes a saying, "if you got nothing smart to say, don't say anything at all"

I backed up my posts with sources as I always do but for some reason you still come here and attack me.

I have reported you, again, and hope the rest of the neowin members that feel the same as I do will do the same.

[Boz]

there goes a saying, "if you got nothing smart to say, don't say anything at all"

I backed up my posts with sources as I always do but for some reason you still come here and attack me.

I have reported you, again, and hope the rest of the neowin members that feel the same as I do will do the same.

Well you know you can report whatever you like, I have not said anything that attacks you? I attacked your post. It's not enough just to post a link to a biased article, you should check at the source and then research if the information has been confirmed as factual or not. This is how misleading and incorrect information is being spread as fact.

[Coldgunner]

Well you know you can report whatever you like, I have not said anything that attacks you? I attacked your post. It's not enough just to post a link to a biased article, you should check at the source and then research if the information has been confirmed as factual or not. This is how misleading and incorrect information is being spread as fact.

what makes you say they are biased? evidence??

[Boz]

Stevan, I didn't want to sound harsh with garbage remark. I apologize. I would just like to ask you, to try and be objective and research a bit more of the post as there might always be an equally important article that denies the information provided. In your case, the Circuit City thing was address by CC representatives as a mistake in pricing at some stores.

[ctebah]

Japanese electronics makers to report healthy earnings - analysts

TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Japanese electronics makers are this week expected to report higher third-quarter earnings on brisk overseas demand for consumer goods including computers, cameras and video games, analysts said.

The market, hit by global turmoil on worries over the US economy, will be closely watching the returns for signs on the outlook for Japan, whose prolonged recovery from recession in the 1990s has been driven by exports.

Leading electronics and high-tech companies are due to release October-December earnings this week including Canon, Fujitsu, Matsushita, NEC, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba.

Sony Corp, often seen as a bellwether for corporate Japan, is expected to report Thursday its operating profit for the fiscal third quarter rose 17.4 percent year-on-year to 210 billion yen, analysts predict.

The company that created the Walkman has been recovering from a soft patch after undergoing a painful restructuring drive as it lost out to competitors, such as Apple Inc and its phenomenally successful iPod.

"Sales of digital cameras and camcorders continue to exceed the company's plan," said Yuji Fujimori, an electronics analyst at Goldman Sachs.

Key to the turnaround, analysts expect Sony to report brisk sales of its flat-panel LCD Bravia televisions. The segment incurred loss in the second quarter as LCD TV prices fell and Sony's spring lineup failed to excite.

Sony's gaming unit is also expected to improve amid a face-off with rivals Nintendo and Microsoft due to price cuts of its PlayStation 3 and structural reform of the business, analysts said.

"As the strenuous cost cuts are beginning to bear fruit, Sony might have posted a profit in the game business in the October-December quarter for almost the first time in two years," said Nomura Securities analyst Eiichi Katayama.

Nintendo's Wii, which features an innovative motion-sensitive controller and is aimed at a more general audience, outsold the PlayStation 3 three-fold in Japan last year.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd, best known for its Panasonic brand, is also expected to report higher operating profits on robust overseas demand for its digital cameras and plasma televisions, analysts said.

The average analyst forecast is for Matsushita's operating profit to rise 12.4 percent to 152.6 billion yen.

"Since the launch of its high-definition compatible new plasma display panel televisions last July, sales have continued to pick up across the world, which together with the brisk sales of its digital cameras, boosted profit growth," said Mitsuhiro Osawa, an analyst at Mizuho Investor Securities.

Analysts said Matsushita's business performance was to be supported after it cut its stake in struggling consumer electronics maker Victor Co of Japan (JVC).

However, Toshiba Corp, which has reported soaring profits in recent years but has been hit by setbacks to its next-generation DVD format, HD-DVD, is expected to say its earnings were just slightly up.

Japanese consumers and a number of Hollywood heavyweights including Warner Bros have snubbed HD-DVD in favor of Blu-ray, the rival next-generation format backed by Sony and Matsushita.

Analysts predict Toshiba will report operating profit of 57.5 billion yen for the third fiscal quarter, compared with 55.9 billion a year earlier.

Toshiba is also seen suffering from declining prices of flash memory chips, which are used in iPods and other digital consumer products.

"Given the decline in flash memory chips and an expanded loss in its DVD business, Toshiba may have to revise down its full-year profit forecast," said Goldman Sachs analyst Ikuo Matsuhashi.

[Boz]

Japanese electronics makers to report healthy earnings - analysts

So what the article says is that Sony MIGHT've made some money for the first time in the last 2 years, but Toshiba MADE a bit less money then expected. LOL.

For non-business people, when someone says they have made money 1 month or for 2 months, that doesn't mean they've paid all the billions they owe and now they made profit, that only means that in those 1 or 2 months they've managed to make the money over the value of the current sale but the debt the company has is not misteriously gone.

Btw, this article has really nothing to do with next generation HD. It's just some kind of chest pounding in attempt to prove that Sony is not losing an arm and a leg, which this article doesn't do successfully.

[ctebah]

So what the article says is that Sony MIGHT've made some money for the first time in the last 2 years, but Toshiba MADE a bit less money then expected. LOL.

yep, and here we all are thinking that sony is a sinking ship but in fact they're making money.

[Boz]

yep, and here we all are thinking that sony is a sinking ship but in fact they're making money.

Of course it is.. they are in debt for BILLIONS...

Second, this article is not really factual and is really an estimate since the real numbers are not out yet, but the ONLY thing that is making some money for Sony are "Sales of digital cameras and camcorders continue to exceed the company's plan", everything else is in not so good shape.

You need to understand how business works to realize that with 17% increase year-to-year they have no way of paying off the debt they are in. It's alarming for investment and one of the reasons why Sony is currently on the black list of major world financial institutions. Nobody wants to give them money, this is one of the reasons they were forced to sell cell factories and to bring Saudia Arabia or some middle eastern investors not to mention sell of their insurance businesses.

In any case, if Blu-Ray loses and PS3 remains the least wanted console, Sony will be in a LOT of trouble.. this is why they need to prevented from anti-trust behavior they are very much inclined to use in order to insure their survival.

[ctebah]

Of course it is.. they are in debt for BILLIONS...

Second, this article is not really factual and is really an estimate since the real numbers are not out yet, but the ONLY thing that is making some money for Sony are "Sales of digital cameras and camcorders continue to exceed the company's plan", everything else is in not so good shape.

You need to understand how business works to realize that with 17% increase year-to-year they have no way of paying off the debt they are in. It's alarming for investment and one of the reasons why Sony is currently on the black list of major financial institutions.

you care to provide proof for that billions statement? US is also in debt for trillions of dollars but they have the strongest economy. sony, which has been reporting losses in their ps3 and blu-ray divisions is turning around making money. whereas toshiba is starting to loose money on hd-dvd.

Furthermore, they (investors) want to gauge how much of a loss Toshiba will sustain in its HD-DVD business, following Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros studio's announcement earlier this month that it will release high-definition DVDs only in rival Sony Corp's Blu-ray format.

Toshiba, whose products range from washing machines to nuclear power plants, is also fighting losses in its HD DVD player business, he said, without detailing the size of the loss.

Toshiba slashed prices on its players by 40 to 50 percent after Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros studio announced this month that it would release high-definition DVDs only in rival Sony Corp's Blu-ray format.

Toshiba stuck to its outlook for a 290 billion yen ($2.7 billion) operating profit for the year to March, slightly lower than a consensus estimate of 292 billion yen by 13 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

Operating profit in its digital products unit ? which includes PCs, televisions, and HD-DVD players and recorders ? declined 11.1 per cent to Y6.3bn compared with the same period a year aThe company suffered a severe blow this month when Warner Brothers said it would back the rival Blu-ray DVD technology.

sources:

1

2

3

[Boz]

Before the PS3 estimates that it will cost them an arm and a leg:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/20369-merr...huge-ps3-losses

And then it starts.. 100s of millions per each quarter.. totaling up today at between 6-7 billion.. let's not even go into the subsidization for Blu-Ray discs and retailer, marketing and studio payoffs that alone (if correct) cost them at least another billion.

Sony loses almost a billion for 1 quarter:

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/25/losses-i...ivision-double/

Sony's quatterly loss widens:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18694198/page/2/

Sony May Post Biggest Loss in 4 Years on PlayStation 3 Consoles:

http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=1988&start=0

Sony Q4 Loss Due To 'Price Competition'

http://www.twice.com/article/CA6442514.html

sony, which has been reporting losses in their ps3 and blu-ray divisions is turning around making money. whereas toshiba is starting to loose money on hd-dvd.

LOL.. you do understand that toshiba has not had any major LOSSES so far. Sure, they will have losses due to Warner as they need to start aggressive pricing and marketing, but they will still not even come close to Sony's loses.

And where does it say that Blu-Ray or PS3 is making money for Sony? They are STILL losing HUGE amount of money day after day one of the reasons they had to cancel 80gb no doubt. They are LUCKY that their PC, TV and camera depts sell well because they would be dead in the water.

You may want to read this carefully:

"There's a growing gap between the profitability of the top- and bottom-tier companies, making consolidation likely in DRAM, logic chips and hard drives," said Nomura analyst Masaya Yamasaki, adding that Toshiba was likely to play a part in calling the shots in that consolidation.

Toshiba has agreed to buy Sony Corp's microchip production lines, letting Sony pull back from massive investment needed in chip development.

This means, that Toshiba will call major shots in production, so don't worry about them. Btw, Toshiba right now is just STARTING to lose money and it will be significantly less then Sony did due to cheaper production costs of HD DVD players and most of the costs would go towards software subsidization and marketing is my guess.

Edited January 29, 2008 by Boz

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Before the PS3 estimates that it will cost them an arm and a leg:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/20369-merr...huge-ps3-losses

And then it starts.. 100s of millions per each quarter.. totaling up today at between 6-7 billion.. let's not even go into the subsidization for Blu-Ray discs and retailer, marketing and studio payoffs that alone (if correct) cost them at least another billion.

Sony loses almost a billion for 1 quarter:

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/25/losses-i...ivision-double/

Sony's quatterly loss widens:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18694198/page/2/

Sony May Post Biggest Loss in 4 Years on PlayStation 3 Consoles:

http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=1988&start=0

Sony Q4 Loss Due To 'Price Competition'

http://www.twice.com/article/CA6442514.html

LOL.. you do understand that toshiba has not had any major LOSSES so far. Sure, they will have losses due to Warner as they need to start aggressive pricing and marketing, but they will still not even come close to Sony's loses.

And where does it say that Blu-Ray or PS3 is making money for Sony? They are STILL losing HUGE amount of money day after day one of the reasons they had to cancel 80gb no doubt. They are LUCKY that their PC, TV and camera depts sell well because they would be dead in the water.

I told you earlier, since the start of this year...

Sony Trims PlayStation 3 Production Costs by 50% – Analyst.

Sony PlayStation 3 Costs Approximately $400 to Make, Says Analyst

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. does no longer lose hundreds of dollars on every Sony PlayStation 3 game console it makes, an analyst said late last year. Apparently, the latest game system from Sony costs about $400 to make, which means that the company has managed to reduce manufacturing costs by about 50% since the launch in late 2006.

Nikko Citigroup’s analyst Kota Ezawa estimates that Sony’s PlayStation 3 game console now costs $400 to make thanks to “shrink of PlayStation 3 chips and tweak” of its design, reports BusinessWeek . While Sony denied that the latest version of the PlayStation 3 featured key chip components produced using thinner (65nm) process technology, typically processors lose in cost significantly thanks to yield improvements.

According to estimates by analysts, Sony used to lose $241 and $306 on its $599 and $499 PlayStation 3 game consoles, respectively, when they were introduced in November, 2006. iSuppli analyst firm claimed that Sony PlayStation 3 20GB and 60GB cost $805 and $820, respectively, when launched back in 2006. Sony PS3 is made in China and Taiwan, where manufacturers charge in dollars.

Microsoft Corp. managed to trim production cost of its Microsoft Xbox 360 game console by 40% a year after introduction. Since Sony PlayStation 3 features built-in Blu-ray disc drive that used to cost $125 initially and was considered as one of the most expensive components of PS3 due to low yields of blue lasers. Due to yield improvement of the latter, it can be expected that Blu-ray drives have become more affordable since 2006 and SCEI has really managed to bring the PS3 manufacturing cost down to around $400, or by approximately 50%.

Sony PlayStation 3 console is based on the Cell processor developed by IBM, Sony and Toshiba, the RSX graphics chip by Nvidia Corp., wireless network and Bluetooth connectivity and is equipped with Blu-ray optical disk drive. There are several versions of the consoles available around the world with 60GB or 80GB hard disk drives and variable compatibility with PlayStation 1/2 games as well as 40GB version that cannot play old games at all. The official prices of Sony PlayStation 3 40GB and 80GB in the USA are $399 and $499, respectively, European customers have to pay €399 ($590) and €499 ($738) for 40GB and 60GB models, respectively, whereas Japanese gamers can obtain PlayStation 3 40GB for ?39 980 ($367 or €248).

While Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. hardly makes any money selling Sony PlayStation 3 in Japan and the USA, it most certainly gets profits by selling its latest game system in Europe at $590 and $738, thanks to strong Euro, weak U.S. Dollar and some other factors.>

Despite of production cost cut as well as favourable sales in the European Union, Nikko Citigroup’s Kota Ezawa still estimates SCEI will lose $1.4 billion this fiscal year, following last year’s $2.1 billion loss and also does not expect the game business of Sony to be prosperous until late 2009.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/di...50_Analyst.html

Some profits, especially at $400 to make.

Sony Cuts PS3 Manufacturing Costs In Half[/b]>

According to BusinessWeek Sony has cut manufacturing costs of the PS3 by half: making the current cost $400 instead of the $800 they started with at launch. Nikko Citigroup’s Kota Ezawa chalks up the price reduction to smaller chip sizes and design tweaks.

Could this be the real reason why Sony decided to cut the price of the PS3 so early in the game? Regardless, halving the manufacturing costs of such a pricey console can only bode well for potential customers.

This juxtaposed with Sony’s immanent HD victory has stocks rising steadily with a 4% increase in Tokyo. It seems their Trojan Horse video format has finally paid off. It’s only a matter of time before this success is passed down as a savings to the end consumer—hopefully.

Source: http://www.ripten.com/2008/01/12/sony-cuts...-costs-in-half/

Up to date, recent articles, some of yours go back to 2006.

[Boz]

Audio, they are STILL losing money. You do understand that when you make a console physicially for $400 and you sell it for $400 you are still losing at least $50-$100 per console right? There are shipping costs, marketing, packaging, retailer space etc etc. Not to mention the fact that they'll still need to drop the price AGAIN in order to compete if rumors of Xbox 360 going cheaper this year.

Oh and 1 article I posted was the first one from the 2006 just to show you that people already knew they will lose billions. Please don't play that game. It's despicable.