Posted on 02/23/2008 7:51:26 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Only a day after Toshiba pulled HD DVD from the high-definition DVD business, conceding defeat in a long-running format war with Sony's Blu-ray, the company has officially finalized a previously announced $835M joint venture with its rival that will help lower PS3 production costs.
The joint venture, to be named at a later date, will manufacture Cell chips and RSX graphic chips, both used in the PS3, as well as other microchips that go into Toshiba products. With this, Sony is trying to streamline its operations by getting rid of assets which it simply does not need or are not part of its core business. Toshiba, in turn, will benefit from the deal as they now plan to ramp up its chip operations rapidly after a partnership was revealed with SanDisk.
(Excerpt) Read more at techspot.com ...
I’m wondering how hard it will be to turn their HD-DVD player production lines into Blu-Ray ones. From what I understand, they use the same type of lasers (if not the same models).
(BTW, I smell collusion)
Not long before Christmas, Toshiba tried a nice promotion, $195 Star Trek TOS HD-DVD box with a limited edition “phaser” remote control. They really wanted it to work, and it was well thought out. What I’ve read is, Blu-Ray had to be rushed into production to avoid being left behind, and had a slight technological edge (in theory if not always in practice). Who knew that Sony would be the nimble one? ;’)
Japan Inc.
Well, I’d like to get one but I’m still waiting for the $$$ to go down.
They’re $400 or so, but that includes the Blu-Ray player. :’)
Sony Might Have Gotten It Right with the PS3 from the Beginning
Softpedia | November 5th, 2007 | Filip Truta
Posted on 11/25/2007 1:38:14 PM EST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1930299/posts
Yup. Sony = $$$
I was thinking, now that HD-DVD is gone, Blu-Ray doesn’t have competition anymore (at least in the home theater department), so there no reason for them to drop prices. Thankfully, it still has plenty of competition in the video game department. Maybe, thanks to this deal, PS3s will go down in price again this year? It’s sure make buying the system a lot more feasible. As it is now, I’ve no real reason to get one. I don’t have an HDTV, so hi-def stuff is wasted on my setup. As for videogames, my PS2 and Xbox 360 are quite sufficient. I’ll be missing out on Metal Gear Solid 4, for now anyway, but I’d probably have waited for the inevitable special edition anyway...
now that HD-DVD is gone... there no reason for them to drop prices.Depends... there was a similar system before, which made it difficult to raise prices, true, but the breakeven point was worse because they expected to sell fewer units. What we'll now see is, more manufacturers of Blu-Ray, more competition, and lower prices as a result. Then Blu-Ray will start to replace DVDs, but not until a year or so after high-def digital broadcast, when HDTVs really start moving.
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