With HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players available in top-of-the-line laptops from Toshiba and Sony, and with Samsung and Panasonic launching their Blu-Ray players in the past couple of weeks, Toshiba’s standalone consumer HD DVD player has launched in Australia at last. 

   
            A close-up view of the Toshiba HD DVD player

The only catch? The are two models, and the first, the HD-E1, won’t be available in stores until December 10, while the more capable HD-EX1 won’t arrive until February 2007. Both models are being distributed by Castel, Toshiba’s Australian distributor for Toshiba’s AV range of products.

The HD-E1 is a 1080i capable model, and will retail for AUD $1099, while the HD-EX1 can output to 1080p, but will retail for $500 more at AUD $1599. Both players will come with a copy of Apollo 13 on HD DVD free in the box.

Both players are ‘backwards compatible’ with existing DVDs and CDs, but only the HD-EX1 will be able to upscale DVDs to HD quality on compatible HD capable screens.

Toshiba’s prices are cheaper than comparable Blu-ray players, and at this early stage, the movie selection is limited for both formats, with only really a handful of titles available, with more set to trickle out in the first few months of 2007.

This cautious approach is understandable, as most movie studios took a bath on movies created for the Sony UMD disc – the small disc used in Sony’s PSP handheld device. The reason? The discs were simply too expensive. When the price was dropped recently in Japan, sales of UMD’s went through the roof.

At the launch I was able to make the comment that the movie studios should simply bite the bullet and make the prices of HD DVD and Blu-ray discs cheaper. Currently they will sell for a premium over existing DVD titles, so you can expect they’ll be in the AUD $30 to $40 range.

One of the representatives asked me what the cost should be. I volunteered $20, as this price was clearly cheaper than DVD discs, and would give people an instant incentive to spend their money again buying the same movie they already own on DVD.

I don’t quite remember the exact response, but it definitely wasn’t enthusiastic. I think the movie studios will have to learn the hard way the lesson of making the products affordable. Then they’ll sell by the bucket load!

For those who came in late, HD DVD and Blu-ray are two competing next generation formats to display movies in HD quality on HD capable TVs. The fact there are two formats is a stark reminder of the crazy VHS and Beta situation of over 20 years ago.

It’s easy to imagine people buying the wrong disc for their player – people coming home with a Blu-ray disc for their HD DVD player, or receiving an HD movie as a gift – only to discover it’s the wrong format.

The movie studio representatives agreed this could be a problem, and Castel, the distributor, indicated they had been training their customer support staff to handle these kinds of enquiries. They also explained that they are putting a lot of effort and energy into educating retailers so they guide consumers into making the right choices at the point of purchase.

HD DVD has the support of Warner Bros, Paramount and Universal Pictures, while Blu-ray has the support of Sony, MGM, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros and Paramount, with Universal the only Blu-ray holdout.

To ease the pain of having to spend lots of money buying HD DVD discs, a partnership with an Australian DVD rental website, Quickflix.com.au, is being negotiated. This will see consumers being able to rent unlimited HD DVD discs for $5 a month after buying a Toshiba HD DVD player, although with the tiny current selection of titles, you could find yourself in month 2 with nothing new to watch.

A HD DVD recorder from Toshiba is already available in Japan, but won’t see an Australian launch until around mid 2007.

So c’mon, movie studios, you need to really ramp up the releases to give us all a reason to buy an HD DVD player. Especially if we can’t record TV in HD quality because a recorder is not yet available, there just needs to be a wider movie selection. We know it’s coming, but it’s the whole chicken and egg thing at work.

If only Sony and Toshiba had managed to agree on a single standard. But then, when was life ever simple and sweet when it comes to technology? But let’s be thankful: the era of HD is here at last.

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