Toshiba appears to have judged its HD DVD strategy correctly, if consumer research from price comparison service Pricegrabber is anything to go by. What"s stopping punters picking Blu-ray Disc is not so much the risk of backing the loser in the format war as the high price of players. During January, Pricegrabber listed HD DVD players priced between $144 and $633, with the average price coming in at $292. By comparison, Blu-ray player ran from $341 to $800, the average price being recorded as $467.
Separately, a 2185-respondent customer survey carried out by Pricegrabber online in the US found that 56 per cent of respondents interested in going Blu said they won"t make the move until the price of players comes down. Only 19 per cent identified the format war as the mean reason they"re not buying straight away.