HD DVD First to Reach 100K CE Players Sold in the U.S.

LOS ANGELES, April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Marking the first anniversary of HD DVD hardware and movies sold to consumers, the North American HD DVD Promotional Group announced today that sales of dedicated HD DVD consumer electronics players reached more than 100K units sold in the United States, ahead of any other high definition format. This figure does not include sales of HD DVD PC drives or the Xbox 360 HD DVD player, which are also
selling strongly. As consumers see lower prices for high definition players, the manufacturing efficiencies of HD DVD are keeping the format one step ahead. As the first to bring CE player prices down below the $400 mark, Toshiba is hearing encouraging news from retailers.

"Toshiba remains committed to drive sales with strategic pricing and marketing to complement the rapid market adoption of HDTVs," said Jodi Sally, vice president of marketing, Toshiba America Consumer Products. "Retailers are showing a significant increase in sales volume this month so far. On Amazon.com, our HD DVD players continue to rank among the top ten best sellers of all DVD players, which says a lot about how consumers relate to price." Quality, price and great viewing and listening experiences are recognized benefits of the HD DVD format. With mandatory features such as a network connection, picture-in-picture, persistent storage, and decode support for Dolby True HD, every player can take advantage of new interactive and audio features as they are introduced. That means a quantum leap for the consumer experience with minimal investment in new audio equipment and the ability to update any player on the market as needed.Consumers can also enjoy combo discs that include a DVD version as well as an HD version on a single disc for playback on a variety of machines. These are all exclusive features of the HD DVD format. With titles like The Complete Matrix Trilogy coming in May from Warner Home Video, and more than 70 new titles expected to be released before the end of July, HD DVD owners will have more than 300 titles worldwide to choose from this summer, with more to come in the fall and holiday seasons.

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Source: PRNewswire