Because producers' decisions about HD/HDV are shaped in part by the consumer market for HD sets and equipment, I thought this was interesting . . .

"Morgan Stanley research indicates that two-thirds of American households will not buy an HDTV until the price of a 37-inch or larger set drops below $600. The price of a 37-inch L.C.D. set averaged about $1,200 in June, according to iSuppli. “When the price goes to $800, 17 million more Americans will consider buying one,” Mr. Melich said. . . .

"Retailers complain about the lack of high-profit accessories for the new flat-panel TV buyer. Consumers might add a video game console. Retailers would also like to see them buy a new high-definition DVD player that makes movies on an HDTV especially vibrant — though the format war between companies making Blu-ray and HD DVD players has stymied sales, said James L. McQuivey, principal analyst at Forrester Research.

“The high-definition DVD format war must end by 2008 if retailers are going to sell movie discs and players,” Mr. McQuivey said."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/25/business/yourmoney/25TELE.html?em&ex=1188187200&en=e3a81b044bb70664&ei=5087%0A

Good article.

“The high-definition DVD format war must end by 2008 if retailers are going to sell movie discs and players,” Mr. McQuivey said."

I have a feeling that the surprise winner of this "war" is going to be someone like Samsung (or a new brand like Vizio) when they make a $200 to $300 dual-format player.

I think consumers would not care about whichever HD-DVD or Blu-ray disks if they had multistandard players. And these players are coming, LG has one for some time already.

I want a multistandard player with Realta chip, for $300. When I see one I will get one right on the spot. Until then I am pretty happy with watching DVDs on my HDTV. Widescreen alone is good enough. On another hand, unless they shut Netflix down, I will not buy any more DVDs (SD or HD).

The impact of the low, sometimes negative, profit margins has been devastating to many of retailers. For example, Tweeter increased its unit sales of televisions during last year’s Christmas selling season by 15 percent over the previous Christmas. Profit margin in the video category, said Mr. McGuire, was “down substantially on a year-over-year basis due to the intense competition in the category” and in June, the company sought protection from creditors in bankruptcy court. It was sold in July to Schultze Asset Management, an equity buyout firm.
All Tweeter had to do is selling good products. I myself bought a Pioneer plasma from Tweeter, it was a Tweeter-only "16" series. As I was told, these models had the glass and Faroudga chip from current Elite models, while some other parts from last-year's models. These models were relatively inexpensive for Pioneer, so I bought a 42-inch model. Then I returned it back. When I was returning it, I saw several Tweeter-branded Pioneers that had been returned by other customers.

The reason I returned mine? The default calibration was off the mark, I calibrated it with my Spyder, the picture was perfect. But the damn thing could not store the settings. I called Pioneer customer support and was told that this model was not supposed to be calibrated, then they hung up. Naturally, I returned the TV.

The bottom line, Tweeter was selling crap for hefty money, they got all this crap back from unsatisfied customers. They also tried selling mass-market models like Panasonics for Costco prices, they lost here too. They should have stayed with Elites and Hitachi Director's Series. Oh, this is exactly what they are going to do now. Three Tweeter stores have been closed in my area, by the way. The problem is that Best Buy sells Hitachi Director's series too, and for $1-1.5K less than a small hi-fi store nearby. This is sad but smaller retailers will lose to Best Buy.