Toshiba HD-DVD Player Now $299, Microsoft Pushing Indie to the Format

Earlier today, we posted that the HD-DVD group was planning to release a few upcoming movies with new internet-related features integrated. Well, that’s far from being the only HD-DVD news of the day, as Toshiba has apparently dropped the price of their HD-A2 player to a reasonable $299. Considering that the HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 retails for $200, $299 for a full-blown stand-alone sounds like a great deal. At the Blu-ray camp, the least expensive machine retails for $499. Even with the five-free movies promise, that’s still a full $100 more than the HD-DVD player.

In another attempt to help push the HD-DVD format, Microsoft and Amazon are gearing up to promote indie films, by offering free authoring services to qualifying filmmakers. This sounds like a win/win for everyone involved, especially filmmakers looking to further push their product. As a further benefit, the filmmakers themselves will be the ones to set the sale price.

This new HD DVD program is the latest addition to Amazon’s CustomFlix CD and DVD service, which produces and ships discs only as they are ordered, eliminating the need for costly inventory. Filmmakers can then set the sale price, and earn royalties for each disc sold.

Source: DailyTech, High-Def Digest