Format Wars In Australia?

[asichter]

Just an observation from Australia that I thought I would pass on:

We are now getting a flood of cheap dvd recorders on the Australian market. ALL of these are +RW recorders. They are priced at roughly a little more than half the price of the Panasonic E-50 (which is still severly overpriced in Australia - RRP $1099 AUD & the HS2 is over $2000 AUD).

If there is ever to be a victor in the format battle, then (as always), the consumer will decide. The average consumer would say why spend $1000 when I can spend half that to buy a dvd recorder. If all the cheap recorders are +RW, which they are at the moment in Australia, then +RW will ultimately win the war. The major companies, Panasonic, Sony and Pioneer need to wake up to this fact and start dropping prices.

For the record, I don't particulary care about the formats. My preference is -R/-RAM, particularly the capabilities of -RAM. I am considering buying a second recorder and I'll probably go with one of the +RW's (possibly the Apex 9000) just for the price.

Is this just Australia or is there a similar situation in other countries where the +RW recorders are dirt cheap in comparison the -R/-RW/-RAM recorders?

Cheers,

Andy s.

[donpedro]

You can check list of mostly US versions in my signature. I guess differnce is still there but not that big.

[asichter]

Yeah, from the looks of it it's just Panasonic & Sony inparticular in Australia that are severly overpriced. The E-50 should really be priced at around $500 AUD when you do the conversion, but instead it's twice that!
The Apex 9000 is just about spot on when converted to AUD. Sooner or later the major companies will realise that they're losing sales to the cheaper brands!

Andy S.

[ebenton]

How can you possibly worry about something as trivial as DVD recording when there is such a serious issue in Australia as that of Steve Irwin feeding a crocodile with one hand while holding his baby in the other?

[offline]

If all the cheap recorders are +RW, which they are at the moment in Australia, then +RW will ultimately win the war.

The DVD standalone recorder market is too small to effect
the +/- conflict imo. We will follow the US just like we did
during the beta/VHS war.

We are now getting a flood of cheap dvd recorders on the Australian market. ALL of these are +RW recorders.

Don't forget the improved exchange rate (at 77cents/ us dollar)
which will improve as US interest rates rise. These alcheapo
recorders will be sub $400 by the 3rd QTR and dual format PVR's
with HDD's will be the choice products for most imo.

Steve Irwin feeding a crocodile with one hand while holding his baby in the other?

Most Aussies thought Irwin was a dickhead; even before the incident
with his son.

[mhar4]

I live in the UK (but I'm an expat Australian) and I was amazed the other day to walk into one of big, and dreadful, supermarkets here and see DVD recorders going for GBP200, in the DVD+R format. They were branded as MITO or something similar (not Mita, the copier maker).

[KDH]

Just back from Oz myself and posted my observations here.

http://www.dvdplusrw.org/cgi/forum/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=1;t=9622

KDH

[nicw]

One must keep in mind however that the two biggest selling and cheapest drives in Australia are the Pioneer 106 @ $199 AU and the NEC 1300A @ $179 AU, both of which are dual format burners. In Brisbane at least the so called "cheap" +RW imports are dearer than both of the above drives.

Cheapest places in Brisbane are www.gamedude.com.au and www.thediscshop.com.au

On the discshop site you will not find a single + only drive, all of them are duals, and range from $179 to $329. Cost of media in this store is considerably cheaper for DVD-R.

On the Gamedude site has 11 dual format burners, and one plus only which is the Benq and costs $255, while the duals start at $189. Media prices in this store seem to vary greatly daily so its hard to say, but DVD-R is cheaper by a varying margin.

It may be different in other Oz states I have not checked recently.

So let keep this in perspective folks hey, and I am interested in different results in NSW or VIC.

cheers
NicW

[arrived03]

the cheapest prices I can find in N.S.W are www.fluidtek.com.au,that is where I bought my LG4040B for $199 they have also got the pioneer AO6 for $199 and sony DRU510AK for $220,also the new 8x LG8080B for $299.I really don't see the point in rushing for the 8 times as the media will be expensive for a while,you would be better of buying a 4x and using the savings to buy blank media.

[erhan75]

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[logger]

In regard to the Panasonics being overpriced in Aust. You can buy the Asian model from Singapore as I have done and they will work just fine here in Aust. I recently bought a Pansoinc DMR E100HGCS from http://www.jbronline.com/storefront/general/Homepage.asp and had it couried to SYD.

Aust RRP = $2700 and can be bought for around $2300.
From JBR in SIN shipped to Aust by DHL = $1400. If you get caught for duty add about $200. (140gst + 60fee). Still $700 ahead of street price.

Only issue is Warranty so you need to be able to get it back to SIN if it breaks.

I was fed a lin of BS from a dealer here in SYD who said the Asian model would not work here. It does work perfectly! The manual is common to both the AUST/NZ version HGN and the Asian HGCS. Spec sheet shows that the Asian model does everything the Aust version does plus a bit. ie supports more PAL variants, greater voltage range, and tuner has greater frequency range. Power lead is removeable so you can easily swap it with an unused one lying around the house with Aust pins. It is also multi zone and will play DVDs from Aust and Asia. I supect but am not sure that the Aust version might be zone locked.

Anyway something to consider if you want to save few bucks. I can thoroughly recommend JBRs service.

[PhilipL]

Withdrawn

[Frankhalo]

If Steve Irwin was holding A Croc in one hand and feeding a baby with the other then that would be a problem ....lol

Pioneer DVR 310, got it from JB HiFi Melbourne, $850 cash, uses DVD-R

Frank

[offline]

Pioneer DVR 310, got it from JB HiFi Melbourne, $850 cash, uses DVD-R

Frank

Nice one but I'll wait for DVR-510H,
just like the 310 but with HDD, advanced timeslip & editing