The format war is far from over, but HD DVD is on a roll--at least as far as PR is concerned. Last week the big news was both Paramount and DreamWorks becoming HD DVD-exclusive studios, and now Venturer Electronics has announced it will release a budget HD DVD player--the SHD7000--by the 2007 holiday season. There have been several reports indicating that cheaper, off-brand HD DVD players were on their way, but Venturer is the first company to make a formal announcement.
Details are a little slim at the moment, but here's what we know. The SHD7000 has an HDMI port capable of outputting video at 1080i. That's comparable to
The press release doesn't mention a price yet, but VideoBusiness is reporting a $199 MSRP. On the other hand, poster Robert Spalding over at AVS Forum claims to have received an e-mail indicating the street price will be closer to $150. We certainly can't vouch for that street price--it remains firmly in the rumor mill for now--but a $150 HD DVD player could have a big effect on the format war, especially with the cheapest Blu-ray players still around the $500 mark. We've contacted Venturer for more information on the pricing of the SHD7000 and will update this post accordingly.