Venturer HD-DVD, Too Little Too Late

First introduced by HD DVD Promotions Group early this year, the first Chinese-manufactured, headquartered in Canada Hi-def player that could change the outcome of the format war is here. The Venturer SHD7001 is finally available for sale at Warmart and Target store. I don't know about how much influence it has over format war but priced at $199 is hardly shattering the already-low-price Toshiba units.

Don't get me wrong, the price is decent but they are too late in the game. The Toshiba A2 at $99 already set the tone weeks before Venture set foot on US soil. Besides, SHD700 is only capable to output 1080i, that would not please the HT-Enthusiasts. The long waited affordable HD-DVD player may not take off as planned.

The lead-free hi-def player is boxed with Troy and Hulk HD version. It supports HD DVD, DVD, DVD-R/-RW, CD, CD-R/-RW, VCD. Audio format- Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD (Core only). SHARC Floating-Point Digital Signal Processors. HDMI, Optical Output and Ethernet Connection.

Ps. There are rumors about Toshiba and Walmart will team up once again offering 5 rebate + 7 instant free HD-DVD titles with the purchase of A2/A3 at $199 and $299. It is coming this Friday, we'll keep you informed.