US HD-DVD player shipments hit 100,000

Toshiba reports brisk demand for dedicated players.

The North American HD DVD Promotional Group estimates that sales of dedicated HD-DVD players reached more than 100,000 in the US, ahead of any other high definition format.

This figure does not include sales of HD-DVD PC drives or the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player, which are also reported to be selling strongly.

Toshiba said that it is hearing encouraging news from retailers after it brought the price of HD-DVD players down below the US$400 mark.

"Toshiba remains committed to drive sales with strategic pricing and marketing to complement the rapid market adoption of HDTVs," said Jodi Sally, vice president of marketing at Toshiba America Consumer Products.

"Retailers are showing a significant increase in sales volume this month so far. On Amazon.com, our HD-DVD players continue to rank among the top 10 best sellers of all DVD players, which says a lot about how consumers relate to price."

Titles like The Complete Matrix Trilogy are coming in May from Warner Home Video, and more than 70 new titles are expected before the end of July.

The backers of the technology say that HD-DVD owners will have more than 300 titles worldwide to choose from this summer, with more to come in the autumn and holiday seasons.