“Toshiba has introduced a $500 HDTV player that, at least for now, can only play movies from three major studios. Later this month, Samsung will release the first Blu-ray machine, which will be able to play more movies, but it is expected to cost about $1,000. Technical hurdles were behind Pioneer’s decision last week to delay the release of its Blu-ray player — which will cost about $1,500 — until September. Studios have released only a handful of movies thus far because so few players have been sold. Another complication is that consumers with older high-definition television sets may not get the best possible picture if studios activate certain copy protection software embedded on their DVD’s.” — from Ken Belson’s story about the state of the DVD business. What a complete joke! Why would anyone except for profligate money-to-burn rich guys buy a HDTV player of any brand? The thing to do is obviously wait until all the DVD distribs are making high-def discs for just one player. The hell with it.