i purchased the a2 from best buy online when they were doing the 99 dollar deal, i got a email this afternoon informing me that since the a2 was no longer available from toshiba i will recieve the a3 in it's place. Does anyone know if i can get the 2 free hd dvds if i choose to pick this up in store?

browntornado

Ill also add on my own personal note. when i purchase a blue ray player i would expect not to have to buy anther for years. like my dvd player.
as far movies go, thats in personal taste so why would i use that in a argument?

Husher

@NoDeuces:

your idea of a good example with how price is an effect is with really expensive cars?
*golf clap*
if you spend a lot on a tv why would it faze a person to spend a 100 dollars more on high def movies?

Husher

@Kanti

What planet do you live on? "

For all their marketing push, the HD-DVD camp are still no closer to closing the gap the PS3 has made between the two players"

Oh wait, you are probably one of those people that think the PS3 is selling well.

"It isn't all about price"

Wow, you bought that Sony propaganda hook line and sinker. If it wasn't all about the price then the PS3 would be kicking everyone's ass right about now but guess what, it is not. Care to venture a guess as to why? Price and lack of games.

"Bargain Players are great, but when Blu Ray throws in with the price war then HD-DVD's advantage is gone"

The only thing they will be throwing in the price ware is the white towel. Don't expect Blu Ray prices to be as low as HD-DVD prices anytime soon especially with Sony backing it. That is the sole reason why the PS3 is still priced the way it is and not doing well in sales.

"You guys should try to keep some perspective, most people are not dumb enough"

Yeah, I know it is only a partial quote but the sheer fact that you would pretend to be an expert on what "most people" do pretty much makes you a no talent assclown fanboi.

Good day,

Pumi

Pumi

@scoobydoo: People who spend over a grand on a TV aren't bargain hunters, they're not going to trust an HD player that costs under a hundred, and rightly so, it's a POS. Sure it will sell, but it isn't HD-DVD's great white hope. For all their marketing push, the HD-DVD camp are still no closer to closing the gap the PS3 has made between the two players, and they're not going to. And this isn't going to help them with the issue of having to upgrade hardware, and thusly screwing over all early adopters, when they move to triple layer discs.

It isn't all about price, that's just one factor. All the bargain players have done for them is delayed the defeat that was ensured a few months ago, that doesn't mean victory by a long shot, it just saved them from defeat for now. Where they go from here is what will determine if they actually gain ground on Blu-ray. Bargain players are great, but when Blu-ray throws in with the price war (which is the best thing about this format war) then HD-DVD's advantage is gone. What then? You guys should try to keep some perspective, most people aren't dumb enough to buy a player for the conditions of the status quo, if they're in the market for brand new tech, they more than likely know enough to buy something that has a better future, not a better present.

Kanti

dad but true. i'll only bite when its 1080p

knappoleon

I bought the A3 last week for a family member. HODO is correct. Although I had to argue with the sales manager that it was indeed 9. He felt it was 7 dvds.
He said go pick out 2 HDDVD under 35.99 and see how they rung up. They were indeed free.(he didn't thank me for helping) I,ll be going back for my refund. The 5 free by mail in is from their list of just a few titles. So make the 2 in store choices count(not counting 2 free in the box as HODO describes)

Fork

Whether or not HDDVD is better than BD is not the point anymore.

The point is that HDDVD has been in the news everywhere in the past days. Good PR and low prices will win this war. Not 1080i or p, DTS or Dolby. Most people don't know what this means anyway.

They know what $99 means and they know how to find Wal-Mart.

scoobydoo

What with me having a 1080i TV and a receiver that doesn't have DTS-HD or DolbyHD, the HD-A3 is all the machine I need.

omg-ponies

The only real difference between the two is that digital optical out on the A2 is DTS compared to Dolby Digital 5.1 on the A3.

From what I heard, yes, A2 downconverts the lossless Dolby TrueHD to 1.5Mbps DTS for the optical out, while A3 does 768Kbps Dolby Digital. While DTS is in theory better and some people would swear by it, the difference may be minor or negligible for most.

However, it's also true that not all HT receivers can handle DTS. And to truly support TrueHD you'd use one that handles 7.1 PCM over HDMI.

subyfan

you're probably not the type of person who cares about or can detect the difference between 1080i and 1080p.

just because somebody doesn't want to spend hundreds on a player it doesn't mean they're blind: my hdtv can do 1080p/24 and I am going to jump in on this deal as soon as amazon.com lowers their price. Since the war is still not over yet, I figure this is basically a no-risk investment, since the a2 anyways is a much better upconverting dvd player than my philips. Once the war is over I will buy a better 1080p/24 player.

I am sure there are plenty of people that are on the sidelines of the hd war and that otoh would feel comfortable investing $99 in it, because even if hd-dvd 'loses' you're not going to be out of $400+ like you would if you went BR and HD-DVD won...

wdreamsmaycome

It seems like we have some momentum here... not sure how many units were in stock, but my local Best Buys are all sold out of the $99 model and only a couple stores have the A3 in stock. I was leaning towards blu-ray, even though I suspect Sony with the proprietary track record, but I really just want this war to be over so I can buy something. One positive thing about the war/wait is that I will be buying a 4th generation player with all the goodies.

krugorg

I would love one story about an HD Player to come out without fanboys smearing their goofy opinions.

Hey "Husher" - how about you decide based on affordability, reliability, connectivity and what dvd titles you want to see in a hi-def format that are available. By your rationale, I am sure you drive a Ferrari and live on the west coast - right?

NoDeuces

...park yourself in front of a blue ray and a hd dvd demo station. now walk back and forth. which has the better picture. this should be the only point in reason for the purchase of ether or system...

Which is how we all ended up using Betamax. If picture quality were the only criteria, we wouldn't even be having this stupid format war in the first place.

daveNYC

@Hodo: Who cares how many you give away?! Would you buy a beta machine if I offered you 50 free tapes?

Noobs-R-Us

Uh, actually I think it's NINE free movies -- 5 via mail in rebate, 2 in the box (Bourne and 300), and get any two in the store (under $34.99) for free.

Hodo

If you can see all the spores on Laurence Fishburne's face in M:I:III, you got 1080p :)

Earthslide

@DLoney: Take off your foil hat. Having worked at a Circuit City for 4 years I can say that nobody ever intentionally messed with the settings to make something look bad. If anything the settings would be on factory default which are generally "extra bright" which makes them look better on a sales floor, although it's not the optimal picture (the layman judges picture quality on brightness, whether he realizes it or not).

Customers might be out there messing with settings, but they're not trying to make the picture look worse, either.

rbf2000

Everyone knows DVD looks bad on LCD TVs ... How do they fix that? HD Players. I think LCDs need to be more updated because DVDs look 1080p on a tube.

Earthslide

This is great! New Players coming out sub $200... Maybe this will end the war... I hope something does.

@Husher, good point, but compare at several stores. Some best buys and CC's purposely change the tint and contrast on the TV's to make the cheaper product look worse.

DLoney

You actually get 9 free HD DVDs with the A3. The A3 comes backed with 2 in the box (300 and The Bourne Identity), 2 with the purchase, and 5 from the mail-in.

amr_01

if your in a best buy. park yourself in front of a blue ray and a hd dvd demo station. now walk back and forth. which has the better picture. this should be the only point in reason for the purchase of ether or system, and that is which is the better picture.

Husher

Sony is going to loose the battle... Sony tried to screw everybody and is fighting in two fronts.

They are not lowering the BR players because they will compete with the PS3. If they lower the PS3 games MS will lower the XBOX increasing the 5:1 gap they have. Sony can't lower the prices, because they are loosing too much money already.

Toshiba knows this, and they are taking advantage. The $99 player are going to be flying. MS now just need to release a XBOX with embedded HD-DVD at the same price of the P$3 (which Toshiba is doing) and Sony is gone for good.

The battle would have been over already if MS would have relese the Elite with HD-DVD.

I got the $99 player and its amazing. Love the 300 movie with the picture in picture of how each scene was made. BR can't do this... It is in their specs.

IceX

@browntornado: wow..did you get the a3 for $99? or do you have to pay the difference?

leetgeek

@leetgeek: yep got it for 99

@IceX: as far as the toshiba making a 360 with hd dvd drive that was proven false. I personally think that blu ray will win, i have both formats(i currently have 75+ blu rays and only 12 hd dvds) and i only buy the hd dvd exclusives all other movies i buy in blu ray. The only reason i picked up the stand alone hd dvd player was so i could stop using my 360 drive because i try to baby my 360 so it doesn't die on me

browntornado

This seems like a good deal until you realize that the 7 HD DVD movies it comes with are the only movies that will ever be released on HD DVD.

frigg

@amr_01:

You have to buy online though, or at one of their store kiosks and then do a store pickup. Kind of a hassle but worth the two extra DVDs. I got Transformers and Batman.

[www.bestbuy.com]

mjolnier

@Frigg

Lets not be dumb about this. Fess up if you are a fan boy. Both formats have quite a few more than 7 titles.

SidV

I picked up the HD-A3 today. I guess a sub-$200 price point was what I was waiting for. I want to point out that there are two DVDs in the box with the player. This is in addition to the 7 free DVDs that are part of the Best Buy/Toshiba deal.

I got 300 and the Bourne Identity in mine. I'm not sure if there is a random selection or if they all come with this selection.

IgG4

price is king. That's why people buy crappy $400 laptops. This may win if for HDDVD. I was planning on holding out for a winner, but 199 with 10 free movies (two of which I really wanted)... Got me convinced to go HDDVD. If Sony doesn't counter (which is probably why Toshiba was quiet about these price drops) then Sony will lose. Consumers don't give a shit about specs. And most don't know about exclusive titles. They just think their favoriste movie will eventually make to out to their platform.

mconheady

@Kanti:

"@scoobydoo: People who spend over a grand on a TV..."

I did

"...aren't bargain hunters"

I am

"...they're not going to trust an HD player that costs under a hundred"

I do. The $99 A2 looks a lot better than my first $800 DVD player. Maybe a $2000 player through a Runco looks better, but ignorance is bliss my friend.

"When Blu-ray throws in with the price war then HD-DVD's advantage is gone. What then?"

I buy a Blu-Ray, own both, and let God sort them out. ...Spending considerably less than that first DVD player in the process.

"Most people aren't dumb enough to buy a player for the conditions of the status quo"

I think the status-quo may drag on some time, therefore I'm shopping on cost for both and not sacrificing my movie viewing habits. 15 years from now I'll be shopping flea markets to buy that pristine, unopened unit of the losing format, so I can still have the ability to watch those movies I bought in that format (which I probably won't watch because they aren't holographic).

"If they're in the market for brand new tech..."

What if I just really like movies in HD and don't want this format war to sideline me indefinitely?

finbled

@Earthslide: I think he should see a doctor about all those spores...or a botanist

burningsensation