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Wal-Mart IS Carrying the $199 Venturer HD DVD Player After All
After flat-out denying that they were going to carry the $US199 Venturer HD DVD player this holiday season, Wal-Mart's turned around and carried the $199 Venturer HD DVD player this holiday season. But if you take more than a cursory look at this sub-$200 player, you'll find that the cheap Chinese knockoff isn't actually a better deal than a name-brand third-gen Toshiba HD-A3. Toshiba's is actually $196 on Amazon, and comes with a bunch of free movies as well. [Wal-Mart via Electronista]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
kackey22
Posted 6:45 PM 29/11/07
most sets or 60 fps, you need to pay a premium right now if you want a set that will do 120.
kackey22
gokor
Posted 6:45 PM 29/11/07
I'll continue waiting for this format to become affordable. Until then I will continue to watch a very good quality movie on my standard DVD player.
gokor
twylight
Posted 6:24 PM 29/11/07
x23 there are 1080p/24 native sets...
twylight
Palestina
Posted 6:19 PM 29/11/07
humm, now it's getting at the price point that I could think of taking home.
Palestina
daftrok
Posted 6:11 PM 29/11/07
Are televisions both 1080p/24 and 1080p/60 capable, or are most televisions leaned towards one?
daftrok
x23
Posted 6:10 PM 29/11/07
besides the small small amount of 120Hz sets (which are evenly divisible by 24)... what else can take a native 24fps signal and display it without a telecine process? either the non-120Hz TV will take the 24fps input and telecine it itself or the player will telecine the output. so unless you have a 120Hz set... it is getting telecined either way. 1080p or 1080i.
if you were actually referring to 120Hz sets... somehow i doubt a $199 Wal-Mart off-brand player was high on their list to begin with anyway.
x23
SchruteBuck
Posted 6:05 PM 29/11/07
Venturer, Symphonic, and Durabrand. The 3 musketeers of quality. This should function fine for at least 18 or 20 days.
SchruteBuck
twylight
Posted 5:59 PM 29/11/07
acutally 1080p/24 does make a difference as you can pull the native content off HD material and send them directly to a 1080p/24 display.
1080p/60 will go thru conversions at the players or display which is where your 1080i/60 device arguement comes from - which is correct - if you arent going for 1080p/24 then it doesnt matter.
twylight
MeNotYou
Posted 5:40 PM 29/11/07
@daftrok:
No. Which makes absolutely NO dfference. 1080p is just a clever sales gimmick. 1080i output fed to a 1080p capable display gets de-interlaced within the display itself. I have yet to find a 1080i player hooked to a 1080p display that didnt look identical to the same configuration with a 1080p signal.
I give it 3 minutes until the 1st post from an idiot who has absolutely NO IDEA what he/she is talking about, screaming "you MUST have 1080p!!".
MeNotYou
lastpulse
Posted 5:39 PM 29/11/07
It looks like an old VCR.. It also looks really cheaply built. When is blu-ray going to come out with some $200 players?
lastpulse
twylight
Posted 5:36 PM 29/11/07
also 1080i based on the description at walmart.com
twylight
twylight
Posted 5:35 PM 29/11/07
under $99 is interesting - this price point and no free movies is boring
twylight
daftrok
Posted 5:24 PM 29/11/07
Is it 1080p?
daftrok
CruJones
Posted 8:29 PM 29/11/07
Just wait. I heard Audiovox is coming out with a $50 HD-DVD player. Probably 1080z!!! You'll love it!!!
CruJones
EMoShunz
Posted 7:36 PM 29/11/07
venturer has always failed me...piss poor...i hate to be so curt, but they are just plain bad. to be fair, i haven't tried this exact product.
EMoShunz
Techguy1138
Posted 9:39 PM 29/11/07
@MeNotYou: Your experience with 1080i vs 1080p is true for static images but there is a significant difference between i and p for moving images. The more important the movement the more objectionable the difference is.
So Action movies, sports, and video games are 1080p friendly.
Drama, intrigue and lots of dialog will be just fine with 1080i.
There is a difference and it is real. The truth has been hijacked by the HD-DVD vs BD argument.
Techguy1138
allstarecho
Posted 10:23 PM 29/11/07
Correction: $228 and NO FREE MOVIES on Amazon right now.
allstarecho
allstarecho
Posted 10:22 PM 29/11/07
Not sure where you got "$196 on Amazon" for the Toshiba because it's showing me $228 right now as I type this.
allstarecho
yojinbo
Posted 11:17 PM 29/11/07
I think the "free movies" might refer to the standing Toshiba player deal. Buy any Toshiba HD-DVD player and get 5 movies free. Not an amazon promotion, but a Toshiba one.
I think.
yojinbo
rockosolido
Posted 12:26 AM 30/11/07
Sub $200 HD-DVD player? Dear god yes, everything I've been waiting for! Wait, what? Costco's been carrying a $160 Toshiba HD-DVD player for how long? Nearly six months?
Magic = lost.
rockosolido
Ian Bell
Posted 12:50 AM 30/11/07
Looks like Rob Enderle WAS right afterall.
[news.digitaltrends.com]
Gizmodo bagged on his article too...
Ian Bell
x23
Posted 3:09 AM 30/11/07
@twylight: such as? a 24hz refresh rate? really? links?
x23
twylight
Posted 11:04 AM 30/11/07
[en.wikipedia.org]
^^^x23 good place to start
twylight
berribrand
Posted 2:13 PM 30/11/07
Wow, I'd almost pay $199 to NOT have that ugly POS sitting on my entertainment center...
berribrand
smackswell
Posted 7:56 PM 2/12/07
@berribrand: I concur. Craptastic. Its the BetaMax Reincarnated.
smackswell
GizzGurl
Posted 11:46 AM 30/11/07
Last I checked, Walmart was passing out some real winners that should be on everyone's list this year: lawsuits against brain damaged employees, date-rape drug-laced toys (eek!) and cease and desist letters for any sites that posted pre-BF deals. Ho ho ho.
GizzGurl