The $98 dollar HD-DVD player

[Quintz71]

Anyone else pick one of these up? I already have my 5 hd-dvd rebate in the envelope to be mailed on monday!!

[Button Potato]

This new tactic by the HD-DVD group will accelerate the showdown between the two competing formats. The dramatic price drop was expected (although not until Black Friday) as Blu-ray continues to gain market share and acceptance as the industry standard.

[djriley]

I picked one up. For $98 it was a no brainer. I support Blu-ray though. I feel its a better technology and has better studio support (Sony, Fox, Disney and WB). The HD DVD is nice, I just think Blu-ray is better. Everytime I watch a Blu-ray I'm just stunned at how good they look and sound.

[weak]

Originally Posted by djriley

I support Blu-ray though. I feel its a better technology and has better studio support (Sony, Fox, Disney and WB). The HD DVD is nice, I just think Blu-ray is better.

imho it's all just unnecessary marketing bs. both formats are only marginally different when it comes to the important stuff, the content. same codecs, video and audio wise.
it comes down to unnecessary costs for the consumers because the big players didn't learn **** from betamax vs. vhs and dvd-r vs. dvd+r.
they should focus more on the important stuff, like a *working* 24p mode (although that may mostly be a problem of tv manufacturers).

[Button Potato]

Originally Posted by weak

they should focus more on the important stuff, like a *working* 24p mode (although that may mostly be a problem of tv manufacturers).

Technically, Blu-ray already supports 24p using native timing. HD-DVD uses 60i timing and has to repeat frames to achieve the same quality. BTW - 24p is already on it's way out here in America - before it was ever the accepted standard - as 48p is the new development standard for TV, motion picture, DVD, and even consumer video cameras.

[weak]

Originally Posted by Button Potato

Technically, Blu-ray already supports 24p using native timing. HD-DVD uses 60i timing and has to repeat frames to achieve the same quality. BTW - 24p is already on it's way out here in America - before it was ever the accepted standard - as 48p is the new development standard for TV, motion picture, DVD, and even consumer video cameras.

that's interesting. but since the traditional movie framerate is 24p i'm wondering if they're not just repeating every frame to get to 48p. anyway, whatever eliminates jittering is welcome, and the more frames the better.

[Magic Koala]

I prefer my PS3 as an appliance (boots up faster, more responsive) but mine cost me $500. I have the HD-A20 which cost me $250 and that plays 1080p. But I see no difference in image quality between my PS3 and the HD-A20 on my 50inch TV. My main complaint about the HD-A20 is it boots up like a snail, and the remote control is very sluggish as well.

To conclude, that sub $100 player is a great value if you want to catch all the HD-DVD exclusive titles (John Carpenter's "The Thing" is awesome on HD-DVD). The A2 (even A3) may be 1080i but you'll hardly see a difference if you're playing on a 50inch TV or smaller. the $100 player also upscales so if you were thinking of getting an upscaling DVD player, you might as well pay a little bit more and get an HD-DVD upscaling DVD player.

For some reason, a lot of people have either had no problems or major difficulties updating the firmware on the Toshiba HD-DVD players. It took me over 2 hours to get it updated over the ethernet cable. But people say updating the firmware is highly recommended.

They're still selling the A2 for between $120-$140 (plus the five free movies) on various websites. I believe last night, Amazon and Circuit City had them on sale for around $130-$139, but they keep on changing their minds and changing their prices. I check on slickdeals.net and search for HD-DVD bargains. The slickdeals nerds always get the best price on everything.