I got an HDDVD player tonight

[DakotaGuy]

Well anyhow 2 of my friends and I bought HD-DVD players at Sears tonight. They were selling the new Toshiba HD A3 player for $179.99. It comes with 2 HD-DVD's in the box along with another form you can send in for 5 free HDDVD's.

Anyhow the deal is on-line tonight as well. The same price until midnight that they will have on Black Friday. I know there is a lot of debate about the so called format war and a lot of people are upset that Toshiba is doing a cut-throat move this Christmas, but the way I look at it is if the format dies in a few years I won't feel bad at the price I paid.

Anyhow I am excited to see how HD-DVD will look on my HDTV compared to standard DVD's.

 

[twoodcc]

cool. i'm more excited about getting a drive to work on my mac though

 

[r1ch4rd]

I'm waiting for a good player that can do both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD before I take the plunge. I want to be able to buy a really good player that will last years without having to worry that one format will die out.

 

[eric55lv]

HDDVD and Blu-Ray are killing the dvd

 

[Mike Teezie]

I'd like to know more Abercrombieboy. I plan on getting a stand alone HD DVD player, as the PS3 I'm buying (when the good games come out) will have a BR player. It will be nice to have both, but I still wish a clear victor would emerge.

Is the picture better than digital cable HDTV feeds? Those look good, but you can often see the compression in the images.

 

[Motley]

I got the same deal, but ordered online. It will be a gift for my brother. I'm just worried because it hasn't shipped yet and some people who ordered online are having their orders canceled due to demand (haven't had mine canceled yet, so there's still hope).

Also Sears is doing a door buster Black Friday on the HD-A3 for something like $169 or if you don't value your life you could try Walmart HD-A2 for $98 on Black Friday.

 

[squeeks]

i have an A2, ive had an HD-DVD player since they came out july of last year(A1), i love it, the picture quality is awesome the dvd playback is great, its just an all around good player, i was pro blu-ray until HD-DVD came out first and at half price, that got me switched, and ive never looked back, well i do have a ps3 to play the occasional bluray movie that isnt available on HD-DVD like pirates of the caribbean, but other than that, im HD-DVD all the way!

plus with an hd-dvd player you can make hd-dvds in dvd studio pro and burn them to a regular DVD and it still works in HD, you just dont have near the capacity

 

[Motley]

Well the one I ordered finally shipped.

 

[cube]

if you don't value your life you could try Walmart HD-A2 for $98 on Black Friday.

I don't think there's any left. It was an advance sale by Walmart and Best Buy. HD DVD sold 100,000 players in a weekend.

 

[Motley]

I don't think there's any left. It was an advance sale by Walmart and Best Buy. HD DVD sold 100,000 players in a weekend.

According to their embargoed Black Friday ad (sites post it but it never lasts long) Walmart is doing the $98 HD-A2 Player again.

Best Buy is doing the $199 HD-A3 and Sears is doing the $169 HD-A3.

For the Blu boys out there, are $320-330 PS3s deals that have been happening the last few weeks.

 

[cantthinkofone]

Give me Blu-Ray or give me death!

 

[monkeytap]

Give me Blue-Ray or give me death!

its blu ray, not blue ray.

i agree though, why buy the hd dvd? its fairly obvious to me, and others, that these prices are in fact to good to be true. If hd-dvd stood a chance they wouldnt need to lower the prices SOOO much. and with these incredibly low prices why are they still getting dominated in software? well, its because they are losing, bad.

and another mini rant....I would expect macrumors readers to go blu. apple in on the board of directors....most apple users are used to paying the premium for the better hardware, but there are a lot of posts from people saying they bought an hd-dvd player, what gives?

 

[Motley]

its blu ray, not blue ray.

i agree though, why buy the hd dvd? its fairly obvious to me, and others, that these prices are in fact to good to be true. If hd-dvd stood a chance they wouldnt need to lower the prices SOOO much. and with these incredibly low prices why are they still getting dominated in software? well, its because they are losing, bad.

A good deal is a good deal. And neither format is actually doing much of anything in the grand scheme of things. It's still way too early, which is most likely why Toshiba is cutting prices to get market share (that and supposedly the HW is cheaper to make).

and another mini rant....I would expect macrumors readers to go blu. apple in on the board of directors....most apple users are used to paying the premium for the better hardware, but there are a lot of posts from people saying they bought an hd-dvd player, what gives?

And Apple is a member of the DVD Forum who developed HD-DVD. Apple's hedged their bets, nothing surprising about it.

What both sides really need is cheaper discs, I'm not paying thirty bucks for a movie and most people aren't either.

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

and another mini rant....I would expect macrumors readers to go blu. apple in on the board of directors....most apple users are used to paying the premium for the better hardware, but there are a lot of posts from people saying they bought an hd-dvd player, what gives?

This is pretty ridiculous logic, if you ask me. To finish your thought through, we should all be driving luxury cars, since we're used to paying a premium for the hardware and all. Or, that all of us should have already upgraded to the next gen formats, and aren't still watching DVDs.

Or, maybe we all just decided that Macs and OS X were just the best way to get our work done...which is completely separate from what would be the "best" movie format.

I might put a premium on the type of computer I use, but not the car I drive, or the type of disc I buy. Why do you find that surprising?

 

[monkeytap]

but the way I look at it is if the format dies in a few years I won't feel bad at the price I paid.
QUOTE]


a few years huh? you must be a glass half full guy, warner will most likely put an end to this "war" after the holidays.

they have said they are considering exclusivity, but with 2-1 blu-ray over hd--dvd advantage, there is really only one smart business move.

 

[Motley]

And so a perfectly good thread spirals down into another format war.

 

[monkeytap]

And so a perfectly good thread spirals down into another format war.

no no no. just conversation, if anyone claims to know who will win, they are lying.

i just dont want to have to use hd-dvd in the future, personal opinion. just like I would rather work on an apple over windows, except if hd-dvd wins i wont have a choice.

This is pretty ridiculous logic, if you ask me. To finish your thought through, we should all be driving luxury cars, since we're used to paying a premium for the hardware and all. Or, that all of us should have already upgraded to the next gen formats, and aren't still watching DVDs.

Or, maybe we all just decided that Macs and OS X was just the best way to get our work done...which is completely separate form what would be the "best" movie format.

I might put a premium on the type of computer I use, but not the car I drive, or the type of disc I buy. Why do you find that surprising?

im not disagreeing with you, my logic was not solid, but im also not writing a thesis and am "working" on other things, since technically speacking I am at work.

your logic is not very solid either, but im not going to attack that.

im not expecting you to drive a luxury car, nor do i think it has a place in this thread. blu-ray and hd-dvd have a place bc inevitably we will be seeing these drives in OUR MACS.

im not sure how much research youve done, not implying your ignorant, but ive done quite a fair share. IMO, i would rather have blu-ray, the biggest reason being it has significant more space (50 gb vs 30 gb)

like apple, I dont want to see an "unfishinshed" or "unpolished" format in my computer, i want the best and the most relevant. with blu-ray winning software sales 2-1, id say it is the most relevant, and there is no question hd-dvd lacks the space needed for HD content.

 

[DakotaGuy]

Well I did not mean to turn this into a format war. Both formats do the same thing and that is deliver HD quality movies to your HDTV. Everyone keeps saying it is over and Blu-ray has won, but unless you want a PS3 their stand alone players are still very expensive.

I wanted to try out new technology without spending megabucks on it. HD-DVD players are going to be very popular as a Christmas gift this year because of price. I think Toshiba figures if you sell enough players then media sales for those players will pick up. Sears says my player will be in at my local store tomorrow so hopefully I will have it up and running and give a report.

There is always the whole "space" argument, but a 51GB 3 layer HD-DVD has been approved for the drives now so it is getting to the point that either formats will hold enough data for HD content. The majority (like 60%) of Blu-ray movies right now are using a single layer (25GB) and most HD-DVD's are using a dual layer (30GB) disk.

Last, I don't know why a poster thinks that because I own a Mac that automatically means that I shouldn't buy anything but a Blu-ray player. If the HD-DVD format gives me the same or even very similar quality for less money why not? I can understand paying more for a Mac over a PC because of it's superior quality and operating system, but when it comes to Blu-ray or HD-DVD there just isn't much difference for the extra money. Both offer a high quality HD image and quality audio.

 

[it5five]

and another mini rant....I would expect macrumors readers to go blu. apple in on the board of directors....most apple users are used to paying the premium for the better hardware, but there are a lot of posts from people saying they bought an hd-dvd player, what gives?

What gives?

One answer: HD-DVD is region free. Blu-Ray is not.

Thus, I prefer HD-DVD.

 

[EricNau]

HDDVD and Blu-Ray are killing the dvd

The DVD was dead before it was ever released. ...If anything, it's simply a transition media.

 

[madoka]

its fairly obvious to me, and others, that these prices are in fact to good to be true. If hd-dvd stood a chance they wouldnt need to lower the prices SOOO much. and with these incredibly low prices why are they still getting dominated in software? well, its because they are losing, bad.

if anyone claims to know who will win, they are lying.

Way to spread your misinformation. HD is not losing badly. Sales went through the roof with the price cut. Why pay 4x - 5x more for a BR player when the quality is the same and there is MORE content on HD (or haven't you heard about the 300 disc?). Sony's own CEO said that the HD war is at a stalemate with no end in sight. Yet BR fanboys keep up with the FUD.

I prefer HD, as Sony cannot be trusted. They wanted a piece of the royalties for next gen media and came up with BR causing this mess. They encourage region encoding and strict copy protection schemes - not surprising from the CD rootkit company. How long before they figure out a way to infect BR players?

 

[Prof.]

I personally like my Blu-Ray player better than I do HD-DVD players.

Plus, Blu-Ray sounds cooler.

Prof.

 

[zap2]

HDDVD and Blu-Ray are killing the dvd

um...not for a while.....HD DVD and Blue Ray have like 1% of the market

 

[Scottcop]

The one slight problem with the HD-A3 is that it doesn't support full 1080p.
Although I'm not sure I could tell the difference between 1080p and 720p anyway.

 

[Motley]

The one slight problem with the HD-A3 is that it doesn't support full 1080p.
Although I'm not sure I could tell the difference between 1080p and 720p anyway.

If you have a screen that does 1080p, it really doesn't matter if the player sends 1080i or 1080p.

From ProjectorCentral

"The truth is this: The Toshiba HD-DVD player outputs 1080i, and the Samsung Blu-ray player outputs both 1080i and 1080p. What they fail to mention is that it makes absolutely no difference which transmission format you use—feeding 1080i or 1080p into your projector or HDTV will give you the exact same picture. Why? Both disc formats encode film material in progressive scan 1080p at 24 frames per second. It does not matter whether you output this data in 1080i or 1080p since all 1080 lines of information on the disc are fed into your video display either way. The only difference is the order in which they are transmitted. If they are fed in progressive order (1080p), the video display will process them in that order. If they are fed in interlaced format (1080i), the video display simply reassembles them into their original progressive scan order. Either way all 1080 lines per frame that are on the disc make it into the projector or TV. The fact is, if you happen to have the Samsung Blu-ray player and a video display that takes both 1080i and 1080p, you can switch the player back and forth between 1080i and 1080p output and see absolutely no difference in the picture. So this notion that the Blu-ray player is worth more money due to 1080p output is nonsense."