Toshiba A3 HD DVD player with 7 movies: $169.99

Are you sure you don't mean Black Friday, Nov. 23?
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=929811

Are there major differences between the A2 and the A3?

Thanks about the date. It has been corrected.

[Post edited by Henning on Oct 30, 2007]

The A3 is just the third generation version of the A2. The A3 is probably better, and it also has more freebies.

Hmm... decisions, decisions. Do people want to spend $170 (for HD DVD) or $400 (for Blu-ray) for the exact same HD quality? I don't know, $230 is a big difference for me.

Hood I was told they are the same, it is a cosmetic thing as far as the differences. I bought my A2, and got to choose my 2 extra movies in store. And I went on line and downloaded the form for the 5 free, so I got 7 free myself.

i think the "A2" goes to 1080i and the "A3" goes to 1080P

EDIT: nevermind, they are both 1080i

[Post edited by Nytroman on Oct 30, 2007]

Should we all start jumping now??

Very, very tempting...

Ok. This is my first post so bear with me. I don't honestly see why anyone would want HD-DVD. Yes I know it is cheaper, but does cheap make up for the fact that a large amount of movies you would want to see in high-def are Blu-Ray only (Spiderman, Pirates, ALL of Disney etc.)? Does price make up for the utter lack of movies on the format? Yes, I know that Kmart is now only HD-DVD, but Target who sells much more merchandise is going mostly if not all Blu-Ray. And after a trip to my local Wal-Mart I found that they carry almost a two to one ratio of Blu-Ray to HD-DVD. And most of the HD-DVD titles were also on Blu-Ray as well. I just don't see the average consumer shelling out money for a player that they cannot get a lot of movies for. Think about it, this fall The Simpsons Movie, Superbad, Ratatouille, Pirates 3, Spiderman 3 are Blu-Ray only. Those are movies that will SELL. If I am wrong, someone please tell me. But I have thought from the start that Blu-Ray had a better idea and support. Really to me, whoever has Disney wins. I am not a fanboy or anything like that, I am just an average consumer who has done his research and CANNOT see the benefits of HD DVD (the price is cancelled out by the horrible selection). I honestly feel that Warner will choose Blu-Ray, simply because they have more support. Anyway that is just my two cents worth. Seriously, I don't think a cheaper player with free (mostly not even good) movies will sell that well with out a better selection of movies.

ArmyPunk, don't forget that there are a lot of movies that are HD DVD exclusive. Transformers, Shrek 3, Heroes - that's just a handful off the top of my head.

This is the whole factual story. HD DVD came out FIRST. Then, rather than going with that format, Sony decides to try and control the market and release their own Blu-Ray.

Now, BD are the exact same HD quality, just more pricier. It's pricier because their technology costs more to produce the discs and the players. Just go to a store and look at some of the movies that are available in both formats - BD costs more, and it's still the same 1080p high-definition.

Sure, there is a little more selection right now, but that's because Sony elbowed their way onto the market creating this format war. They really want it to succeed, so they are pumping out the titles as fast as they can. The only problem is, in doing this they are releasing inferior products that need to be recalled and done over a second time properly (Robocop for example).

So basically, you need to ask yourself this: do I really want to support a company that a) started this war b) costs more c) has a tendency to prematurely release untested and inferior products?

The only thing keeping HD DVD down right now is sales. But now since you can get an HD DVD player for under $170, they are going to have a significant boost this holiday season. If that's the case, you can expect a lot more titles soon to follow.

Armypunk, HD DVD has Batman Begins, the Matrix Trilogy, Transformers, Shrek the Third, 40 year old virgin, knocked up, Pitch Black, Chronicles of Riddick, Star Trek: The Original Series -- The Complete First Season, The Jason Bourne Collection (Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy, Bourne Ultimatum), The Pianist and a bunch of others that bluray does NOT have. Seriously I could go on but I just don't have the time to do the research. Universal Studios is HD DVD exclusive and they have some fantastic movies. Paramount and Dreamworks also have some great movies and they are HD DVD exclusive. Warner releases movies on both formats but for some reason they have not released a few of them on bluray thus far, only on HD DVD. Even still, the movies Warner HAS released on both formats seem to have more bonus features and interactive features on the HD DVD copies which has caused quite a few complaints by the bluray people.

If you actually get a list of the movies that are only available on HD DVD and the ones that are only available on bluray, then pick the best ones, I'm pretty sure most of them will be the ones HD DVD has on their side. Don't forget also that there are movies that are "bluray exclusive" but you can get them still on HD DVD through import sites such as xploitedcinema.com.

Finally if you read reviews that have been released on BOTH formats you will notice that the picture quality is always the same and in a lot of cases it's actually better than the bluray version. Both versions have HD audio so you're good on both formats in that regard but don't forget the interactive features have been better on HD DVD since the beginning. These are professional critics that review movies for a living, not "fanboys".

You combine all these factors PLUS the HD A2's going for $169.99 and you have a much better format in HD DVD for a much cheaper price. It's only logical.

Don't believe all the hype and deceptive press releases from Sony and the bluray camp. They twist numbers in their favor to make it look like they have sold much more than they really have. For example they will count movies shipped as units sold...they do the same with their PS3's.

Here's a site that his a list of upcoming HD DVD and bluray releases...

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/releasedates.html

They also have a list of previously released titles as well.

[Post edited by Falcon01 on Oct 31, 2007]