Best HD DVD Player Deals

[Boz]

Latest Toshiba HD DVD players findings including the 5-free movie PERFECT OFFER by Toshiba. Also, A3 models come with 2 movies in the package too.

BUY.COM Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on deal:

Xbox 360 HD DVD Player plus Heroes Season 1 on HD DVD for $165. The player comes with a King Kong HD DVD and is also eligible for 5 free select HD DVD movies

This is whopping 13 free discs + the player for $165. Wow!

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=203249984

SEARS - HD-A3:

$169.99 + free movies = Black Friday

Watch the link here: http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_0...=toshiba+hd+dvd

BEST BUY HD-A2:

$179.99

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?sk...d=1158323325814

TOSHIBA HD-A2 NOW AT BEST BUY FOR $99!

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;js...d=1158323325814

Circuit City HD-A2:

$197.99

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Toshiba-HD-...roductDetail.do

Amazon HD-A2:

$197.99

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000IJV4B...rd_i=B000U62N1S

Walmart HD-A2:

$198 regular price

In-Store only - available Nov. 3 online

& Walmart HD-A2 FRIDAY DEAL:

TOSHIBA HD DVD PLAYER FOR $98.87

http://holiday.ri-walmart.com/?section=sec...le117144-lLink1

Costco HD-A2 w/ HDMI cable:

$199.99

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?...topnav=&s=1

K-Mart:

$179 (not cofirmed) but they have just had press releasing confirming the Hd dvd player exclusivity and low prices like everyone else. Will update this thread.

also:

On a few of the deal sites (like slickdealz) people are talking about the A2 at Sam's for $143. My bet they are not at every Sam's Club, but since they are part of Wal-Mart, this makes sense. One example is the Sams at 2901-A CLAIRMONT RD in Atlanta. Doesn't hurt to check if you are there.

Post if you see or hear other deals.

Edited November 1, 2007 by Boz

[Mathachew Veteran]

$170 for an HD DVD player. Man that makes it harder for me to not buy either format until there is a clear winner. It also wouldn't do me any good to buy either since the best video option on my TV is composite (single yellow RCA cable). :|

[Slimy]

Man that makes it harder for me to not buy either format until there is a clear winner.

HEROES

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

$170 for an HD DVD player. Man that makes it harder for me to not buy either format until there is a clear winner. It also wouldn't do me any good to buy either since the best video option on my TV is composite (single yellow RCA cable). :|

uhh... so you have an SDTV? HD-DVD wouldnt play anyway b/c of HDCP.

Good news to hear about the Kmart exclusivity (Y) Although, I have no idea where any are in my area these days... I havent been to one since i was a kid :unsure:

[Ianwoollam]

uhh... so you have an SDTV? HD-DVD wouldnt play anyway b/c of HDCP.

Yeah it would, The 360 and the Toshiba units all have Composite and Component out which are analog, it would just look the same as standard DVD and pointless! HDCP only takes affect through HDMI.

[digitalsoft]

Wish we had prices like those in the Uk! Awesome value!

[Boz]

One interesting thing I found out.. There were some posts made by Walmart employees that Black Friday deal for Toshiba HD DVD player will be $99 (50% off from the current deal). Unfortunately those posts have been taken down and after a bit of research, it became clear why:

http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/18/news/compa...legal/index.htm

Oh well, I guess we'll have to wait and see but if $99 HD DVD players come to life.. I don't see why anyone would not replace their existing DVD with the real HD player.

[Mathachew Veteran]

If I see an HD DVD player for $99, I will buy it, HDTV or not. Then it will be easy to convince my wife that it's time to get an HDTV so that we can catch LotR in HD. And then Transformers. Oh the possibilities....

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

If I see an HD DVD player for $99, I will buy it, HDTV or not. Then it will be easy to convince my wife that it's time to get an HDTV so that we can catch LotR in HD. And then Transformers. Oh the possibilities....

tons of possibilities. HD is a slippery slope. next thing you know, you have your own home theater.

I bought the Xbox drive for my computer, but now I want a standalone player. I'd also like a BD standalone, if they ever get their act together. there's a ton of BD movies I'd love to get. On top of that, one day i'd like to get a sweet Onkyo speaker setup. So much money and I never have enough of it (N)

[Boz]

about the Walmart $99 rumour.. this guy claims that he is a manager, so it's really unsubstatiated rumour but the pricing of $198 does seem kind of weird knowing that Walmart does like 50% deals so this would take the price to $99.. so a lot of things are combining to form a picture that looks a bit more believable. Walmart has announced that they will cut prices significantly on 5 items.

I'm a Wal-Mart Manager and we just received direction today that this friday we will be having a mini black friday like sale with TV adverstising supposed to be happening tomorrow or Thursday. The Toshiba HD DVD player will go for $99 (it seems like the $198 price point was smokescreen as our district and regional level management seemed to know little about the pricing in some of the initial email communication we received) there will be an assortment of HD DVD's for $14.98, and our Sanyo 50" plasma TV for $999. There are several other items that will be offered at discounted prices but these were the hottest items.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.ph...p;postcount=472 (of course take it as it is..it's not really reliable but it would be really cool to see them at $99. The $15 HD DVD movies seem real though.

Also..the 5 item info from Wallyworld for Black Friday:

http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/31/news/compa...cials/index.htm

WALMART SECRET SPECIALS site:

http://holiday.ri-walmart.com/?section=sec...aign=holidaygif

Edited October 31, 2007 by Boz

[Boz]

I'm pretty sure we can mark the beginning of the end for Blu-Ray. The way things are happening right now with all crazy retailer support for this holiday season, this is exactly what was the case with VHS and DVD. Wally came out with crazy price, it has been adopted. The only thing missing is Warner right now and it's pretty much done.

[Slimy]

I'm pretty sure we can mark the beginning of the end for Blu-Ray. The way things are happening right now with all crazy retailer support for this holiday season, this is exactly what was the case with VHS and DVD. Wally came out with crazy price, it has been adopted. The only thing missing is Warner right now and it's pretty much done.

Hopefully, but not likely. Sony has time to respond, and they would be foolish not to.

[Mathachew Veteran]

I wouldn't be so hasty about declaring a winner. Blu-Ray players could very well come down as well. It's not even November yet (not in in the US at the time of this posting anyway... :p)

[Boz]

... The $15 HD DVD movies seem real though.

Starting Friday at 7AM WM will start running its first "Secret Sale". There will be 3 different sales this holiday all with different items.
So here is the complete list of $14.96 HD DVD's for this Friday:

Clerks 2
Lucky # S7even
Pulse
Failure to Launch
4 Brothers
Italian Job
Sleepy Hollow
Casino
12 Monkeys
Backdraft
Big Lebowski
Sea Biscuit
Alexander Revisted
Blood Diamond
Full Metal Jacket
The Last Samurai
Swordfish
Unforgiven

[giantpotato]

I'm pretty sure we can mark the beginning of the end for Blu-Ray. The way things are happening right now with all crazy retailer support for this holiday season, this is exactly what was the case with VHS and DVD. Wally came out with crazy price, it has been adopted. The only thing missing is Warner right now and it's pretty much done.

Jumping a little quickly to conclusions? If I wanted to go out and make stuff up I could very well say in the final days of BETA, manufacturers dropped thir prices to get rid of existing stock since they knew the format was doomed. This could be the same for HD DVD...

But back to being serious... The studios won't really care which format is selling more players, to them it's all about which format will sell more discs. Although I do see how this can be related to the sale of players. We'll see at the end of the holidays which format is performing better.

[Boz]

Jumping a little quickly to conclusions? If I wanted to go out and make stuff up I could very well say in the final days of BETA, manufacturers dropped thir prices to get rid of existing stock since they knew the format was doomed. This could be the same for HD DVD...

But back to being serious... The studios won't really care which format is selling more players, to them it's all about which format will sell more discs. Although I do see how this can be related to the sale of players. We'll see at the end of the holidays which format is performing better.

A small hint. They care more about hardware base then software. This is why you HAVE sales advantage for Blu-Ray, because of PS3s. It is very obvious that the mass adoptation of HD DVD players will start this holiday. So once the hardware numbers go up, so will the software sales. Studios don't look at 6-7 months period and current sales.. they look at forecasts, long term hardware sales that will cause software sales. They don't care about 100-200k units now when all they do is lose money anyways on it.

You really need to get into a bit of business to understand that what Sony is serving you has very little with the way things really are. Feel free to sit and watch. This will be very obvious to you before year's end.

[(Spork)]

what the difference with A2 or A3 i have a 42 inch hd lcd

[Boz]

what the difference with A2 or A3 i have a 42 inch hd lcd

None. A3 is actually the same as A2, but is thinner and a lot of people say they are actually cheaper to make for Toshiba. This goes hand in hand with A3 being $169.99 at Sears for Black Friday with 2 free movies + 5 free Toshiba mail-in movies. Actually for some A2 looks a bit more sturdy. The access speed and other stuff is pretty much the same on both.

[(Spork)]

kewl thx

[goji]

Its looking like Black Friday may be the final shove to make HD mainstream, and I"m dropping some cash that day!

[Boz]

Also, a REALLY great commentary by High Def Digest Editor Joshua Zyber on reality and ridiculousness of Blu-Ray claims. Very down to earth article for everyone wanting to understand Blu-Ray and HD DVD and what's bull and what real.

HIGH-DEF DISC NEWS

Commentary: Specs vs. Reality

Editor's Note: A long-time movie buff and collector of discs from laserdisc to DVD, Joshua Zyber is a veteran disc reviewer, and an enthusiastic supporter of all things High Definition. In his twice-monthly High-Def Digest column, Josh discusses a broad range of topics of interest to other early adopters.

One of the inevitable side effects of the High Definition revolution is that the advanced video and audio technology used in the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats tends to bring out the know-it-all tech geek in home theater fans. Sometimes this can be a great benefit, when knowledgeable users band together to analyze specific technical deficiencies that have occurred and share their feedback with the parties responsible, hopefully leading to improvements in the future. We've seen some of this at various points during the format war. Early Blu-ray releases such as 'The Fifth Element' exhibited obvious visual deficiencies due to weak source materials and poor digital compression encoding. Likewise, HD DVD catalog titles from Universal have been hit-or-miss in quality, many of them recycled from dated and problematic video masters (like 'In Good Company', with its ghastly edge enhancement artifacts). Reviews published on this site and others were negative, and buyers voiced their displeasure to the studios, eventually resulting in improved mastering on subsequent releases. 'The Fifth Element' was even remastered in significantly better quality as a direct result of owner feedback. That wouldn't have happened had no one spoken up about it.

Generally speaking, the High Definition studios, knowing the intense scrutiny their work is placed under, have maintained a much higher standard of quality on recent releases (with some notable exceptions, of course). Just imagine what might have happened had the public been apathetic and merely accepted whatever shoddy treatment they were handed. In this case, the voice of the people resulted in a better end product for everyone to enjoy.

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Jos...s._Reality/1096

[giantpotato]

Also, a REALLY great commentary by High Def Digest Editor Joshua Zyber on reality and ridiculousness of Blu-Ray claims.

Maybe you posted the wrong quote, or I'm a little slow, but could you show me to where he comments on the ridiculousness of Blu-Ray claims?

[goji]

This stuff is all over the net. Either its the biggest hoax on the planet or its the hottest deal entertainment wise in recent memory.

[TruckWEB]

I when to my local Brault&Martineau store and the salerep told me that even if you can find more blu-ray player from more source (Sony, Sharp, Panasonic, Pioneer, ...), they still sold more HD-DVD player from Toshiba.

If Sony removed the number of sold PS3, the picture would be alot darker for Blu-ray.

So with those very hot price for HD-DVD player.... If Sony don't drop a bomb soon, they will loose....

Looking at BestBuy or FutureShop here, the A-2 is no longer listed. The A-3 goes for $349 and the A-30 for $449. Lower than the lowest Blu-Ray player (A-3 vs PS3/40gb), but no huge sale here in Canada (Quebec)...

On another subject : What is happening with Lord Of The Rings in HD? When will it be out and on what format??

Edited November 1, 2007 by TruckWEB

[Boz]

The latest Walmart commercial:

"You know why I love Wal-Mart, because I am getting to do the impossible, I'm getting my husband a HD DVD player, a Toshiba. I mean movies look unbelievable on this thing and the price was incredable, even for Wal-Mart I was surprised. All I know is that christmas is going to be a very, very good day"

This is the commercial that was just shown during NBC's show "Phenomenom".

to my surprise, the Wal-Mart commercial was exclusively intended to bring attention to the player

PEOPLE are reporting that there is another commercial similar to this one that advertises ACER laptop at $348 and the HD DVD player for $99!

Brace yourselves..the $99 player might be REALITY!!! We need more confirmation.. but it sure sounds like it!

Edited November 1, 2007 by Boz