[official] HD DVD Confirmed News

By shockz
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Grand Master

shockz

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This thread was created to consolidate all the news threads regarding HD-DVD into one area, and will help with organization by cutting down on the repetitive posts regarding this subject.

This will also help staff moderate any issues such as flaming and trolling.

So... if you see or hear any official news about HD DVD... then this is the place to post.

This thread will be strictly moderated... any rule breakage including flames and trolling will be dealt with warns and restrictions

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Grand Master

TruckWEB

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HD-DVD player price cut here in Canada :

A3= $169 (was $299)

A30 = $219 (was $399)

A35 = nowhere to be found on BestBuy or FutureShop. It never existed here it seems.

I can only imagine that Walmart will lower the price of the Venturier HD-DVD (from $199 to maybe $129, or... $99 ?!).

Still, it's alot of money for a upscaling DVD player. I've put my spending on HD-DVD movies on hold, got back to DVD and will move on to Blu-Ray when Profile 2 player are out.

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virtualmadden

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HD-DVD player price cut here in Canada :

A3= $169 (was $299)

A30 = $219 (was $399)

A35 = nowhere to be found on BestBuy or FutureShop. It never existed here it seems.

I can only imagine that Walmart will lower the price of the Venturier HD-DVD (from $199 to maybe $129, or... $99 ?!).

Still, it's alot of money for a upscaling DVD player. I've put my spending on HD-DVD movies on hold, got back to DVD and will move on to Blu-Ray when Profile 2 player are out.

One thing I was thinking about was let's say HD-DVD only movies aren't re-released on Blu-ray, you could buy a descent cheap HD-DVD player as a up-scaler and be able to play those HD-DVD only movies.

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Boz

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HD-DVD player price cut here in Canada :

A3= $169 (was $299)

A30 = $219 (was $399)

A35 = nowhere to be found on BestBuy or FutureShop. It never existed here it seems.

I can only imagine that Walmart will lower the price of the Venturier HD-DVD (from $199 to maybe $129, or... $99 ?!).

Still, it's alot of money for a upscaling DVD player. I've put my spending on HD-DVD movies on hold, got back to DVD and will move on to Blu-Ray when Profile 2 player are out.

a lot of MONEY?! It's really up to you, but these players are cheaper then other brand name players and work BETTER with upscaling + they play HD. How is $169 CAN expensive?

For example Sony upscaling DVD player sold at Walmart that does only 1080i upscaling at that is $147. The Toshiba HD-A3 player without 2 included movies but still with 5 or 7 free movies as a rebate is now $129. You can buy it at VenturerElectronics.com (the official Toshiba distributor).

I don't know, but $129-$149 in retail for these players is absolutely awesome deal for what you get. If it goes to $99.. it's completely insane and I wouldn't recommend ANYONE buying a regular dvd player over this.

One thing I was thinking about was let's say HD-DVD only movies aren't re-released on Blu-ray, you could buy a descent cheap HD-DVD player as a up-scaler and be able to play those HD-DVD only movies.

Bingo.. and these players reaching $100 mark.. how can you really recommend anyone to buy a regular DVD player over this hybrid.

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Grand Master

TruckWEB

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For example Sony upscaling DVD player sold at Walmart that does only 1080i upscaling at that is $147. The Toshiba HD-A3 player without 2 included movies but still with 5 or 7 free movies as a rebate is now $129.

Well, consider the fact that I can buy a Samsung DVD player that go to 1080p for $69 here. So the A-3 at $169 is STILL $100 more than a good DVD player.

When Universall and Paramount finaly switch to Blu-Ray (someday), I can only imagine that they will redo their catalog on Blu-Ray, so it will be possible to buy Transformers in Blu... Wishfull thinking on my part maybe. It's only a personal thing but I don't beleive that I will hold-on to my HD-DVD movies for many years to come. If Blu wins, one day or another, I'll renew my collection of HD-DVD to Blu, that's all. * BUT THAT'S ME * Others are welcome to think diffrent.

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Grand Master

Boz

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Well, consider the fact that I can buy a Samsung DVD player that go to 1080p for $69 here. So the A-3 at $169 is STILL $100 more than a good DVD player.

When Universall and Paramount finaly switch to Blu-Ray (someday), I can only imagine that they will redo their catalog on Blu-Ray, so it will be possible to buy Transformers in Blu... Wishfull thinking on my part maybe. It's only a personal thing but I don't beleive that I will hold-on to my HD-DVD movies for many years to come. If Blu wins, one day or another, I'll renew my collection of HD-DVD to Blu, that's all. * BUT THAT'S ME * Others are welcome to think diffrent.

Well the difference is that that Samsung you are talking about is not THAT great. Toshiba is an incredible upscaler that will provide a much better experience AND give you the HD experience. Any decent DVD player today that does upscaling like Oppo or any middle end brand will be between $100-$150. Toshiba did a research prior to holiday season 2007 and saw that the sweet spot price for consumers will be $106-$109 per player and this is what they are going for. $129 is very close to that, give it a month more and it will hit that price.

More movies or not, I really can't look at anyone and NOT recommend these players. For example, despite the movies, I still can't recommend anything on Blu-Ray that's not AT LEAST Panasonic BD30 or PS3 and they are both $400+ and if you want to buy cheaper, meaning somewhere around $300, well you have to sacrifice features and most likely risk not being able to even watch movies when Profile 1.1 or 2.0 start hitting the market more. That's more unjustifiable then saying "well with HD DVD you won't be able to watch 100 more movies at this moment", not to mention the fact that with Blu-ray you STILL can't watch all.

But that's just me. I actually ordered HD-A35 for my main viewing machine and another HD-A3 for my bedroom. I'll keep my HD-A20 for my office. And guess what.. I paid these 2 new players, less then that one Panasonic BD30 or a PS3.

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Grand Master

rajputwarrior

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you guys honestly want the best upscaling dvd player. find the original xbox and mod it. You can find the xbox for fourty bucks at EB. And saying that toshiba's upscaling dvd player is incredible ir just an opinion (just like mine). But the best media centers are still the xbox's and if you can get your hands on one they are worth every penny.

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Grand Master

+StevoFC MVC

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Well, consider the fact that I can buy a Samsung DVD player that go to 1080p for $69 here. So the A-3 at $169 is STILL $100 more than a good DVD player.

As much as I love Samsung tv's and always recommend them, I would never get a Samsung DVD player. They are mediocre at best.

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Grand Master

Boz

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TOSHIBA HD DVD PLAYERS seeing price drops in Europe too - HD-EP30 under 200 EUROS

Hamburg - Japanese-based consumer-electronics group Toshiba affirmed Thursday its commitment to HD-DVD, its high definition optical disc system, which suffered a bad hit earlier this month with the Hollywood studio Warner abandoning it. At a briefing in Hamburg on the upcoming CeBIT computing show in March, Sascha Lange, marketing chief of Toshiba Germany, announced price cuts for HD-DVD players in Europe, matching cuts the previous day in the United States.

He said the German price of Toshiba's base model in Europe, the HD-EP30 player, would be reduced to just below 200 euros (292 dollars) including 19-per-cent German sales tax. The same model would be offered in the United States at 199 dollars plus tax.

He said the company had needed a couple of weeks to analyse its position after the Warner defection to the rival technology, Blu-ray, at the start of the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

"We are still convinced this is best product at the most reasonable price for the end user," Lange said. He said 200,000 of the players had been sold so far in Europe.

Toshiba would in future stress a feature of HD-DVD which was not available on Blu-ray players, an internet connection.

"It creates huge opportunities," he said. "We can use it to run a video stream from an internet provider."

He demonstrated how this could be used for broadcasting over the internet, and added that the feature was already being used by owners.

Lange quoted a survey by the remaining pro-HD-DVD studios, Universal, Paramount Pictures and Dreamworks Animations, suggesting 30 per cent of users had tried this.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/17...er-setback.html

HD DVD still kickin' with new releases

Down but not out, the beleaguered HD DVD format suddenly has some product in the pipeline, after studio announcements that had been slotted for the Consumer Electronics Show were yanked at the last minute due to the pre-show defection of Warner Home Video to the Blu-ray Disc camp.

One of the most high-profile HD DVD releases, ironically, will be from Warner, which won't officially abandon the Toshiba-developed format until the end of May. The studio Wednesday announced it will release a two-disc special edition of the action hit "Twister" on all three home entertainment software formats, with the DVD and Blu-Ray Disc coming May 6 and the HD DVD edition following May 27.

Orders are due April 1 for the standard DVD and Blu-ray Disc and April 22 for the HD DVD. Special features include a commentary, an HBO First Look Special on the making of the film, and a 2003 History Channel special on tornadoes.

Paramount Home Entertainment, which after May will be the only major studio besides longtime supporter Universal Studios Home Entertainment to release titles on the HD DVD format, is expected to announce a full slate of HD DVD titles for the first quarter Thursday -- a slate it was to unveil at CES.

Already in stores is "Zodiac," which quietly shipped to retailers during CES -- and the HD DVD Promotional Group's self-imposed quiet period.

Next is "Into the Wild," Sean Penn's acclaimed adaptation of an inspirational true story, which arrives in stores March 4, along with the drama "Things We Lost in the Fire."

DreamWorks Animation's animated hit "Bee Movie" is next, coming March 11 with hours of extras, including Web-enabled downloadable features such as a "Build a Bee" avatar. The HD DVD also comes with a picture-in-picture storyboard reel, customizable menus, a trivia track and an interactive exploration of the world of bees.

Slated for later in the quarter, with no release date yet set, are "The Kite Runner" and "The Jack Ryan Collection," the latter a set of four thrillers starring the fictional CIA operative: "The Hunt for Red October," with Alec Baldwin as Ryan, "Clear and Present Danger" and "Patriot Games," each with Harrison Ford in the lead role, and "The Sum of All Fears," in which Ben Affleck takes over as Ryan.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment is expected to announce upcoming HD DVD titles as well, including "American Gangster," coming as a combo disc. Ken Graffeo, executive vp of HD strategic marketing, said the studio was "very encouraged" by Toshiba's recent player price drops and believes it will spur HD DVD software sales, particularly on the new release front.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/conten...2d65f37f6865fd9

Toshiba HD-XA2 HD DVD Player Wins Sound & Vision Editors' Choice Award

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories....7568&EDATE=

I AM LEGEND ON HD DVD April 8th

http://www.dvdtown.com/news/i-am-legend-on...nd-blu-ray/5129

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Grand Master

Boz

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you guys honestly want the best upscaling dvd player. find the original xbox and mod it. You can find the xbox for fourty bucks at EB. And saying that toshiba's upscaling dvd player is incredible ir just an opinion (just like mine). But the best media centers are still the xbox's and if you can get your hands on one they are worth every penny.

It's not an opinion. It's a fact. Many review sites highlight HD DVD A3 series of players as incredible at upscaling.

For example:

UltimateAVmag.com says:

The HD-A30 upconverts standard DVDs up to 1080i over component and up to 1080p over HDMI. Big deal, right? What's a bit more fascinating here is that when set to 1080p/24 output the HD-A30 can extract a 24p signal from standard DVDs, removing the 3:2 pulldown process and its artifacts entirely and output it as 1080p/24.

...

The image quality from this player with HD DVD discs was not only as good as what I saw from the HD-XA2, it was smidge better. Similar to a phenomenon TJN noted in his review of the Toshiba HD-A35, the HD-A30's color looked more saturated than the XA2, but still natural, which gave the image a bit more snap and pop without looking cartoony at all.

HQV Test results:

Extremetech gave the Toshiba HD-A2 116/130 for HQV test disc

Toshiba HD-XA2 got 130/130

Toshiba HD-A3 got 117/130

Toshiba HD-A30 got 120/130

Toshiba HD-A35 got 127/130 (mainly due to lack of ReonVX chip as they say, but the colors looked better than XA2)

PS3 did 100/100 on HQV test disc and one test on Extreme Tech gave it 120/130 I can't remember which one

I'am certain about these numbers, but I don't have all the links handy I have to look up my older bookmarks as some of these tests were done earlier last year.

So yeah, it's not an opinion. It's a fact.

Looks like Warner is encouraging people to buy their new releases on Blu-Ray or DVD since the HD DVD versions of their new releases seem to be coming out 3 weeks after the BD and DVD versions.

And that's completely anti-consumer behavior with the pure purpose of screwing over HD DVD consumers and delibarately delaying HD DVD version with no reason whatsover just to stick that knife a bit deeper. No doubt this is in their contract. I will still be picking up HD DVD over Blu because I think that they still might include some interactive features that will be missing on Blu-Ray but I wouldn't be surprised if they butchered the HD DVD version completely and cut 10 mins off the movie :)

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Grand Master

+StevoFC MVC

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Looks like Warner is encouraging people to buy their new releases on Blu-Ray or DVD since the HD DVD versions of their new releases seem to be coming out 3 weeks after the BD and DVD versions.

I think they are affraid to release them on both Blu Ray and HD DVD at the same time just in case the HD DVD version would happen to sell more. Imagine how stupid they would look if that happened.

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MGS4-SS

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I think they are affraid to release them on both Blu Ray and HD DVD at the same time just in case the HD DVD version would happen to sell more. Imagine how stupid they would look if that happened.

Seeing as how BluRay has been known for outselling HDDVD, I doubt it would really happen.

But Warner just wants to make sure, and good for them.

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rajputwarrior

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It's not an opinion. It's a fact. Many review sites highlight HD DVD A3 series of players as incredible at upscaling.

For example:

UltimateAVmag.com says:

HQV Test results:

Extremetech gave the Toshiba HD-A2 116/130 for HQV test disc

Toshiba HD-XA2 got 130/130

Toshiba HD-A3 got 117/130

Toshiba HD-A30 got 120/130

Toshiba HD-A35 got 127/130 (mainly due to lack of ReonVX chip as they say, but the colors looked better than XA2)

PS3 did 100/100 on HQV test disc and one test on Extreme Tech gave it 120/130 I can't remember which one

I'am certain about these numbers, but I don't have all the links handy I have to look up my older bookmarks as some of these tests were done earlier last year.

So yeah, it's not an opinion. It's a fact.

what drive is in the 360 HD DVD add-on? because i have compared that to my orginal moded xbox running xbox media center and it looks soooo much better then the 360.

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Grand Master

Boz

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what drive is in the 360 HD DVD add-on? because i have compared that to my orginal moded xbox running xbox media center and it looks soooo much better then the 360.

I have no idea, but indeed Xbox 360 in general is mediocre at best in upscaling.. but again, we can't really blame them, Xbox 360 was meant to be game console first in that regard.

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Grand Master

Boz

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but the drive inside the 360 HD DVD addon, i know it's a toshiba, but do any of the mainstream HD DVD players use it?

Well I believe that it's the same drive used in laptops, I believe the one used in standalones is different model, however the problem with upscaling is not due to the drive, the Xbox 360 internal processing is what makes up for mediocre upscaling, the drive by itself has very little to do with it.

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Grand Master

Julius Caro

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Why do they say below 200 when it is 199? And probably not even that, the only "cheap" (over 200 euro) was the very very first gen european version of the HD-A1.. EP1 maybe?

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Hupp

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I'm surprised they haven't cut the add on price in 1/2 since they cut the stand alone units price. It seems ridiculous that i can buy a standalone a30 for 199 when the add on is 180

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