HD DVD player for $148 at Wal-mart...

M

mr. sunshine

250+ Posts
HD DVD's for 1/2 off at amazon.com. Is this the beginning of the end for HD DVD?

DISCLAIMER: I don't own stock in any company that pushes either format nor do I have any emotional investment in this. Just sounds like some sweet deals that would get sour real quick if they discontinue HD DVD.
 
Word on the St. is that the HD-DVD format is done. Netflix, Blockbuster and Best Buy have lined up behind Blu Ray. Most studios have said they will support Blu Ray only. No matter what deal they offer you it is like buying a Betamax. In 2 years you probably won't be able to find a HD-DVD to rent or buy.
 
Disney backed Blu-Ray as well.

The only thing that could save HD-DVD is if porn and disney jumped onto their ship (which is what happened to VHS).

Sony (who created Blu-Ray) based their next video game console on the technology (PS3).

Microsoft (who was pushing HD-DVD) made it an option, not a requirement, to have HD-DVD added to the XBox 360. Shows a lack of faith in their product, IMO.

I just had a PS3 fall into my lap. Played a Blu-Ray for the first time on my HDTV. I was pleased.
 
The only reason to get a HD-DVD player now would be for upconversion purposes (make sure the player is 1080p, not 1080i if you have a 1080p TV) and bargain hunting. A bunch of consumers are unloading their HD-DVD collections at a loss; one could buy an HD-DVD player now and go to Craigslist/Ebay/etc to pick up cheap movies and hope that Toshiba releases a combo player in the future (Toshiba is going have to do something to appease the early adopters).

If one goes the "bargain hunting" route, better hope Toshiba keeps the combo player in the market for a few years.

If you just want an upconversion machine (and wait for Blu Ray prices to drop: software and machines), I have heard good things about Oppo.
 
If you found a good deal, getting one to upconvert dvds isn't a bad idea. Regular dvd players look like crap when hooked up to an HDTV. That would be a good way of getting around it until you bought a blu ray player. I ended up buying a PS3 a lot earlier than I planned on because dvds looked so bad on my tv.
 
MS dropped the price on the 360 add-on as well. If you are looking for a cheap PC drive, it would suffice. I've decided to just wait and go with a bluray drive when they are around $100.
 
this is bs, what happened is some guy ffrom the bun company got together with some guy from the hot dog company and decided to rip off the american public....
 
[Chris Rock]Whenever l meet a girl that doesn't give head...l look at them like a damn HD-DVD, ''They still make you?''[/Chris Rock]
 
in case you hadn't heard, Apple TV was a giant flop.

Sony lost 2 billion dollars on the PS3, they figured what's another half billion to bribe Warner to going Blu-Ray exclusive.

Sucks, because the HD-DVD format is much more consumer friendly.
 
To be fair, Toshiba supposedly paid Paramount/Dreamworks (Aug. 2007) $150 million to go HD-DVD exclusive for 18 months. At the time of the deal, Blu-Ray lead over HD-DVD (in disc sales) was 2 to 1. When Paramount went HD-DVD, they left Warner as the only major studio format agnostic.

Both sides have played dirty instead of letting the marketplace decide. In my opinion, Warner played the game right. Everyone that has been following the (red vs. blu) knew that Warner was the key to winnning the war (for Sony) or prolonging the battle (for HD-DVD: there was too many exclusive studios on the Blu side for a Warner defection to HD-DVD to be the death blow for Sony: Sony, Disney, 20th Cent. Fox, New Line, and Liongate). Warner made themselves a lot of money by remaining format neutral until the time was right.

For the sake of disclosure, I have a PS3, but I agree that HD-DVD was more consumer friendly. My parents bought a Samsung Blu-Ray player that was obsolete before they opened the box (that player was profile 1.0 and was not capable of a firmware update; now the standard is 1.1, soon to be 1.2). The Playstation 3 is the way to go because you can do firmware updates.

I feel for the HD-DVD people because I am by nature an early adopter myself- I paid $1500 for a SACD/DVD player because I though high resolution audio was the future...then I-Pod and mp3 killed high quality sound. I just had a feeling that Blu-Ray was going to win despite Sony's track-record (Beta, DAT, Mini-Disc, SACD).

Until the majority of US homes are connected to fiber optics, we will have physical media for hd content (until then, bandwidth issues).
 
Yeah the FIRST Apple TV was a giant flop...Jobs admitted as much at his last keynote. They released an update this week for HD movies/Rentals it'll be huge...just wait.
smokin.gif
 
don't wait for it go Internet... Get whatever you want now and upgrade later... I have ps3, directtv both plugged to wifi and networked to my pc using orb.com... Its cool, but still many years away before it can even come close to bluray... I also had the appletv, but sold it... Not really into iTunes that much... I only use it for my iPhone...

Ps... Hddvd players will be a lot cheaper... I got a toshiba at walmart for $90 a couple of months ago... I hate it... It takes forever to set when you turn it on... I have to wait like 2 minutes standing in front of it after I turn it on just to open it and put the disk in...
 
Blu Ray discs hold more data. They are also more expensive. The players are much more expensive. Microsoft really screwed up not making every Xbox 360 an HD DVD player as well. Sony, in comparison, made the PS3 one of the best Blu Ray players on the market.
 
I dunno why there is the perception of Blu-Ray superiority. I have a dual format drive and its still impossible to see the difference. If anything HD-DVD has utilized its space much better for extras. It is also a more polished format and is/was on about to release discs with the same capacity as Blu-Ray. Blu in its current state is supposed to offer slightly superior sound, but I'm not an audiophile and can't hear the difference in the new sound formats though they are superior to DVD sound(I'm aware of the PC SPDIF limitations which is why I use analog outs.). I think Blu has some things going for it:

- Studio support. The obvious killer
- More aggressive marketing campaign(Toshiba blew this)
- Is built in a video game console(Microsoft could have helped HD-DVD in this fashion as well but I think they have bigger plans with their downloading service)

otherwise, both do 1080p and Blu-Ray costs more. I think the writer situation is debatable as they haven't even gained moderate success here in the states. I think its all about perception. People see HD-DVD as the cheaper, lesser alternative, when in actuality in their current, and foreseeable states, HD-DVD was the cheaper, equal alternative. I can see why the HD-DVD only advocates are passionate about it. Its a great format that makes sense.

I still think downloads could surpass both in a quick period of time. I'm starting to sway from that camp though, as I think CE companies simply don't get it. The equipment is almost there, but no knows it. There are even tvs with built in extenders, but who knows it? Xbox Live and Apple TV have excellent HD download services, but both have such a hard time with the rules which are based disc based recording that they don't include the large HDDs that once could use to store these movies. Its a shame. The consumer continues to lose and doesn't even know it.
 
$148 is way too expensive. The retail price for the HD-DVD player is $129.99 in stores. Also, Amazon unloaded a ton on these players for $75 during a (Tobias) FIRE....sale! (Tobias) If you paid $148 for one today then you got the shaft. Search it on Google News because I'm too tired to get a link for you.
 
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