Best Buy selling Xbox 360 HD DVD player for $149.99
By Donald Melanson 
posted August 1st 2007 11:12AM
posted August 1st 2007 11:12AM
It seems that Microsoft's new $179 price tag for its Xbox 360 HD DVD player just wasn't low enough for Best Buy, as the retailer is now offering the drive for the low, low price of $149.99. Of course, it's currently sold out, and it's not clear if this is a permanent price, a pricing mistake, or a one time sale (although it's not advertised as such). As far as we can tell, Best Buy appears to be the only retailer to offer the further discounted price, though we'll certainly keep an eye out to see if others follow suit.[Thanks, Alex]
Update: Fun's over -- the price is now back to $179 on Best Buy's website. In related news, however, Joystiq has turned up some evidence of a new 360 bundle apparently set to be released on August 12th for $399, which seems likely to include Top Spin 2 as a pack-in.
I must of lucked out! I got it in store for $149 today :)
Price matching is an issue anywhere. Although it expired today, Fry's was bundling *Hellboy* and *Casino Royale* on Blu-ray with a PS3 purchase since this weekend. But Fry's didn't have it on their website and the first BB I went to wouldn't honor the deal.
I can tell you that I am disappointed in *300* so far, when compared to even *Hellboy*. The VC-1 encoding rarely gets above 20+Mbps on the bit rate and truly it looks just a little bit sharper than an Xvid'ed conversion from plain DVD that I've seen. When compared to *Hellboy* at 40+Mbps on the bit rate in AVC goodness, it does not compare at all. Hell - pun intended - the high bit rate trailer for Sony Blu-ray titles encoded in MPEG-2 at the start of the disc looks better than *300* in VC-1.
I'm beginning to think that all the flak on the first release of *The Fifth Element* had to do with Sony not doing the transfer from a virgin film print and not with the shortcomings of MPEG-2. Then again, *300* probably shouldn't be used to judge all VC-1 encoding, although since it is a recent film and a brand new release, I don't think there's any excuse for pixelation and perceived graininess at 1080i. I hope Sir Ridley Scott is insisting that Warners releases the upcoming *Blade Runner* special edition(s) using high bit rate AVC encoding for both the Blu-ray and HD DVD releases, otherwise I think I will be disappointed. It just won't be fair if *Hellboy* looks better than *Blade Runner*.
The HD DVD owners should be insisting from their supporting studios to use AVC since the platform does support it. Question is, will Microsoft allow the format's supporters to dump their VC-1 codec? And can anyone confirm whether HDi/iHD will work with AVC content?
Remember that 300 added in extra grains into the film so it won't look as sharp.
It sucks that the Elite didn't include HD-DVD... this format is going to die soon.
Well, this is funny. We planned to go out for lunch to buy the drive for the new $179.99 price, but noticed this morning that Best Buy was running it for $149.99 (as above). By the time we ate and ended up at Best Buy, talked to the manager that happened to be around and asked if we needed help, the website was back up to $179.99.
Thankfully the manager we were working with was very understanding (maybe he knew?!) and offered to “split the difference” for us to $165.
So, not $149.99 but still less than $179.99! Anyone else have any luck?
doesnt xbox also have a blu-ray add on? i believe i read this. i would keep a close eye on that option as Sony plain and simple has 90% of the industry support and a better product it seems. this holiday season looks like it is gonna be make or break.
ummm no they don't.....microsoft won't be supporting blu ray anytime soon....i don't have a link to the article but they said that somewhere....
Well I believe M$ said in the past that if Blu-Ray ended up being the successor, they would support it.. But as Moore said, he doubts it. I can tell you this, Alot of 360 HD-DVD players have been sold today, believe that!
WHAT I PAID FOR;
360 HD DVD PLAYER: $149.99
300 (THE MOVIE): $34.99
TOTAL WITH TAXES: $200.24
_________________________________________
THE DEAL I GOT;
APOLLO 13: $24.99
CASABLANCA: $24.99
BLAZING SADDLES: $24.99
DUKES OF HAZZARD: $24.99
WE WERE SOLDIERS: $24.99
KINK KONG: $29.99
TOTAL WITH TAXES: $167.72
_________________________________________
$200.24-$167.72= $32.52
7 HD MOVIES AND A HD DVD PLAYER FOR $32.52!!!!
GOD I LOVE MICRO$OFT!!!
LONG LIVE BILL GATES AND LONG LIVE HD DVD!!!!
I called a Best Buy in southern Washington state, and they said that it was $149.99. When I actually showed up, though, it was ringing up for $179.99. But since they had a price tag that said $149.99, and since they quoted me that price on the phone, a manager knocked off $30 from the price. Everyone was incredibly cool about it. It was by far the best Best Buy experience I've ever had.
I never thought of it like that.... thats ill!
Only in US, as always..
Well... for those of you that say hd dvd is dead, I went to all the circuit cities and best buys in my area and I could not find one copy of 300 on hd dvd to save my life. I would like to add that they had enough copies of 300 on blu-ray to build a house with. I own a ps3 and an xbox 360 with the hd dvd attachment and I do have to say that the hd dvd player is much clearer than the blu-ray player. I could have picked up a blu-ray copy although I feel that waiting for a hd dvd copy that I ordered on amazon.com will be totally worth. Hope this helps with anyone who is stuck with this difficult decision in purchasing either or. I don't own any blu-ray movies but I have bought up to 5 hd dvd discs so far and am completely satisfied with the quality. One word.... Amazing and totally worth it!