Amazon: $129 Toshiba HD-A3 with 7 HD DVDs and free shipping
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Jan 18th 2008 6:51AM
posted Jan 18th 2008 6:51AM
[Thanks, Andrew]
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They have to clear out the stock, what else are they gonnna do with them?
You can prolly get these for like $50 in a few months.
That's right HD-DVD, cover up your inferiority with more FREE movies.
Maybe if you start giving away two dozen FREE movies and a mini shelf to store them on you'll be half at HOT as Blu-ray.
It's a blowout here on HD-DVD players, movies and whatever else you can find with HD-DVD on it...
Hurry, come on down to CRAZY EDDIE's...
OUR PRICES ARE INSANE!!!!
You look like you have a lot of technological expertise to really see the difference between both format (codecs and everything).
And you're right BluRay is so hot with all its current players that won't be able to play future movies because they will use a new key... really great stuff.
This is why HD video has been spreading so fast for the past 5-7 years..
All "HD DVD vs. Blu-Ray" talk aside, one thing the two format have in common:
Both of their "5 Free Discs" offers SUCK. Look at the movies on those lists. I see maybe 2 or 3 worth watching more than once. Rentals, at most.
Looks like a great deal. I'm still holding out until either format actually wins.
for a hundred and fifty bucks? with 7 dvds?
what are you insane?
shit buy this now.. and sucker it up and buy a blu-ray player IF blu-ray wins..
i still prefer HD-DVD and i think it was a d!ck move by sony to back blu-ray ( not to mention moronic and costly )
all because they hate toshiba and Microsoft?
@your_boring
You have *no* idea then about HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.
"i think it was a d!ck move by sony to back blu-ray ( not to mention moronic and costly ) all because they hate toshiba and Microsoft?"
Well, it was actually sony who first developed the HD disc for the consumer market many years ago. HDTV had been popular and out in Japan for a while but there was no medium for it, hence where it all started. They gathered the support of nearly all major manufactories too if you had not noticed. Its NOT a sony-only product.
It was actually Tosh who broke away (right choice of words?) from Blu-Ray to form HD-DVD along with Microsoft who wanted to use their iHD software or something.
Id reccomend you actually read up on something before you make sweeping statements.
My idiot brother is still holding onto his Beta in case it finally wins the VCR war....
@your_boring@hotmail.com
Blu-ray tech has been around since 2001 in Japan, with the Sony BDZ-S77. Long before Toshiba even had the idea of HDDVD. In my book it was Toshiba who made a "dick move" by not working with the technology that was already there.
Can anyone say "closeout"?
If this isn't a Death Rattle then I dunno what is!!
HDDVD can still win if the drop the players to like $50 and have the studios that are still with them do combo DVD/HDDVD disks. Throw in a ton of advertising and they would have a huge jump in market share. They would lose a boat load of cash but that is probably there only chance to win.
HAHAHAHAH
Fanboyism is INCREDIBLE.
HDDVD has basically loaded a single bullet into a gun and put the gun to its head and you think they can probably do better later on....
THERE IS NO LATER. BLU RAY WINS.
Flashpoint's comment screams irony, as he has rarely been positive towards HD DVD, but heaven forbid he sees you make fun of Bluray.
Guinnis...
I believe, man...I believe...
Laserdisc still rocks, who cares about Blurayz, hmph!
"umm earth to matilda" ( zoolander reference.. sorry lol )
HD-DVD still have a higher market share at the moment hate to break it to you.
@your_boring@hotmail.com
"HD-DVD still have a higher market share at the moment hate to break it to you."
Your an idiot.
blu-ray is outselling HD-DVD in most if not all territories.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_high_definition_optical_disc_formats#Sales_data
If your gonna make wild claims at least back them up.
I think $99.99 is the magic price point. If they get the player down to this price permanently in retail shops they will enter the general consumer market and our enthusiast (fanboy) opinions won't matter. The question is will they do it in time.
If you look back in Flashpoint's comments, he's almost always negative ranked. The dude is a freaking idiot.
I agree with the first poster though. The whole high definition optical disc is stagnant. People aren't buying like the marketing guys thought they would. Quite frankly, who cares who wins? Microsoft did their job by confusing the marketplace, further ensuring digital downloads win.
ssuk, it also screams hypocrisy.
I also agree that HD-DVD can still win here. I hate all these fanboys who think its over, but really, thats all they are; fanboys.
I don't even understand how anyone in their sane mind could actually want Blu-Ray to become the standard of optical media- its ridiculous.
Zues
I agree with you, but I do want to see more blu-ray burners and discs. In file storage, it's all about disc space.
For HD movies, either format has enough capacity to store the movie and some other stuff, so it's really inconsequential. It's price and DRM that's more relevant to that fight.
HD-DVD will never be able to 'win' if it can't get support from all the studios. It's just not going to happen no matter how low the players get and how many people buy them. If the player owners can't go to the store and find the titles they want for their player - the format has lost. I think it will be a lot easier for Paramount and Universal to make the change to Blu-Ray than to get all the other studios (and they'll never get Sony) to switch to HD-DVD.
I have an HD-DVD player and I've seen the lack of selection when looking for movies. I'm now planning on getting a Blu-Ray player. I'll be holding onto my Toshiba, but the Laserdisc player will be leaving my rack to make room for a Blu-Ray player (no,I'm not making that up). Tax refund = PS3 for me.
It's over - case closed. HD-DVD lost out. Come next Christmas, HD-DVD will be a dead format.
Hmmm...it's sad, it's really sad! I feel for them...not! Well the only good thing about the sorting out of the so-called "format war" is that at least it should be done before the average consumer starts to really get into high definition dvd's, then what a mess it would be. People made a big deal about the "format war", but it only effects tech junkies like us (even though I was blu-ray from the start
Well, I'm kind of disappointed that it seems to have worked out with HD-DVD "dying" like this. I was hoping both formats would stick around, and we'd all just end up buying combo players. Eventually, one of the formats would demonstrate itself to be technically superior and would become the de-facto "preferred" format. As it stands now, I really don't think there's been enough time for the market to make that determination.
Someone here and around China can hack that to play Blu-Ray.
Hell. Yes.
Keep slashing those prices! The war isn't over yet... they can still make Blu Ray players cheaper!
HD-DVD isn't dead however this is great news for us technophiles as the price war is going to make it so that at the end of the day... we will have to pay less for the same thing.
If only both formats would've worked together to make a unified format in the beginning all the people sitting back waiting for someone to "win" (including myself) would've jumped in along with the early adopters and sales for hi-def dvd's and players would be alot more brisk. Yea sure the prices might have been higher at the start with no competition, but like everything else, the prices would level out like cd's and dvd's have. They really need to just skip the disc format altogether and go strictly streaming or downloading...we all know thats the future. I'd actually like to have a box where I can stream first run movies to my big screen. I would have no problem paying a premium for that! Not having to worry about crying babies and people talking.....priceless!
Costco has the HD-D3 (same as HD-A3) for $129.99 also....
I'm sad to see HD DVD losing. I don't think people have grasped what we have entrusted Sony with - the king of invasive DRM, rootkits and custom formats that hinder the user experience (DAPs), misleading advertising (PSX). We're letting it take the next major disc format... Judging by how Sony has been in the past, it's only a matter of time until it does something stupid with this format.
I like bluray, just not the company behind it.
I know I'll get flamed for this, but I cannot support bluray simply due to the business behind it.
For the gazillionth time: SONY =/= BLU-RAY.
Some people just don't *want* to get that, apparently.
HOW COULD ANY LOGICAL PERSON EXPECT HDDVD TO WIN?
#1 Blu Ray has the higher potential storage capactity. That in itself killed HDDVD in a side by side comparison.
#2 SONY put Blu Ray drives in the PS3. PS3 allowed BR to have instantaneous market penetration. For God's Sakes, they sold out their entire inventory of PS3's within the first 3 weeks.
Had Microsoft put any faith in HDDVD they woulda loaded the 360 with an HDDVD drive and an HDMI port. Of course, after XBOX1 was a "loss leader" for 90% of its fiscal quarters Microsoft got cheap and decided to make EVERY SINGLE EXTRA FEATURE AN ADD -ON...especially the Hard Drive.
Microsoft backed HDDVD and in making a flawed business decision, they KILLED IT IN ONE SWOOP.
It was all down hill from there.
L, Sony MAKES Bluray, as a result, they are forced to back their own format, so yes. Sony = Bluray. Just because big movie companies are signed up to it doesn't mean they somehow have some stake in Bluray, they're just using the medium to distribute home entertainment.
@ssuk: Matsushita(panasonic), Pioneer, Philips, Thomson, LG Electronics, Hitachi, Sharp, Samsung, and Sony are all members of the blu-ray disc association. its not just sony =\
Blu-ray Disc was started by Hitachi, LG, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, and Thomson in February 19, 2002, with Panasonic, Sony, Pioneer, and Philips as the back-bone of the foundation.
Sony is just one piece of the puzzle.
Among the movie studios, Blu-ray Disc is currently exclusively supported in the United States by Sony Pictures Entertainment and MGM as well as Disney, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema and Lionsgate, representing over 70% of home video marketshare.
HD-DVD's demise is inevitable.
@mattyuk,
Do you use CDs? Sony was behind CDs. How about camcorders, personal stereos (walkman, basically, portable music), etc. I'm sure you own a DAP of some sort.
It would be interesting to see how you would live without some of the stuff that Sony has come up with, including the logic chips that go into lots of electronics, DSPs that go into audio equipment and phones, etc.
Don't let it get to you, ssuk. Sony knows their public image with regard to formats and DRM is bad. They don't want to publically 'own' the blu-ray format even though politically they do.
Yes there are other companies involved. But anyone here not paid by Sony that thinks Blu-Ray isn't Sony's baby are just kidding themselves.
Blu-Ray, with BD+ has the most invasive DRM of any physical format ever unleashed on the market. Sony hasn't activated/used half of what the Blu-Ray DRM is capable of. They don't want to cause problems in the marketplace while there is still a chance of competition. But once Blu-Ray stands alone, be afraid. Be very afraid.
It is the most anti-consumer DRM you can get on a retail physical format. It is no wonder the most anti-consumer studios are all backing it.
Argh, Europeans are being ripped off, as usual. Cheapest Toshiba player is still €180 here, but you get a coupon for 7 movies.
Precisely.
HD-DVD should give up on the US and give the rest of us these amazing deals.
A HD-DVD player with 7 movies for £65? They'd take the UK in a week.
I think we have more chance of hell actually freezing over...
$129.99? The same 'deal' costs us Brits £149.99! Thats around $280-300 depending on where you get your dollars. What a jip!
The downfall of HD-DVD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=friS4OOcdgQ
My apologies to anyone offended by the subject matter, but the subtitles are hilarous (and must have taken some time).
Apparently you aren't familiar with Godwin's Law:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law
"a good rule in most discussions is that the first person to call the other a Nazi automatically loses the argument."
720p/1080i?
that isnt HD is it!?? maybe they meant 1080P?
nah, i've read it a couple times, it clearly means 720p/1080i
No, the most HD-DVD can output is 1080i. Blu-Ray can do 1080p. Of course, not many people can even see the difference between the two...
Incorrect, Big Wizz. The HD-A3 can only output 720p/1080i. Step up to the HD-A30 and you have 1080p support. This has nothing to do with the HD-DVD spec.
Also, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p are all HD resolutions.
yeah i understand that they are all HD.
but the main gist of HD DVD and BLU-RAY is to give you 1080p, isn't it?
No, Bob, the reason for Blu-Ray and HD-DVD is to provide high definition content at home, on a high definition television.
That does not specifically mean 1080p, that means 720p, 1080i, and 1080p.
yeah i understand that
so all BR = 1080P
but not all HD DVD = 1080p............correct?
my point is people want it for the full/maximum functionality, while this dvd player is a good price at 130$, it isnt really a comparison to blu-ray because it isnt 1080p, and thus, quite lame!
No...
Blu-Ray: All 720p, 1080i, and 1080p compatible.
HD-DVD: All 720p, 1080i, and 1080p compatible.
Its the player that makes the difference, not the disc. Both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray use the same codecs, and the only real differences are the costs, a very slight difference in bitrates, and DRM, aside from studio support.
Any HD-DVD can play any HD resolution, same as Blu-Ray.
Also, I would like to add that you obviously don't know much about either HD format.
1080p and 1080i resolutions look almost exactly the same, only 1080i can be played on televisions capable of 720p, which is where the real value of the player and TV combo comes in.
Of course the REAL problem with this SPECIAL deal is that "The Bourne Identity" is not worth watching at ANY resolution at ANY price.
you must be smoking crack
I whole-heartedly concur on the crack smoking assumption.
The Bourne series is awesome.
Maybe you're right. I received the Bourne series of books and the first two movies as Christmas gifts a couple of years ago. The books were boring, repetitive, and poorly written, with dialog that was very unrealistic and, at times, just plain stupid.
I must have been smoking crack because I endured all three books, and then still took the time to watch the movies. Despite the fact that the plots of the movies have only a passing resemblance to those of the books, they were just as bad. (I admit that the dialog in the movies was not as bad.)
I have one more book by Robert Ludlum, but it is not part of the Bourne series. I received it at the same time as the others. After my experience with those first books, this last book has remained unopened.
The Bourne series was highly entertaining I thought.
HURRY! HURRY! HURRY!
EVERYTHING *MUST* GO!
FIRE!
Firesale.
Hahah desperation in the toshiba camp :D
hd dvd is dead! really dead
Yeah, anything that is the number 1 seller on amazon is truely and utterly dead.
That makes no sense.
You fanboys don't think that studios are going to notice if toshiba drops 200k or more players into people's homes over the next month?
Andy, the point is that this is so cheap that it's a joke. It's not Toshiba subsidizing players any more, it's about them cutting their losses and shifting stock while they still can.
Still, it probably works out as a good bargain if you were in the market for an upscaling DVD player with a few free movies thrown in. The HD DVD format looks like its done for though.
darnit. i pair 133.58 just four days ago (with seven free dvds) from amazon.
darn it all to heck
i can't believe they've dropped it four entire dollars.
oh the humanity
Amazon has a 30 day price protection so you can call or email them for a credit of the difference for up to 30 days after the purchase. That means if it drops again, you can get another adjustment.
Wow, HD-DVD has really hit rock bottom.
thats a good deal just for the 7 DVD's ( at least in aus )
Wow, HD-DVD has really hit rock bottom.
thats a good deal just for the 7 DVD's ( at least in aus )
seems like a going out of business sale to me !
in a year everything will be released on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD will be a thing of a past. which means if u pick these up today u will most likely have to buy a Blu-Ray player in a year anyway, unless you can keep watching the same movies over and over again, lol
Thank God this player doesn't upscale Standard DVD either. With the thousands of DVD titles and almost 400 HD-DVD titles, this will turn into a brick in 3 months. The consumer is better off spending 3 times the amount on a BR 1.1 player right?
Thank God this player doesn't upscale Standard DVD either. With the thousands of DVD titles and almost 400 HD-DVD titles, this will turn into a brick in 3 months. The consumer is better off spending 3 times the amount on a BR 1.1 player right?
out of the 400 movies on HD-DVD, how many are actually worth buying or watching AGAIN ? maybe 30.
what do you do for NEW movies ? I'm not talking about new releases of movies tthat have been out for 5 or 10 years. in a few months there will not be a single studio releasing on HD-DVD. and toshiba knows it.
this is why they are dumping their stock on consumers always looking for good deals. except that one isn't. prices alway go down, but at that rate, it is clearly a "get out of the ship before it sinks" sale.
Wait, a business is going out of sale?!
WHICH ONE?!
Digital downloads > stupid format wars when physical media is on its way out anyway.
People keep saying digital downloads. I wonder how many people are actually stupid enough to buy movies from Apple, Microsoft, Sony, Amazon or whoever in some DRM'd format. And where do they keep them? What happens if the service dies? What happens if your hard disk dies? What devices do they play on? How do you transfer them to other devices? How long does a 4Gb download take? Do people have the necessary bandwidth and limits? etc.
Until digital downloads are DRM free or unify a single device-wide format I don't see them being desirable over physical media.
I can see the attraction of renting movies through downloads because DRM doesn't matter. I don't see the point for end-users otherwise. Because there is no point.
I don't buy digital downloads (audio or video) for the reasons you describe and because I have a fetishist's appreciation for packaging, but I would rather do that than shell out hundreds of dollars on a new device which may or may not be obsolete in the next couple of years when I already have a several devices that can play a vast library of titles.
Neither Blu-Ray nor HD-DVD is compelling enough to justify the outlay. To me, the picture quality is not enough of a leap over movies upscaled by my DVD player or Xbox 360, and they are not getting content that you can't get from a number of other sources.
The bandwidth isn't there to truly support video downloads, you're right, but when it is, I am sure the movie studios will quickly realise what the music companies did: DRM is pointless, and the best format is the one which the most devices can play (MP3 is becoming the format of choice, and I can't think of a device that can play digital audio but not MP3s - I'm sure once DRM isn't an issue, a similarly universal video format will emerge).
Hopefully they will also address the issues surrounding backing up collections.
Downloads? Not everyone has high enough download speeds for that to succeed. If you considered that a BD movie is about 20 GB in size (without trailers and extras), then think about how long you would need to download that movie. Then where are you going to store that copy? In what format? On what media?
I have a question for the more informed HD DVD owners/supporters.
Why did Toshiba stop production of the XA2 HD DVD Player? Was it not selling well or something?
No sales.
The only thing it really added was RS232 support, which not that many people have anyway.
It was crazy expensive (relatively speaking, because it was the same price as blu ray stand alones) and didn't add anything for most customers.
There just never was a market for it.
The XA2 also has the Silicon Optix Reon upscaling chip. It's probably the best upscaling chipset on the market right now.
I think HD DVD can still win if they can get the price point into the general consumer range fast enough. If think that is under $99.99 in the next couple months. If they can get enough of them in the average consumers before the HD DVD name is trashed completely they will probably win.
PS What is with cross posts to the main site not having cross posted comments?
HD-DVD can definitely still win. I wish these blind fools would realize that.
I just hope they never invest in anything, because they would be homeless.
How can HD DVD possibly win if they only have 2 major studios supplying movies? Sure, Universal and Paramount are huge studios... but I would never buy a device that will only ever play movies from those 2 studios. How much longer do you think they will still be making HD DVD players and movies?
Warner has not left yet. I can't remember exactly when they will stop with HD DVD but I am pretty sure it is the 2nd 1/2 of the year. That why HD DVD need to drop prices now. For the most part the common consumer only see what is in the store. If (and that a big if) HD DVD get enough players out there the studios might change there minds. Throw in enough Blu-ray upgrade horror stories and things might turn around.
Ummm, has Sony won a format ? No, they always charge way too much for everything.(ex. Betamax and Laserdisc)
and Flashpoint, I don't know one person who owns a PS3, I know a lot of people who own 360s, but we won't even get into that, because the numbers speak for themselves.
Laserdisc wasn't a Sony thing - more a Magnavox / Phillips and Pioneer thing.
How is this news? The 7 movie deal has been on since the launch of the A3 and the price is just a few dollars cheaper than it has been in recent days. I mean, it's great for people who want to get into HD, I wish these prices were in effect when I did, but I wouldn't consider this news.
I chose HD DVD, and I realize that now BluRay will win the war. So goes technology. So I'm dumping the discs on half.com, and I'll use the player as an upscaling DVD player for the bedroom or guest room. I do credit the format war with dropping prices quickly, though.
I just checked out the "Top Seller" lists for both the Electronics category, and the DVD category on Amazon.
This discounted HD-DVD player was nowhere to be found in the top sellers for electronics, and in the DVD section, not one of the top 25 selling movies was an HD-DVD. It was 90% DVD, and then the rest Blu-Ray. There wasn't an HD-DVD on the list until spot #28.
People can get an upconverting DVD player for much less than an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player. DVDs are still much cheaper, and EVERY studio supports DVD.
So, for most people, it makes the most sense to buy an $80 upconverting player with HDMI, and continue to buy regular DVDs. It may not be quite up to the quality of the new Hi-Def optical formats, but for the average joe, it's more than enough.
Blu-ray will be the winner, but even that won't happen until prices of players and media are even lower.
If this giant firesale can't even get this HD-DVD player into the top 100 sellers in electronics on Amazon, and can't get any HD-DVD titles into the top 25 on the DVD list, how exactly do people expect HD-DVD to "still be able to win" this format war, especially considering that 70% of all new content that will be released this year will be only on Blu-Ray?
Actually, the A3 is currently #8, which is has been for the last day. The A-35 is #46.
The reason it's not registering under the DVD Top Sellers category is unknown. It's never shown up properly there and Amazon has never fixed the glitch.
Well if you are going to use the trojan horse argument.
1st gen optical: TG-16, genesis, neogeo, 3D0 ps1 etc all had CD drives or add-ons.
2nd gen optical: xbox, PS2 had DVD drives. There's even a GC with integrated DVD drive. Note no one had DIVX drives. Gd rom on DC didn't do so well. Ninty also had proprietary discs on GC...
3rd gen optical: PS3 only with BR. everyone else is currently 2nd gen.
So yeah Sony = Blu Ray like Sony used to = CD and DVD. No one had problems with their format choices in the past but now it's a huge issue being forced down our throats because people are too cheap to pay for quality.
CD and DVD were established formats with a huge installed base when PS2 and XBOX rolled around. It was simply added value for people to have the option.
They weren't trying to establish a new standard like PS3 is with BR.
DVD wasn't as established as you think when the PS2 was released. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIVX.
My point is that Sony consistently and historically has picked the format with the most support and greatest chance of winning.
more hd-dvd/divx parallels here. http://members.shaw.ca/the-doa/Pages/DoaDivxHistory.html
All that said I see your point as in a way you are arguing mine.
Just a quick note to Canadian consumers looking to buy an HD DVD player on the cheap, Best Buy has the A3 going for 169.99 Canadian.
Add Sega Saturn to the 1st gen opti list. How could I forget!
Plain old DVD crushes both Blue Ray and HD-DVD in sales. Why? most people don't own a screen that can play in HD resolution. Not only that, The movies on DVD look "good enough" for the majority of viewers. I think it's going to be several more years before DVD is put out to pasture and one of the HD formats takes over.
@ Sporkinum Yes by definition Blu Ray is tied to HD.
Just a quick note to Canadian consumers looking to buy an HD DVD player on the cheap, Best Buy has the A3 going for 169.99 Canadian.
Hit someone's reply button by mistake dammit!
Future Shop has also dropped its prices. Too bad Best Buy's flyer is advertising the HD-A30 at $399 though...