Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player: A $ 200 Doorstop?
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Edit 2008/01/04: Warner is going Blu-Ray exclusive!
Starting now and in the next few weeks for the holiday seasons, major retail/online vendors will market the Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD Player
Choose a country(US, Canada...) and buy it for less or have a backup HD-DVD player:
 Toshiba HD-DVD Player HD-A2KU with Remote. HDMI  US $5.00
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 TOSHIBA SE-R0252 HD DVD PLAYER REMOTE CONTROL HD-A2 US $9.95
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 Toshiba HD DVD Player Model HD-A2 Dolby Digital Low Start No Reserve US $10.00
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 Toshiba HD DVD Player HD A2 US $10.50
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 Used Toshiba HD-DVD Player (HD-A2KU) w/ 8 HD-DVD movies - as is / no reserve US $10.50
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 HD DVD Player - Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD US $19.99
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Some HD DVD recent news
Kmart will go HD DVD exclusive. That news spread like wild fire but it was only reported here by a Toshiba spoke person. But, Kmart will still sell the Playstation 3(PS3) which is also a Blu-Ray player if your don't already know. They might not keep Blu-Ray movies in stock. I did not see any official news on Kmart/Sears sites. Can anyone point me to an official press release(thanks)? Let's say it's true for argument sakes.
The recent release of Transformers
Blu-Ray Strike Back
The numbers of movie sales of Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD have been widely reported to be in favor of Blu-Ray 2:1. Some weeks are better and some less with the recent Transformers
Blu-Ray will start releasing major movies in the coming weeks including Spider-Man 3 bundle with the $400 Playstation(40GB)
TV commercial are also starting to say: Available on DVD and viewable on the Playstation 3 or something like that.
Warner Home Video may decide has decided to go Blu-Ray exclusive depending on the numbers of the 4th quarter.
Also there was Dan Silverberg, VP of high-definition media for Warner Home Video, which since Paramount’s move to the HD DVD camp is the only studio to support both next-generation formats.
That may not be for long, Silverberg said. “One thing that may be changing is our strategy,” he said. “When both formats launched and hardware prices were high, we made a decision to support both formats and let the consumer decide. But now that hardware pricing is affordable for both Blu-ray and HD DVD, it appears consumers no longer want to decide — so the notion of staying in two formats for the duration is something we are re-evaluating now that we are in the fourth quarter.”
Silverberg noted that Warner has the top-selling Blu-ray title of all time with 300 and is consistently No. 1 or No. 2 in both Blu-ray sales market share and in number of Blu-ray titles in the market.
“We can definitely talk Blu-ray,” he said. “We are committed to the format.”
If Warner do support Blu-Ray only(first quarter of 2008?), the balance would swing back into the Blu-Ray camp leaving Paramount/Dreamworks and Universal in the HD DVD camp. Paramount/Dreamworks have signed for 18 months, now less, of exclusivity with HD DVD. I expect that share holders might decide to pay the penalty to get back into Blu-Ray if they loose to much money. Universal might be in the same boat.
It's no secret that Blu-Ray players are more expansive because they are not sold at a lost, excluding the PS3, like the Toshiba players. That's why Toshiba is the only major manufacturer of standalone HD DVD player unlike Blu-Ray that got Panasonic, Samsung, LG.... That tells me that the other manufacturers are not sold at all on the HD DVD format and believe more in Blu-Ray.
If you do buy or got a HDTV with 1080P then you should buy a 1080P HD player but it will cost more(Toshiba HD-A30 1080p HD DVD Player
If you can pay $100 for the HD-A2(previous generation), then go ahead and buy it. You will have many recent movies to watch but just rent(2 Week Free) them for the next few months. You don't want them to turn into coasters too
But if you only considering it because: it's $200, looking for the longer term and happy with 1080i, then I hope that you did take the good choice but don't expect to play movies from Sony, Fox or Disney:
Spider-Man 3
Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End
Independence Day
Live Free or Die Hard
Cars
Ratatouille
Night at the Museum
The Simpsons Movie
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition)
If it's $100 in Canada, then I might buy one otherwise I don't want to buy a future doorstop
The next few months will be fun to watch and I'm not talking about movies!
n
P.S.
I still don't have a player but I'm mostly in the Blu-Ray camp because of the movies that are only from Blu-Ray studios.
I did not say that the Toshiba player is bad either
I hate that stupid format war because it confused the regular consumer and prolong the acceptance of HD movies
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7 Comments on this post
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ジェイソン (Jason) said:
It’s reasons like this that I’m glad I don’t spend money to own videos anymore. How often do we actually sit down and watch a movie we own? Three … maybe four times? Hardly worth the $40 price tag and shelf space when I can rent a new movie for under three bucks
I’ll be content to rent DVDs until I can get a player that does HD-DVD, BluRay and DVD. Once that happens, maybe I’ll rent HD-DVDs or BluRay movies.
December 13th, 2007 at 5:28 pm -
Steve McGrath said:
You are right. I did not buy a DVD in more than year maybe 2 year and it was a gift, I think.
Now, I have a few titles that I will buy again because they are my favorites. A few are on the list above. I may watch them once a year but most of my actual DVDs will be okay for now. But if I find a BD version at $5 in the special bin, I may buy it.
Of course, when you want to see a movie, you don’t have to get it at the renting place when you own it.
December 13th, 2007 at 5:50 pm -
ジェイソン (Jason) said:
Mhmm. The cost of convenience is an empty wallet
Luckily (?) I have very little downtime, so this means that if my wife and I can get a few hours to sit and relax, we usually have it planned out a day or two in advance. Stopping by the rental shop on the way home isn’t much of a hassle.
December 13th, 2007 at 5:55 pm -
Steve McGrath said:
I bought a PS3 yesterday. Read it here
December 31st, 2007 at 5:04 pm -
Gertrude Hastings said:
What the heck is an HD-DVD? Is that like a Betamax?
December 22nd, 2009 at 11:00 pm
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