Price, price, price!!!

[hackmeister]

I love my HDTV and was just waiting for the price of HD-DVD players to fall below the $200 line. I was ready to pickup an A2 from Walmart for $99 but wasn't lucky enough to get one. I saw the $159 deal on Amazon on Black Friday for the A3 (+10 movies) and pulled the trigger. It was just too good to pass up. My player is slated for delivery today. I can't wait. I have nothing against Blu-Ray but it 's just so damn expensive. Why should anybody pay $300+ when the can get the same for $200 or less?? The only negative is that no Disney titles are available on HD-DVD. Hopefully that will change once the war is over.

[rmoody]

Congratulations, you will enjoy it, I have enjoyed my A2 immensely as my bank account can tell you. There is plenty of great movies on HD to keep you busy without the BD exclusives. Don't forget to update the firmware once you get it connected. Welcome to HD!

[Liqwid]

Originally Posted by hackmeister

I love my HDTV and was just waiting for the price of HD-DVD players to fall below the $200 line. I was ready to pickup an A2 from Walmart for $99 but wasn't lucky enough to get one. I saw the $159 deal on Amazon on Black Friday for the A3 (+10 movies) and pulled the trigger. It was just too good to pass up. My player is slated for delivery today. I can't wait. I have nothing against Blu-Ray but it 's just so damn expensive. Why should anybody pay $300+ when the can get the same for $200 or less?? The only negative is that no Disney titles are available on HD-DVD. Hopefully that will change once the war is over.

I love my A2, and my family loves it, but they still haven't bought into it because they don't have a HD set. My father hinted that he may be getting a nice new Plasma or LCD, so.. I jumped on the $199 deal, when it started, and got the $0.99 gift wrapping option for my dad. Hey... $199.99, with 5 and 5 more via rebate free movies on the spot with gift wrapping was just too awesome to pass up.

Disney has voted for the TL (triple layer) 51GB HD DVD format spec and the TL Twin disc (Two 15GB layers (30GB) and one 4.5GB or so layer for a standard DVD, or, I suppose, the other way around (one 15GB layer and a DVD-9 layer), so there could be HD DVD in their future. One never knows. Also, currently, you can buy one Disney (although a Walden Media film) movie at the moment that's Disney owned, and that's "The Bridge to Terabithia", but it's only available through import. And more may be available in the future ("The Chronicles of Narnia" or other hits).

The steep price of BD is the only reason I haven't bought into it... well... that and the incomplete specs. I'll wait until BD Live is finally implemented in every player, then I'll talk about going neutral.

[redfirebird2008]

Originally Posted by hackmeister

I love my HDTV and was just waiting for the price of HD-DVD players to fall below the $200 line. I was ready to pickup an A2 from Walmart for $99 but wasn't lucky enough to get one. I saw the $159 deal on Amazon on Black Friday for the A3 (+10 movies) and pulled the trigger. It was just too good to pass up. My player is slated for delivery today. I can't wait. I have nothing against Blu-Ray but it 's just so damn expensive. Why should anybody pay $300+ when the can get the same for $200 or less?? The only negative is that no Disney titles are available on HD-DVD. Hopefully that will change once the war is over.

The $160/10 free deal is actually better than the $100/5 free deal, so congrats on joining HD movies and congrats on getting a great deal!

[rrr925]

hackmeister, you beat me to the words: price, price, price!!! and i'll say to sony: it's the price, stupid!!!

[LittlemanTAMU]

Originally Posted by rrr925

hackmeister, you beat me to the words: price, price, price!!! and i'll say to sony: it's the price, stupid!!!

I totally agree with this. It's why I went red today. Amazon dropped the HD-A30 to ~$250 and with the 10 free deal the price was even sweeter. I liked all the free HD DVD deals that were going around since, with the exception of one movie on the mail-ins, I would've gotten all the ones I'm getting for free at least eventually. I was just waiting for a newer-gen 1080p player to drop to $250 or below. Thanks Amazon!

[StarkyLuv]

Price is going to get a LOT of people to jump when they wouldn't have previously.

Too bad the studios are divided..that's why price is so important. And attaching the free discs with the players will do well to get them hooked on HD movies and thus buy more.

2008 will be so key because so many big movies will be HD DVD exclusive (good reviews wouldn't hurt)

Cloverfield
Wanted
The Incredible Hulk
Spiderwick Chronicles
Iron Man
Star Trek
Kung-Fu Panda
The Mummy III

It's going to be a VERY interesting year....

[Satans Puppet]

Originally Posted by hackmeister

The only negative is that no Disney titles are available on HD-DVD. Hopefully that will change once the war is over.

I know the Disney thing sucks but some Bluray only titles are making it onto HD-DVD via Germany, France, Holland and Japan.

I got me Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer... Resident Evil 1 & 2, Silent Hill on HD-DVD last month. They may be a little higher on the price scale but from the comparisons SIlent Hill looks better on HD-DVD

May I recommend Batman Begins and Bug (German) - Great little film made by the fella who did The Exorcist, I wasn't expecting much but it's a great film!!

[crazzeto]

Same here, price was the deciding factor as to why I went HD DVD first (only just recently bought a BD player). After having gone HD I was reassured with my choice after learning of the sad state of BD profiles... Just last night I was doubly reassured after playing around with my brand new Samsung BD-P1400 (selling for $299) and realizing that the control set up is awkward compared to what HD DVD has out there.

[crazzeto]

Originally Posted by Satans Puppet

I know the Disney thing sucks but some Bluray only titles are making it onto HD-DVD via Germany, France, Holland and Japan.

I got me Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer... Resident Evil 1 & 2, Silent Hill on HD-DVD last month. They may be a little higher on the price scale but from the comparisons SIlent Hill looks better on HD-DVD

May I recommend Batman Begins and Bug (German) - Great little film made by the fella who did The Exorcist, I wasn't expecting much but it's a great film!!

There are some (few though) Disney titles you can import. The Brothers Grimm for instance... I'll keep my eye out for those HD titles you found... Despite having a BD player, I've found that HD DVD offers a better over all user experience.

[i_like_fishsticks]

I just went Red too for similar reasons. I didn't go Blu due to price and the thought of my Blu player being obsolete if it can't updrade to new profiles for new discs.

[seigi009]

I went red cause of the price. It was only later that I learned about profiles 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0 for blu-ray. Now I'm really glad I went red.

[hackmeister]

Got my HD-A3 player and the first 5 movies. I also went and picked up Transformers. So far so good. The HD movies look great. Too bad I don't have a nice sound system yet for my HD setup. I really like how most SD movies look upscaled. Some movies look better than others. Starship Troopers looks great upscaled while Braveheart isn't so great.

[Pluvious]

I finally decided to go HD when I heard about the Blade Runner Ultimate set coming out. That and I scored an A3 for $169 at Sears. I wasn't one of the lucky 500 at Amazon to score that deal. I already bought Transformers and Bourne Ultimatum from BB with that BOGO offer.

Wish they would start releasing some better titles then .. Timecop and Catpeople though. Where's all the Alien movies or Sin City?

[J3ST3R]

I hear ya, I'm waiting patiently for New Line to release the Blade Trilogy!

I can't wait to see vampires burst into flames in hi-def!