Just like beta tape players...yeah right. I wish that was the case because I've got two of 'em!

Yeah! Liquidation sale begins.

son of a pup... the movies I REALLY want are all on BD. :'(

No problem. Buy the $129.99 HD-DVD abd I will sell you a converter that allows you to play Blu-ray discs for just $499.95. Original price $899.00

Just let me know. We are backordered by about 26 weeks, but send the cash and we'll let you know when we can ship!

David
www.EventVideoTeam.com

TheHappyFriar

Check this out:

Amazon Blu-ray Titles Up to 53% Off, Blu-ray Discs as Low as $14.99

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&plgroup=1&docId=1000186951&plpage=1&tag=bluraynews-20

Content is the king.

see, go to that page & there is 5th Element for $15. Grrrrrrrrrrr! :D

Been buying most of my Hi-Def discs from Amazon for awhile. They have had the best prices for two years. Those prices are roughly what they have been selling them for anyway. Placed an order a few days ago for around $160 worth of HD DVDs.

If you like the movie and have the player and plan to buy a Hi-Def version of the movie anyway does it matter which format you own it in? It will play in Hi-Def the two times you end up watching it, won't it?

Also, I bought an HD-A2 for $98 when Walmart had that deal before Christmas. Had an A1 for more than a year before that. The A2 goes on the road with me to upscale my SD DVD creations for demo purposes. The HD DVD movies in Walmart that day were $14.95 (a large selection of them). The player also came with five free HD DVDs (through Toshiba). So where was waste of money on that $98 deal??
It upconverts SD DVDs amazingly (if they are good ones) and as you can tell from my other post, I'm not that impressed with most of the Hi-Def discs anyway in either format. IMO, they aren't worth the money.
Cost is the key here. If Blu-Ray players start going for $98 - $129 and the discs fall to an average of $15 people will make the switch in an honest fashion instead of the way they are trying to do it by dirty deals to wipe out the competition instead of good old fashioned price competition as Toshiba tried to do. Those tactics (I think) won't work on the consumer and shouldn't IMO.

And by the way, Amazon was selling the HD-A3 for $159 with free shipping before Christmas with twelve free HD DVDs. And it wasn't a "fire sale". Right now they are selling it for $147.33 with free Ground shipping and the five free discs from Toshiba. With shipping, the Tiger Direct deal you posted comes to $145.39 for Ground shipping.

John

@John:
If you like the movie and have the player and plan to buy a Hi-Def version of the movie anyway does it matter which format you own it in?

================

Yes, it DOES!

You don't have Fifth Element on HD DVD, and you will NEVER will.

You will NEVER have FOX or Disney movies on HD DVD.

And by the end of this year you will not have any movie on HD DVD.

Yes, it DOES!

You don't have Fifth Element on HD DVD, and you will NEVER will.

You will NEVER have FOX or Disney movies on HD DVD.

And by the end of this year you will not have any movie on HD DVD
==================
Great, one of the fifteen guests that comes to my Home Theater every weekend brings his Playstation 3 and the latest Blu-Ray movies he owns. If he has Fifth Element we'll watch it and enjoy it just like all the other Blu-Ray exclusive discs he brought over. He also enjoys the HD DVD exclusives he has seen at our house. He also likes the SD DVD discs upscaled he has watched at our house.
If I like the Fifth Element enough to watch it endlessly I'll pick it up the SD version used from Blockbuster or eventually in the Walmart $5 bin and be perfectly happy in three years when I forget what it was about and want to watch it again upscaled. Or, our good friend can bring the Blu-Ray version over to the house again if we suddenly can't bear the thought of watching The Fifth Element unless it is in Hi-Def.
Or I'll play the $5.00 Blu-Ray version on my $50 Blu-Ray player if they want to survive.

Last week there were 17 people over to the home theater so I took a survey:
1. How many of you want to watch an HD DVD movie this week?

2. How many of you want to watch a Blu-Ray movie this week?

3. How many of you want to watch an SD DVD movie upscaled this week?

4. Other


They all answered "other" and wrote this in the space:

John, what have you been drinking?

John

it's kind of easy for me: I lost my ENTIRE DVD collection (minus ~5 titles). Lost all AV equipment too. So I have nothing. nada. zippo. The movies I do buy I normally end up watching ~5 times at year, at least. Let's not get started on kids movies... (there is no limit to the # of times a child can watch their favorite movie).

So for $15 for the DVD & $15 for the hi-def disc, the decision is the player. Don't know why, but disc prices seem to be falling faster then BD player prices. In store anyway.

So if I got fifth element for BD, I'd be watching it ~5 times over the next twelve months. At least. It's one of my favorite movies. But I don't have a HD player. Got the TV with two hdmi in's but very little use for them (have a LG upscaling DVD, but that's it. Get TV over antenna).

If there was a combo-unit for $300, I'd buy it right now. If I could get a player for $150 each I'd most likely pick that up too. But there isn't & I don't want to buy a DVD of a movie for the same price as the HD version.

Really, I've owned 4 copies of Aliens: theatrical VHS, "directors cut" VHS, theatrical DVD & the 9 disc set. I got the first three for ~$5 each & the 4th was a gift, but I would never PAY $15+ for all those.

it's kind of easy for me: I lost my ENTIRE DVD collection (minus ~5 titles). Lost all AV equipment too. So I have nothing. nada. zippo.
==============
I am really sorry to hear that Steve. That must have been really upsetting.

John

not really, I got to get a new TV out of the deal. Went from a 70's ~30" color monitor to a 32" HDTV. :D

The insurance covered pretty much everything, so now I can get a better copy of fifth element, etc. :D But now it's "BD or DVD with extra features" as my original had nothing extra (first printing of the movie on DVD)

New pricing and new marketing stradegy from Toshiba.... pretty bloody good... but too little too late????

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-14-2008/0004735440

I was prepared to let HD DVD go, but at these prices I may pick up another machine and some movies (Amaozn's got a great movie sale going on... a few BD's but almost ALL the hd dvd's)

New pricing and new marketing stradegy from Toshiba.... pretty bloody good... but too little too late????
======================
Competing through lower price marketing has been Toshiba's "strategy" all along. That is why they sold so many players before Christmas. That is what competition is all about as far as the average consumer is concerned. Monopoly never benefits the consumer. Only competition does.

John

I read the news announcement from Toshiba a little differently. To me it said in plain language: UP YOURS BOZORAY!

What the point in BozoRay anyways, there isn't any real support for it Vegas 8 as we all know, and probably never will be.

BigRockies.com Your Home in the Rockies!

I thought this was pretty clever:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=friS4OOcdgQ

There is some textual profanity in the clip, but amusing nonetheless.

John that was hilarious. Thank you!

Yah vol.
JJK