And now... Toshiba HD-A3 HD DVD Player For $199 no $99 !!!

jqp · « **on:** 3 Nov 2007, 03:38 am »

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/dealzmodo/toshiba-hd+a3-hd-dvd-player-for-199-318388.php

randytsuch · « **Reply #1 on:** 3 Nov 2007, 04:03 am »

Quote from: jqp on 3 Nov 2007, 03:38 am

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/dealzmodo/toshiba-hd+a3-hd-dvd-player-for-199-318388.php

And, you get 9 free DVD's. Two come with it, you get to pick out two from BB when you buy it, and you get the 5 from Toshiba's mail in rebate.

On a related note, BB was selling the A2 last night for $100 (I think by mistake).
In any case, they appear to be honoring it, but they ran out of A2's, so they are substituting A3's instead. They have sent people emails, stating this.

I am hoping they will do the same for the A2 I ordered this morning from the BB small business site.

Randy

jqp · « **Reply #2 on:** 3 Nov 2007, 04:50 am »

And the two in the box are....300 and The Bourne Identity. I could see people getting a little excited about this.

Papajin · « **Reply #3 on:** 3 Nov 2007, 07:47 am »

Supposedly Sears will be having a Black Friday sale on the A3 for $170 until noon.

http://downloads.bfads.net/BFAds-Sears_2007.pdf

klh · « **Reply #4 on:** 4 Nov 2007, 07:49 am »

Fry's Electronics is selling the A3 for $98.97! It's not advertised but it's priced that way in their computer system... looks like they are trying to one-up Wal-Mart. My guess is this will end for sure by the end of Sunday, if not Saturday. I went in to grab a couple but they were sold out. I then went to Best Buy hoping they would price match (plus the two off the shelf), but they wouldn't. Several other people had already tried that so they knew the Fry's was out of stock. I read on AVS one guy went to a fries and they substituted an XA2 for the A3 when the A3 was out of stock... the Fry's employee actually apologized for only offering a second generation player for $98.97. That is crazy. I wonder what the fallout will be from this weekend. Should be very interesting

klh · « **Reply #5 on:** 4 Nov 2007, 09:08 am »

BTW... it's now 10 free HD-DVDs with the purchase of an HD-DVD player. BB upped the ante and it's now 3 of your choice off the shelf ($34.99 and under) + Bourne Identity and 300 in the box + mail in rebate for 5 additional movies. When you add the A3 to your cart, it's still priced at $198.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?type=category&id=pcmcat135100050035

jqp · « **Reply #6 on:** 6 Nov 2007, 01:52 am »

Wow - this is unbeliveable - now thw A3 for $99 -

I may have a Christmas present even for folks with the "HD-ready" TV's - like my parents!

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/deal/best-buy-replaces-backordered-99-hd-dvd-players-with-newer-model-319261.php

Woodsea · « **Reply #7 on:** 6 Nov 2007, 02:10 am »

oh, yeah. Ain't no reason to go blue-ray, when you can step in for under a hundie. You can buy US exclusive BR on HD-DVD legit by buying Euro and Asian copies through Amazon and others. It is not cheap but reasonable.

zybar · « **Reply #8 on:** 6 Nov 2007, 03:01 am »

Why get so excited about a player that doesn't even pass 1080p?

George

randytsuch · « **Reply #9 on:** 6 Nov 2007, 05:07 am »

Quote from: zybar on 6 Nov 2007, 03:01 am

Why get so excited about a player that doesn't even pass 1080p?

George

Because it's only $98. How else can I get high def, and uncompressed 7.1 audio for less than $100? If there was a 1080p player for anywhere near this price, I would have gone for it, but I would have had to spend a lot more to get that.

I was one of the lucky ones to get in an order with Best Buy for Small Business in, before they stopped taking orders.

At some point today, they changed my order status from an HD-A2 to an A3. For me the differences don't matter (A2 actually has a better optical out, but I am going to use HDMI for audio anyway), but it means I get 300 and Bourne for free, in addition to an HD DVD player

Randy

jonwb · « **Reply #10 on:** 6 Nov 2007, 02:03 pm »

Quote from: zybar on 6 Nov 2007, 03:01 am

Why get so excited about a player that doesn't even pass 1080p?

My, my... is this what its come too? "...doesn't even pass 1080p?" What is this the stone age??? Think of the headaches you'll get watching HD DVD at what 1080i!

I guess its safe to say we're getting spoiled. Why just a few months ago, I remember watching Planet Earth on my (old-school) 720p Panasonic Plasma and thinking what great times we live in. It looked just unbelievable. It gave me a chance to see things in this world that I'd never see in person, in a way that truly looked as real as if you were actually there.

In my HUMBLE opinion 1080p is nothing more than a marketing scheme designed to make people think they need to upgrade (or spend more on) their TV's. I really don't believe its worth paying 1 cent more for a 1080p display unless its for a projector w/ a 10ft+ screen.

miklorsmith · « **Reply #11 on:** 6 Nov 2007, 03:21 pm »

I went to a demo last week at a buddy-HT installer's pimp room. He had a Really Expensive projector to a 15-foot screen and we watched Transformers at about 20 feet back. He said unless you're watching really close on a big screen, 1080 is basically lost. In fact, he said the DVD we were watching was less than 720, and it looked freakin' great.

I don't know jack about this video stuff, just passing along what an "expert" told me.

TomS · « **Reply #12 on:** 6 Nov 2007, 04:05 pm »

Quote from: jonwb on 6 Nov 2007, 02:03 pm

Quote from: zybar on 6 Nov 2007, 03:01 am
Why get so excited about a player that doesn't even pass 1080p?

My, my... is this what its come too? "...doesn't even pass 1080p?" What is this the stone age??? Think of the headaches you'll get watching HD DVD at what 1080i!

I guess its safe to say we're getting spoiled. Why just a few months ago, I remember watching Planet Earth on my (old-school) 720p Panasonic Plasma and thinking what great times we live in. It looked just unbelievable. It gave me a chance to see things in this world that I'd never see in person, in a way that truly looked as real as if you were actually there.

In my HUMBLE opinion 1080p is nothing more than a marketing scheme designed to make people think they need to upgrade (or spend more on) their TV's. I really don't believe its worth paying 1 cent more for a 1080p display unless its for a projector w/ a 10ft+ screen.

I bought my JVC 61" D-ILA just as the Sony SXRD and JVC's had gone to 1080i, but 1080p wasn't ready for prime time, so the A2 will be nice for my "old" setup. Not sure whether BestBuyBusiness is really going to ship mine yet as they haven't responded to my order status requests. Now it says they're "out of stock". Maybe I'll get the deal Randy did on the A3

acresm22 · « **Reply #13 on:** 6 Nov 2007, 04:14 pm »

I hooked up my $98 HD-A2 this weekend and watched a little "Cape Fear" at 480p on my 47" Pan HD RPTV. Looked really great....in fact, one review I found online touted the HD-A2's standard DVD performance as much as its HD capabilities. Am now waiting on a HDMI-to-DVI cable so I can check out its 1080i performance...both from HD-DVD discs and as an "upconverter" for standard DVD.

One thing...the HD-A2 has a fan that's running all the time. Not a big deal, but it is audible when all else is quiet.

zybar · « **Reply #14 on:** 6 Nov 2007, 04:21 pm »

1080p is not simply a marketing tool and the differences are certainly there.

Here is a good article talking about 1080p:

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_1/feature-article-1080p-3-2007-part-1.html

I do agree with the previous posts stating that there are factors that will limit the impact 1080p has:

1. Size of screen and seating distance.

2. Quality of the source material.

3. Quality of the setup (ambinet light, seating angles, etc...)

My line one quip in a previous post was in hindsight a poor choice.

I am not excited about any HD player that doesn't pass 1080p because you are losing quite a bit of information and not taking full advantage of the medium. Furthermore, based on what I have read, I think you can get better picture quality from an upconverting player such as the different Oppo models for roughly the same amount of money.

As always, YMMV.

George

acresm22 · « **Reply #15 on:** 6 Nov 2007, 04:28 pm »

Interesting you bring up the Oppo, George. My sis-in-law was planning to pick up the Oppo 981 (or is it 980?) until the Tosh HD-A2 deal came out...now she's on the hunt for an A2 or A3. It would be interesting to compare the Oppo and the HD-A2(3) as upconverters. As I said in the previous post, the standard 480p performance of the HD-A2 in my setup is very impressive.

zybar · « **Reply #16 on:** 6 Nov 2007, 04:33 pm »

Quote from: acresm22 on 6 Nov 2007, 04:28 pm

Interesting you bring up the Oppo, George. My sis-in-law was planning to pick up the Oppo 981 (or is it 980?) until the Tosh HD-A2 deal came out...now she's on the hunt for an A2 or A3. It would be interesting to compare the Oppo and the HD-A2(3) as upconverters. As I said in the previous post, the standard 480p performance of the HD-A2 in my setup is very impressive.

The Oppo has received universal praise and I own a few of them and agree with the reviews.

Look at how highly rated the Oppo is in this ranking:

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=all&type=&manufacturer=0&maxprice=0&deInt=0&mpeg=0

George

acresm22 · « **Reply #17 on:** 6 Nov 2007, 04:52 pm »

Yeah, the Oppo is rated highly, but so is the Tosh HD player. And having owned several players with macroblocking issues (which makes them almost unwatchable, IMHO), I'd be hesitant to buy the Oppo based on this benchmark test. Watching the HD-A2 this weekend, I saw no macroblocking issues at all...

samplesj · « **Reply #18 on:** 6 Nov 2007, 05:06 pm »

I sold a Denon 3910 when I bought my A1 because it was so close in terms of upsampling.

Zybar/George can you please provide some sort of reference for the claim that 1080i is losing quite a bit of information?

HD media stores movies at 1080p24hz. If you don't have a 1080p24hz display (just 1080p60hz) then it could very well be a wash picture quality wise from 1080i and 1080p60hz since NEITHER is the source resolution. Most 1080p displays actually have decent deinterlacers so 1080i isn't much worse (if at all) when compared to 1080p60hz.

I do have a 24hz display and to be honest I'm not sure that I see a much at all of a picture quality difference between my 1080i HD-A1 and my 1080p24hz PS3. Both are vastly superior to standard DVD upsampled by the A1 (which was neck and neck with the 3910 on my old 720p BenQ so it is a good upsampled picture).

I don't understand paying MORE for a machine that while it might (and I really doubt it) slightly edge out an A2 or A3 on upsampling, can't even play the HD media AT ALL!

If you want 1080p buy a PS3 (blu) or XA2 (HD DVD). The XA2 has the Reon chip in it so I doubt the oppo can even compete ($500-600 fluxes rapidly but was $499 at Crutchfield this weekend). Yes they are more than the oppo, but they aren't outclassed in ANY aspect and play HD media. The A30 and A35 are also 1080p and they run in the $300-400 range on Amazon.

EDIT: And don't forget that both the A2 and A3 qualify for 5 FREE HD DVD movies and furthermore the A3 has 2 in the box already (300 and a Bourne).

ctviggen · « **Reply #19 on:** 6 Nov 2007, 05:26 pm »

Here's a thread on the whole 1080i/1080p debacle:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=921403

Supposedly, a 1080p machine can create 1080p from 1080i, but I think this depends on the rate at which this is done.