CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

MYoung · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 369 Location: Madison, WI

Yep, free market, not yours in WI. Not mine either! I suppose it's just a matter of time before players for sale on eBay, etc. reflect this price drop. There have gotta be people buying players just for the purposes of selling the promos and player seperately and for profits. So do you have to choose from a list when selecting your promos? I remember when I got my first DVD player 2/3 of the promos were crap. Then again, a good 2/3 of all HD DVD and BluRay titles are crap. I'm really beginning to think that renting makes much more sense than owning. How many HD DVDs have you all watched twice? Life is too short to watch a purchased movie enough times to get your money worth! Alas, I say that having bought maybe 10 titles already.

I wonder how much of a boost this will give the HD DVD numbers in the format war. This really could not have come at a better time, just before the Christmas season. If only they'd deep discount HD DVD titles too! Oh, and actually come out with movies worth seeing!

NateTTU · Joined: 14 Feb 2007 Posts: 297

Unfortunately I stalled too long and couldn't hop onto this A2 deal. All the local Wally Worlds are sold out, how does the Xbox 360s HD drive compare to the a2? I would have to somehow swap out my current "old" system for one of the new ones with hdmi out. I would need to use the optical out and have a receiver capable of decoding dts and dd but I wonder if I could still get any of the higher audio codecs out from this player.

Moose · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 788 Location: Minnesota

papalek · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 1536 Location: Longs SC

I just bought one.

My store has about 6 left. Send me the cash and I will buy it and ship it to you if you wish. But better act quick or they will be all gone.

AvgOrdinaryGuy · Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 10:06 pm Post subject:

You guys have been tempting me all day to go see if my local store has one of these. There are 8 stores withing 30 minutes, but I don't really want one of these players. It just seems like too good of a deal to pass up, though. Is the deal today only? The web link just says "while supplies last, limit 10 players per store." Does that mean if I look for one this week-end, or Monday even, I might still find one for this price? I doubt that many people around here are aware of what HD-DVD is, let alone this secret sale.

whats6x7 · Joined: 04 Oct 2006 Posts: 5924

I got mine. WooHoo!

JustGreg · Joined: 07 Mar 2006 Posts: 3098 Location: Kenosha, WI

Tom.W · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 6635

WanMan · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 10270

Greg, I searched the Walmart website this morning and couldn't find it online. In fact, everytime I tpyed in 'hd dvd' or even toshiba it brought up Sony BDP-300 and a panasonic bd player and not a single HD DVD player.

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

I'm still out of the country but a friend picked one up for me, so I'm in the HDDVD party. The A2 will go very nicely with my Moome external box, which is due within a week or so. <<insert happy dance>> Smile

Pretty crapola collection of freebie disks, though. Any idea if there's some way to trade them anywhere?

How about some discussion on the best of the freebies? Here's what I'm thinking:
Group A: Aeon Flux got panned, the Italian Job looks OK but why own in HD? Babel is supposed to be good, so I guess that's what I'll get.
Group B: The Hulk is OK, but I might have to go for Pitch Black.
Group C: Uh. Johnnie Depp does Michael Jackson -- no thanks. So no C&tCF for me. Swordfish, yawn. I'm not much of a war-movie fan but FMJ is supposed to be classic.
Group D: Rottentomatoes.com says Firewall is a yawner. Peter Jackson did The Frighteners, but horror movies don't interest me. Rattle and Hum isn't the greatest concert movie but it looks like the best choice in this group.
Group E: Darkman is a better movie than Troy or Black Rain, but why own it in HD !?

Any comments on my choices? Any hidden gems I'm missing?
Gary

dbaisey · Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 2:59 am Post subject:

Well it says 'Secret in store specials' so most likely you have to actually go there and very early. Some said 1 to a customer but others walked out with 3 or more. Some stores only had 3 and others had 20. 'While supply lasts' was also noted. Doug

whats6x7 · Joined: 04 Oct 2006 Posts: 5924

OK, I give up. I bought one of these from Wally World. How do I get free HD-DVDs?

Oops. Found it online. Disregard. My Walmart had about 20 of these HD-DVD players. I bought mine at 5pm and there were still plenty on the shelves.

JustGreg · Joined: 07 Mar 2006 Posts: 3098 Location: Kenosha, WI

MYoung · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 369 Location: Madison, WI

Sure, some things here in WI are bass ackwards, but we do have good cheese, good beer, no damn tollroads, ladies with cushion for the pushin', and all the IL folks can't seem to get enough of it! That's okay so long as they leave their money when they leave. Then there's Madison, 64 square miles surrounded by sanity. Actually, it's a beautiful city with a beautiful capitol building. Just don't expect to be able to park anywhere! Let's sandwich the capitol of the state and a major university between some lakes! Great idea! I really cannot complain though. It was thanks to the Univ. of WI that I was able to get a 1292Q for $500. Smile

I'm surprised there's no HD DVD vs. BD flamewar brewing in this thread. Do I have to go to AV$#!tty Forum for that? Someone, please direct me to the flamewar!

Tom.W · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 6635

Quote: I'm surprised there's no HD DVD vs. BD flamewar brewing in this thread. Do I have to go to AV$#!tty Forum for that? Someone, please direct me to the flamewar!

No BD for $99 Wink

whats6x7 · Joined: 04 Oct 2006 Posts: 5924

Greg, I'll go to Walmart this morning and see if there are any left.

Edit: Sorry. They're all gone. Crying or Very sad

MYoung · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 369 Location: Madison, WI

I got one for $100 at Walmart in the Madison area! There were 3 left, one of which I bought. I called another Walmart on the east side of Madison and they had some in stock for $100. My guess is that the more rural Walmarts would also still have them.

Here's the PDF to print out for the 5 free HD DVDs with purchase of a HD-A2...

http://www.tacp.com/hddvd/data/pdf/Toshiba_Online_Rebate_R08.pdf

Not the best selection, but I'll take it. I wonder how that's going to affect the prices of those titles on the used market -- eBay, and especially Amazon.com. I also got to wonder if they'll say "Promo, not for resale" on the boxes. Not a big deal I guess. One of the titles on the list I bought last weekend thinking I'd watch it with friends and didn't. So I took it back. Looks like I'll be getting it after all! This is really a great deal! This is one powerful jab to Sony's nutsack! Sony, drop your prices on BD players to $100! Consumers are finally winning!

WanMan · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 10270

Returned the Circuit Chitty bought unit. They still would not price match this morning. As such, I'll get the combo drive for the HTPC.

MYoung · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 369 Location: Madison, WI

I bought another one for a friend! They still have one left at my local Walmart! If you call around you're bound to find one. It looks like the price drop has hit eBay too. Too bad so sad for all the people selling HD-A2s for $150 and up.

JustGreg · Joined: 07 Mar 2006 Posts: 3098 Location: Kenosha, WI