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Amazon sells HD DVD, Blu-ray Disc players with eight free movies

Both the Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD camps have launched their own campaigns to help entice consumers to join their respective sides of the high-definition format war. The Blu-ray side is currently offering five free movies with the purchase of any player. Toshiba and Microsoft are also offering a similar deal for the purchase of an HD DVD player, including the Xbox 360 add-on drive.

Amazon.com is going another step further by offering even more free movies with the purchase of a high-definition player. Customers buying a standalone Toshiba HD DVD player or a PlayStation 3 may choose an additional three movies, which stacks on top of the five-free-movies offers for a total of eight free movies with the purchase of a new player.

Xbox 360 owners wishing to ‘jump in’ to high-definition with the purchase of the HD DVD drive will receive two free movies from Amazon.com, which when accounting for the free King Kong movie included by Microsoft and the current five-free-movies promotion, also equals a total of eight movies.

Existing owners of high-definition players need not feel left out, however, as Amazon.com is also running a “buy three movies for the price of two” promotion without any requirement of a hardware purchase. See Amazon.com’s promotional splash page for the full details.

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Awesome deal
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 8/29/2007 11:16:37 AM , Rating: 5
I got in on this deal earlier... I just couldn't pass it up. I've been rather indifferent to the whole HD DVD vs Blu-ray thing and just decided to wait it out. But I couldn't pass up this deal.

For some reason (at least yesterday) In addition to getting three movies for free, Amazon's system was also deducting the price of the cheapest HD DVD that you add to your cart from the final price. So all total I got:

Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD Player $238.88
The Departed (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD] $27.95
Happy Feet (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD] $27.95
300 (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD] $27.95

Items: $322.73
Shipping & Handling: $17.62
Super Saver Discount: -$17.62
Promotion Applied: -$83.85
Promotion Applied: -$27.95

Total Before Tax: $210.93

This in addition to the five free movies via MIR. I just had to bite the bullet.




RE: Awesome deal
By Anh Huynh on 8/29/2007 11:24:56 AM , Rating: 2
Welcome to the club, my friend.


RE: Awesome deal
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 8/29/2007 11:30:50 AM , Rating: 2
I got the A-20 a few weeks before and got a similiar price bracket. About 350 with 9 movies. I like the A-20 more than the A-2 though :)


RE: Awesome deal
By Locutus465 on 8/29/2007 1:16:35 PM , Rating: 2
Not quite yet ready to jump yet, but I have been looking at a snazzy new HD-DVD player to go with my new HD-TV. I do have a question for you since you mention liking the A-20 more than A-2... What is the difference between the two (besides price). Will I notice a real world difference between the two? Keep in mind my TV is a 50" Toshiba slim DLP that displays up to 720P (couldn't justify 2x the cost for a smaller 1080P set).


RE: Awesome deal
By masher2 (blog) on 8/29/2007 1:21:53 PM , Rating: 2
The A-20 supports 1080p; the A-2 1080i.


RE: Awesome deal
By Anh Huynh on 8/29/2007 1:31:22 PM , Rating: 2
The Toshiba should have a fairly good deinterlacer though.

The A20 and XA2 are not native 1080p per se. Although the content is encoded in 1080p, the native output is 1080i, which is then ran through a de-interlacer. The A20 uses an Anchor Bay De-interlacer while the higher end XA2 uses the Silicon Optix Reon HQV.

So the pricing difference probably isn't worth it. I'm holding out for a third gen 1080p player to upgrade my A2 :).


RE: Awesome deal
By omnicronx on 8/29/2007 1:39:02 PM , Rating: 2
hmm i don't know why i thought it was deinterlaced TV side, i guess i should have known since DVD players perform the 3:2 pulldown player side =/


RE: Awesome deal
By masher2 (blog) on 8/29/2007 1:50:06 PM , Rating: 3
A 1080i signal is deinterlaced at the TV side, not player side. But-- if that signal is coming from original 1080p material at the same frame rate your TV can display-- it can be reconstructed back to the original source with zero loss of image quality. You only run into artifact issues when source and destination don't synch in the time domain.

3:2 pulldown isn't deinterlacing; its done to synch frame display rates from 24fps to 30/60fps.


RE: Awesome deal
By Locutus465 on 8/29/2007 2:53:08 PM , Rating: 2
Ok, then it sounds like for my set up the A2 is perfect for my needs as my TV maxes out at 720p (and I'm unlikely to upgrade any time in the near future).

Thanks a bunch for pointing out the difference.


RE: Awesome deal
By omnicronx on 8/29/2007 1:33:57 PM , Rating: 2
Theres no advantage of getting the A-20 for you. The source image is still 1080p being scaled to 720p, it will look the same regardless of which player you use. Unless there is some extra features in the A-20 i don't know about, you should go with the A-2.

Many people argue that the difference between 1080p and 1080i is negligible anyways, as the source is still 1080p and your TV still receives the full signal, it just has to perform a 3:2 pulldown (deinterlacing) to display it in progressive mode. Most TV's now a days deinterlace pretty well so it should not be a problem.


RE: Awesome deal
By wallijonn on 8/29/2007 1:31:08 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I like the A-20 more than the A-2 though


Why? Do you have a 1080p set? Does it come ready faster? Are there more audio and video outputs?


RE: Awesome deal
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 8/29/2007 1:55:09 PM , Rating: 2
I have a 1080p set thats why I got it.


RE: Awesome deal
By masher2 (blog) on 8/29/2007 2:16:32 PM , Rating: 2
The full 1080p frame gets sent even in 1080i mode; all your set has to do is a simple "weave" operation to get back the original source. As long as your set isn't munging the signal, it doesn't matter whether its fed a 1080i or 1080p source.

In fact, since the deinterlacer on the A20 isn't exactly stellar, you might well get a better picture from the A2 than the A20.


RE: Awesome deal
By omnicronx on 8/29/2007 2:23:05 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
In fact, since the deinterlacer on the A20 isn't exactly stellar, you might well get a better picture from the A2 than the A20.
Is this because they figure since the max resolution is 1080p, most people will use it as such? I guess it would make sense to have a better deinterlacer in the 1080i native model.


RE: Awesome deal
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 8/29/2007 2:32:59 PM , Rating: 3
Indeed. I don't trust my TV either to do 1080i either. It takes native 1080p input over HDMI so I made sure to feed it as such. My 720P HD Cable channels look pretty nice though, only very slight differences between 720P and 1080P that I've seen.


RE: Awesome deal
By omnicronx on 8/29/2007 3:49:53 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
My 720P HD Cable channels look pretty nice though, only very slight differences between 720P and 1080P that I've seen.
How far back do you sit/how is your vision?


RE: Awesome deal
By Locutus465 on 8/29/2007 4:40:40 PM , Rating: 2
That seems to be the main thing with 1080P... Looks better closer up... Which is why I'm fairly ok with 720P, I sit far enough back most of the time that the difference would be smaller. 1080P is just too expensive still compared to 720P


RE: Awesome deal
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 8/29/2007 6:32:34 PM , Rating: 2
My vision is excellent and I sit about 10 feet away.


RE: Awesome deal
By masher2 (blog) on 8/29/2007 7:12:10 PM , Rating: 2
I sit about 12 feet away from a 103" screen, and usually I can't tell the slightest difference between 720p and 1080p.


RE: Awesome deal
By RubberJohnny on 8/29/2007 11:46:14 PM , Rating: 2
You have a 720p Front projector though don't you masher?
What brand and model have you got?


RE: Awesome deal
By masher2 (blog) on 8/30/2007 12:17:03 AM , Rating: 2
Sanyo PLV-Z5. I had an Epson HC1080 briefly, but the color rendition on the Z5 just seemed so much better, it wasn't worth giving that up just for a little more resolution.


RE: Awesome deal
By masher2 (blog) on 8/29/2007 11:31:18 AM , Rating: 2
So 9 movies and the player for $210? Thats more than $210 worth of movies alone, meaning you got the player for free. Not bad at all...I purchased my HD-A2 for $450, and I only received 5 free movies with it :/


RE: Awesome deal
By theflux on 8/29/2007 11:44:22 AM , Rating: 2
Are you format neutral?


RE: Awesome deal
By masher2 (blog) on 8/29/2007 11:46:00 AM , Rating: 3
Depends on your definition. I own both formats, but I have to say I'm a bit more in favor of HD-DVD for movies. BD is better for data, but I prefer HD-DVD's region-unlocked discs for films.


RE: Awesome deal
By blaster5k on 8/29/2007 11:58:12 AM , Rating: 4
I've always wondered how region locking is even legal. It's basically a price fixing mechanism, which seems like restraint of trade. I guess not many people bother to enforce or pass laws relating to it.


RE: Awesome deal
By omnicronx on 8/29/2007 1:21:33 PM , Rating: 2
Why would it be illegal? and how would a single country's laws prevent a company from having different price points in different countries? thats all region locking is, protection against say Americans buying movies from say Venezuela, or some small European country that where the price would probably be much lower effecting sales at home. In fact the duty you pay when you buy something out of the country is a counter measure for the exact same reason, your country does not want you buying elsewhere. Let alone ntsc vs pal issue, not that it matters with HD-DVDs/BD's unless you like to watch your high def movies over analogue connections ;)


RE: Awesome deal
By SandmanWN on 8/29/2007 11:46:17 AM , Rating: 1
I have my doubts about some of the recent posts from the DT people. Not stating for a fact but some of the posts have heavily favored HD DVD.


RE: Awesome deal
By Anh Huynh on 8/29/2007 11:49:09 AM , Rating: 2
The Blu-ray camp has been quiet lately.


RE: Awesome deal
By SandmanWN on 8/29/2007 11:54:12 AM , Rating: 1
Yes I realize that. I am not speaking about the facts portrayed in the articles. I enjoy the articles no matter if they are BR or HD DVD topics. I appreciate the above article for pointing out a very good deal.

I am more referring to the personal opinions that are posted below those articles where the bias tends to show more readily.


RE: Awesome deal
By ObscureCaucasian on 8/29/2007 12:17:26 PM , Rating: 3
Writers/Editors are allowed to have opinions you know, and you admitted they do a good job of keeping the bias out of the articles, so I don't see a problem.


RE: Awesome deal
By omnicronx on 8/29/2007 1:24:53 PM , Rating: 2
Not only that heh, this is an article for both formats outlining the current sales for both formats, it just so happens HD-DVD players have the better deal on right now so they talked about it more.


RE: Awesome deal
By djtodd on 8/29/2007 11:49:43 AM , Rating: 2
What's wrong with the DT people favoring one or the other? They are people after all and have the right to their opinions just as much as you.


RE: Awesome deal
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 8/29/2007 11:52:18 AM , Rating: 5
To tell you the truth, my decision wasn't based on Blu-ray vs HD DVD... it was based on a good deal.

If Amazon was promoting a Sony Blu-ray player with 8 free movies for $210, I'd be all over that.

Like I said in my original post, I'm indifferent to the format wars, but I can't pass over something like this. It's just not in my nature to skip a deal :)


RE: Awesome deal
By TomZ on 8/29/2007 11:50:44 AM , Rating: 2
Michael (masher2) isn't a DT employee - he was only invited to blog for DT AFAIK.

Beyond that, I don't personally perceive any bias in DT's reporting of HD-DVD and BD. I see pretty equal reporting of good and bad news for both formats. Maybe you can be more specific, point to a few articles that you think are biased?


RE: Awesome deal
By SandmanWN on 8/29/2007 12:11:18 PM , Rating: 1
I wasn't implicating masher or any other particular member of the DT bloggers. It only so happened that the question was posted after his comment. There is no correlation.

I would rather not point out specific posts. Just trying to get the point across that it really doesn't matter if they are employees or not they carry the DT logo beside their names. Whether or not they are paid representatives or not it still tends to reflect upon DT and Anandtech regardless.


RE: Awesome deal
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 8/29/2007 12:21:44 PM , Rating: 2
We are entitled to our opinions. We support those opinions with fact.


RE: Awesome deal
By masher2 (blog) on 8/29/2007 12:24:39 PM , Rating: 2
More correctly, we're entitled to opinions when expressed in op-ed content (a category in which blogs and forum posts fall into). Within "straight" news articles, journalistic ethics forbids opinion.

Now, if someone will just notify CNN and the NYT of this...


RE: Awesome deal
By blaster5k on 8/29/2007 12:31:09 PM , Rating: 2
Zing!


RE: Awesome deal
By Anh Huynh on 8/29/2007 12:51:33 PM , Rating: 4
Some people say Fox does too...


RE: Awesome deal
By SandmanWN on 8/29/07, Rating: -1
RE: Awesome deal
By omnicronx on 8/29/2007 1:54:12 PM , Rating: 3
Fox is the most conservative of them all, they specifically bring in people they know are going to get bashed. It's like going on the daily show and trying to get a point across that Jon Stewart disagrees with. I don't really consider that an 'opportunity to explain their stance'.


RE: Awesome deal
By TomZ on 8/29/07, Rating: 0
RE: Awesome deal
By Oregonian2 on 8/29/07, Rating: 0
RE: Awesome deal
By omnicronx on 8/29/2007 3:47:44 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
hey're to the 'right' of the extreme left. Probably too why they went from new startup to top viewership ratings in just a few years.
Nah, shows like Married with Children, 90210, and the Simpsons brought that..

Do you really think every other network is 'liberal'?, i do not get the same impression. Maybe because i get to compare them to canadian television...


RE: Awesome deal
By blaster5k on 8/29/2007 4:42:45 PM , Rating: 2
The mainstream American media is definitely biased to the left, which makes sense since most journalists identify themselves as liberals (I remember that figure being somewhere around 70%). While they usually make an effort to be neutral, I find they don't always represent the conservative viewpoint accurately. It's tough to really understand things from a different angle. Many times even the article topics are a little biased.

Fox is swinging a bit to the right I think. I find US News and World Report to be one of the most neutral news sources -- if you disregard the slightly conservative editorials that is. USA Today isn't too bad either. The New York Times is probably the worst offender when it comes to left bias. I don't think Fox goes as far right as NYT does left. Only conservative personalities like Limbaugh can compete there.


RE: Awesome deal
By Shadowmaster625 on 8/30/2007 1:04:28 PM , Rating: 2
was the mainstream media biased to the left when they were stampeding us into war 5 years ago? The mainstream media is biased toward the corporate profits of their parent corporations. Many of those corporations profit immensely from the military industrial complex and neocon foreign policy. Just because a few reporters who are informed tend to display a liberal bias does not mean that the media as a whole has a liberal bias. There is no evidence to support that assertion, at least not without 5 times as much counter-evidence.

The idea that a bunch of greedy tycoons in the board rooms are hellbent on promoting a liberal bias... lol that's just absurd. What is not absurd is the idea that they'd want to APPEAR to have a liberal bias so as to be able to push even further to the right in response. And that's exactly what they have done over the years.


RE: Awesome deal
By Oregonian2 on 8/29/2007 4:45:25 PM , Rating: 2
What does "Married with Children" have to do with the Fox News Channel? Fox News Channel has no shows of that nature on it. I think you're confused with other Fox (Murdock) ventures of which there are many.


RE: Awesome deal
By Oregonian2 on 8/29/2007 4:49:09 PM , Rating: 2
P.S. - Canadians (including a relative) I know from Eastern Canada (Toronto, etc) make U.S. liberals look conservative. So if they're "typical" a Canadian view of American news may be very different. :-)


RE: Awesome deal
By SandmanWN on 8/29/2007 4:07:41 PM , Rating: 2
You either have all lefties as with most news broadcasts or you get a mix of left and right. I choose the mix as I would like the opportunity to decide for myself who is correct without having some millionaire pulling the strings backstage and lining up only people that share his/her personal beliefs.


RE: Awesome deal
By MajorPaver on 8/29/2007 5:45:58 PM , Rating: 2
You are *deluding* yourself if you see a mix of left and right on Fox. Every other major news channel does a far better job of balancing *intelligent* conservatives and liberals during their panels.

Fox prefers to set up living straw men to knock them down in a pitiful fashion. It's pathetic.

There is a reason that a recent study determined that people who got most of their news from Fox were the LEAST factually informed (ironically followed most closely by liberal CBS). Fox spins all the time - 24-7. Of course, they are owned by Rupert Murdoch - the man that reinvented yellow journalism.


RE: Awesome deal
By Oregonian2 on 8/29/2007 8:23:46 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
There is a reason that a recent study determined that people who got most of their news from Fox were the LEAST factually informed (ironically followed most closely by liberal CBS). Fox spins all the time - 24-7. Of course, they are owned by Rupert Murdoch - the man that reinvented yellow journalism.


Do you know who did the study? I've observed that those who left-spin everything think a non-spin is being right-spun.

Rupert controls the most non-spin newspaper I know of (WSJ) so I assume that's taken a strongly conservative paper.


RE: Awesome deal
By MajorPaver on 8/29/2007 11:35:01 PM , Rating: 2
The study I cited was conducted by the Public Policy Center at the University of Maryland. Since it was Heritage or Rand, you may find it uncomfortably "not spun" in a direction that affects the inner ear.

And two points.

1) Wall Street Journal = least spin? In what world. A boardroom?

2) But I digress, if we take that unprovable assertion are you somehow suggesting that owning this "least spun" newspaper for a grand total of ONE MONTH, somehow offsets decades of owning the positively scandalous New York Daily News?

Heehee.


RE: Awesome deal
By grenableu on 8/29/2007 6:41:42 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
Yes but Fox will actually bring someone on from the "other" side. That person might get bashed to death but at they were given the opportunity to explain their stance, which is something of a foreign concept on certain organizations.
Hear, hear. When you watch nothing but CNN and MSNBC all the time, you're naturally going to have a skewed vision of what "unbiased" means.


RE: Awesome deal
By theapparition on 8/29/2007 12:36:14 PM , Rating: 2
Don't feel bad....I paid more and didn't get any free movies.


RE: Awesome deal
By blaster5k on 8/29/2007 11:35:42 AM , Rating: 2
Wow, that's a very tempting deal. I was going to hold off on taking the high definition plunge until after Toshiba's generation 3 players come out, but now I can't make up my mind.

Is there any indication on what improvements the new players will have over the current generation besides being cheaper to make? Like faster startup times or anything?


RE: Awesome deal
By mdogs444 on 8/29/2007 11:38:57 AM , Rating: 2
I think the startup times are already pretty quick. Most likely some firmware upgrades, exterior styling, and most of all - a rework of some of the kinks that you get with early gen products.


RE: Awesome deal
By Anh Huynh on 8/29/2007 11:50:17 AM , Rating: 3
With the latest firmware for my HD-A2, I noticed bootup times have increased significantly. It takes less than 30 seconds to boot up now.


RE: Awesome deal
By TomZ on 8/29/2007 11:53:00 AM , Rating: 2
Did you really mean "increased" or did you mean "improved" (decreased)?

I would say that a firmware update that increases boot times would be a step in the wrong direction.


RE: Awesome deal
By Anh Huynh on 8/29/2007 12:25:44 PM , Rating: 3
Errr decreased rather. I guess I need to get my first cup of coffee for the morning.


RE: Awesome deal
By AmbroseAthan on 8/29/2007 12:07:51 PM , Rating: 3
The additional discount is being applied thanks to their system also granting buy 2, get 1 free in the HD movie sections with the right movies. It still seems to be running now, just priced out an HD-A20 and the same thing happened...

Being I have a 360 though, just tried with the HD-DVD add-on, and added a 3rd HD-DVD from the 3 for 2 area, and it also applied.

Items: $263.84
Shipping & Handling: $13.43
Promotion Applied: -$55.90 (2 movies at 27.95)
Promotion Applied: -$27.95 (3rd movie added at 27.95)

Total Before Tax: $193.42
Estimated Tax: $0.00

Order Total: $193.42 (360 HD-DVD + Shipping + 9 movies)

Very very tempted to do this even though I am hard pressed for cash right now.


RE: Awesome deal
By killerroach on 8/29/2007 12:21:33 PM , Rating: 2
That's absolutely unbelievable in terms of a deal. At those prices I may end up trying to hedge my bets and hook up the 360 HD-DVD to my computer and get a PS3 as well. Have a decent-sized HD movie collection, and not go completely broke doing so... bliss.


RE: Awesome deal
By AmbroseAthan on 8/29/2007 12:24:39 PM , Rating: 2
As a note: If you select the free super-saver shipping and just want to wait a while for everything (above I select standard and ship things seperately):

Total is $179.99 (if no taxes in your area)


RE: Awesome deal
By qrhetoric on 8/29/07, Rating: 0
RE: Awesome deal
By masher2 (blog) on 8/29/2007 1:11:21 PM , Rating: 3
I should mention that the first DVD (not HD) player I purchased was $1300...and the first standard DVDs were all in the $30-35 range.

Early adopters always pay a premium. To them, its worth it.


RE: Awesome deal
By wallijonn on 8/29/2007 1:44:55 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Why would I buy a movie? Do you know how rare it is that I want to watch a movie twice? Like I have nothing better to do.


My question is, why would anyone buy a movie that they aren't going to watch many times?

I must have seen "Tremors" close to 500 times. I can't count how many times I have seen the Godfather movies, the Back to the Future movies, the Indiana Jones movies, the Star Wars movies, the Harry Potter movies, the Underworld movies, the Blade movies, the Alien trilogy movies, the Terminator movies, the X-Men movies, the Spiderman movies, the Tomb Raider movies, the Mummy (Frasier and Weisz) movies, etc.

People buy movies just like they buy books and music - to own, cherish and re-enjoy.

I still see a lot of crap movies going to HD, especially pre-pubescent comedies and teenage horror movies, along with bad film quality Indie films.


RE: Awesome deal
By Anh Huynh on 8/29/2007 2:05:48 PM , Rating: 3
I buy everything I watch thats available on HD. I'm not much of a renter. I've watched most of the movies a couple of times, usually because after I watch it someone else will want to watch it, so I watch it again.

And I also like to own movies for the sake of owning them.


RE: Awesome deal
By porkpie on 8/29/2007 3:10:09 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I must have seen "Tremors" close to 500 times
You're a braver man than I am...


RE: Awesome deal
By enlil242 on 8/29/2007 3:10:41 PM , Rating: 2
Did I miss out??? I only see the Xbox and PS3 promo on the splash page. I was interested in the A2...


RE: Awesome deal
By omnicronx on 8/29/2007 3:53:34 PM , Rating: 2
looks like it heh, its too bad. The player is still 30 dollars off though, so its under $200 (188 to be exact)


RE: Awesome deal
By enlil242 on 8/29/2007 4:09:42 PM , Rating: 2
:o( Says $226 in my cart. Oh well...


what I want....
By Chernobyl68 on 8/29/2007 12:56:48 PM , Rating: 3
See, if they really wanted to get me to buy a Hi-def player they'd buy me a Hi-def TV!




RE: what I want....
By SandmanWN on 8/29/2007 12:58:56 PM , Rating: 3
... or a 350z and three Ipods...


RE: what I want....
By walk2k on 8/29/2007 1:12:07 PM , Rating: 2
Well you may be in luck since they are projecting 40" HDTVs to be in the $800 range at x-mas time. Not exactly free but if you can't afford that you probably shouldn't complain.


XBOX player not as cheap as it seems
By androticus on 8/29/2007 8:51:56 PM , Rating: 2
In order to watch movies on a PC with the XBOX player, you need to buy a compatible movie program, and last I saw, these were $50 or more. The new $200-ish players are actually a better deal.




By mars777 on 8/30/2007 12:47:59 AM , Rating: 2
Then again why would you buy the addon for the PC if it doesnt burn HDDVDs. Its pointless. If you dont have an X360 to hook the player the better way is to go spend the remaining 250 on the PS3 and have the player and the console with 8 movies.


Buy 2 Get 1 Free Information
By Aikouka on 8/29/2007 2:44:57 PM , Rating: 2
I'd like to add that there's good information on SlickDeal's website about what films you have to buy for the B2G1 promotion from Amazon. The deal isn't a tradition promotional code and just seems to be applied automatically when selecting certain movies. Here's the thread from SlickDeals with a list of movies:

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=5938...




By FXi on 8/29/2007 2:59:36 PM , Rating: 2
Must have recording ability, even if it's to a hardrive and then to disk later.

And I'm still not sure that HDMI 1.3 couldn't be improved...




Deal is mostly dead.
By Syran on 8/29/2007 3:46:22 PM , Rating: 2
Deal was good for around 36 hours, but by the time this was posted, it was mostly dead.

You can still get the 2 Free HD-DVD's with an XBox 360 HD-DVD add-on or 3 Blu-Ray Discs w/ a PS3; but the 3 for 2 deal, and the deals on the players are now dead.

http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link_5381412_1/105...




Discount on Adult HD-DVD'S?
By TonyB on 8/30/2007 12:44:54 AM , Rating: 2
if only this amazon deal works for the adult HD-DVD titles, because at $50 a pop, it gets pretty expensive after you buy the 8 or so titles out there, compared to Blu-Ray Disks selection of 3.




Promotions
By mdogs444 on 8/29/07, Rating: -1
RE: Promotions
By SandmanWN on 8/29/2007 11:27:10 AM , Rating: 1
Sorry man but it doesn't work that way. Toshiba doesn't own the movies. All of Toshiba's profits come from the player itself not the DVD's which are owned by the studios. If they discounted the player another $100-150 then Toshiba's profit would quickly become a loss and I don't believe that is something they are willing to do at the moment.


RE: Promotions
By mdogs444 on 8/29/2007 11:35:39 AM , Rating: 2
I know, i agree with 100%. I'm just venting in saying that id rather spend less and only buy the movies i want to. I know why they are doing it, i just want "a cadillac for the price of a chevy"

:-)


RE: Promotions
By masher2 (blog) on 8/29/2007 11:44:32 AM , Rating: 2
> "id rather spend less and only buy the movies i want to. "

You get to pick the movies you want with the offer.


RE: Promotions
By mdogs444 on 8/29/2007 11:46:09 AM , Rating: 1
From a small, predetermined list. Thats not picking the movies you want to have, thats picking from the movies they want you to have.


RE: Promotions
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 8/29/2007 11:48:21 AM , Rating: 3
That is true. I ended up picking:

Apollo 13
Casablanca
Four Brothers
Blazing Saddles
The Perfect Storm

But I'm not gonna complain when it's free.


RE: Promotions
By Quryous on 8/29/2007 11:58:38 AM , Rating: 2
One of those isn't TOO bad, but I still would not have bought it, either.


RE: Promotions
By ObscureCaucasian on 8/29/2007 12:19:59 PM , Rating: 2
Then sell em and get $50-$75 back.


RE: Promotions
By blaster5k on 8/29/2007 12:34:18 PM , Rating: 2
They probably have depressed value since so many people have selections from the 5 free offer list. Maybe you can get something, but probably nowhere near regular price.


RE: Promotions
By mjcutri on 8/29/2007 11:32:25 AM , Rating: 2
but a MIR doesn't boost their movie "sales" numbers, which every month each side touts as showing that they are winning...when in fact good ole DVD is still dominating.

I'm betting that HDDVD and BRD end up just like SACD and DVD Audio discs...only for the "enthusiasts." I'll stick to DVD and an upscaling player on my HDTV (which i bought originaly so i could watch normal DVDs in widescreen) until digital downloads become the "standard" format like mp3s are doing in audio.


RE: Promotions
By TheDoc9 on 8/29/2007 11:54:14 AM , Rating: 2
That won't happen, if anything both formats will exist and we'll have dual format players take over.

I assume you've never seen a High Def movie because most people that have certainly arent happy with an upscaled dvd afterwards - unless you don't care about picture qaulity (and some people don't). There really is no comparison. With a quality tv, dvd looks like a complete joke no matter how good the upscaling is. You REALLY can tell a HUGE difference between the two. You'll also be waiting awhile...4-5 years minimum for quality downloadable high def films, the 1080i films that you rent from the cable company are no where near the quality of a good encode from an hddvd or blue ray disk.


RE: Promotions
By FITCamaro on 8/29/2007 1:28:14 PM , Rating: 2
On my friends 46" Sony Bravia even a movie being output in 480p looked good. I'll give Sony that. Their TVs have good upscaling capabilities. I'm perfectly happy with my 42" 720p TV and upscaled DVDs though for now.

This deal really is tempting to be honest. But I just don't have $200 to spend at the moment. I'm sure the deals will be even better in the December time frame.


RE: Promotions
By sxr7171 on 8/29/2007 1:35:17 PM , Rating: 2
480p is quite good if the source is good. When I first connected my PS3 it was accidentally set to output at 480p and it looked great. When I checked I changed it to 720p that is my projector's native resolution. It looked better, but even the 480p was amazing.


RE: Promotions
By omnicronx on 8/29/2007 4:08:46 PM , Rating: 2
Correct me if I am wrong, but when you watch a DVD the source content is 480p, but when you play your 360 or PS3, the source content is 720p or higher and is downscaled to 480p, so its not really an even playing field. When i play HD-DVD's through my 360 addon on my 480p projector, it looks much better than the same movie on DVD. Of course the difference is not huge, but i noticed.


RE: Promotions
By RubberJohnny on 8/30/2007 12:10:28 AM , Rating: 2
Dude it doesn't matter if the original source was 1080p. If you downscale to 480p then its 480p - even playing field.

IMHO buying a HD-DVD to play on a standard def projector is a bit of a waste, but atleast you'll get use the extra res when you upgrade.


RE: Promotions
By Oregonian2 on 8/29/2007 3:28:14 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I assume you've never seen a High Def movie because most people that have certainly arent happy with an upscaled dvd afterwards - unless you don't care about picture qaulity (and some people don't).


Depends a lot on the DVD. A lot of the regular DVD's are of limited quality on DVDs. Doubt those will look any better in HD format, the source is the limiting quality factor. They're probably using only one layer of the DVD (especially those which are double sided with widescreen on one side and "full" on the other). They could be double-sided double-layer, but I doubt it. :-) Some DVD's look like a poor VHS tape!

Newly produced "blockbuster" high-budget productions are those I'd surely hope there to be a big difference.

P.S. - Might also make a difference with one's set. A 720P set may be closer to a good DVD's content performance-wise than a 1080P set.


RE: Promotions
By omnicronx on 8/29/2007 4:03:54 PM , Rating: 2
I can only think of a few discs that were released on 1 layer dvd's and that was a long time ago. In fact i remember dual sided discs so they could fit in all the content, and that was a long time ago. You will be very hard pressed to find a single layer disc today, as most of the original versions were re-released in DVD-9.

As for your source limiting the quality.. 35mm film used in movie theaters is much much higher resolution and quality of High Definition content, this should have nothing to do with it. Now the process in which the film is digitalized is a whole different issue, this is where quality can be degraded.

I can not think of one VHS tape that looks better than DVD though, as the rough equivalent resolution is 320x486 in the NTSC format. If this was a problem for you, you probably had a terrible DVD player.


RE: Promotions
By Oregonian2 on 8/29/2007 5:25:16 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I can only think of a few discs that were released on 1 layer dvd's and that was a long time ago. In fact i remember dual sided discs so they could fit in all the content, and that was a long time ago. You will be very hard pressed to find a single layer disc today, as most of the original versions were re-released in DVD-9.


I know this isn't true. A lot of discs are still 1-layer. Particularly the older movies and those made by shoestring small companies. Particularly the 'B' movies.

quote:
As for your source limiting the quality.. 35mm film used in movie theaters is much much higher resolution and quality of High Definition content, this should have nothing to do with it. Now the process in which the film is digitalized is a whole different issue, this is where quality can be degraded.


Only if such a print is still available to be turned into a DVD and the print still looks worth a hoot. Lots of films look less good because until relatively recently, films once they finished showing in theaters were thought to be worthless and the prints were tossed. Some, where prints were still available, may look very poor. Some of the better ones have been 'digitally restored', but I think most haven't been for lack of time and money. Watch the AMC channel much?

quote:
I can not think of one VHS tape that looks better than DVD though, as the rough equivalent resolution is 320x486 in the NTSC format. If this was a problem for you, you probably had a terrible DVD player.


No I've excellent DVD players (six of them actually, each of our TV's has one -- none in bathrooms (yet) :-). You musn't see very many "classic" movies. Some of them seemed to have used a very poor VHS copy for their source print (not a 35mm or 70mm pristine film print). Some DVDs of early last century material can look even worse.
Now, many if not most DVD's look really great upconverting to HD, but many won't be improved much too.

At least one of those DVD's that Walmart sells for a dollar or two look like they were mastered off of a cheap videocam pointed at a $69 TV set through a shower curtain. Wife bought only one of those (and she agrees it'll be the last one!).

Between us, we watch about 20 DVD movies a month (Netflix). One I watched last night was only an hour long by a very niche low budget documentary producer. It probably was 1-layer too.

If you only watch new release DVDs from the biggie houses, then they're probably all two layer and really good stuff. But there's a LOT more DVD moves around than those. Check out Netflix if you're not already a user. They've over 80,000 titles and even then there are a LOT of movies missing that I'd like to see (esp in the 60's~80's).


RE: Promotions
By PurdueRy on 8/29/2007 12:38:17 PM , Rating: 2
And you thought the DRM on HDDVD and Blu-Ray caused some headaches. I can't wait to see what they implement in those digital downloads you are looking forward to. I can see it now, you can only play it on the TV/Monitor you register it to. If you want to watch it at a friend's place, you will have to get him to download it as well.

I really don't think this is too far fetched considering its similar to some of the DRM policies for music.


"Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine." -- Bill Gates

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