Posted by T.B. on 11/03/07 04:18

"Lloyd Parsons" wrote:

(snip)

> Let's see if I understand. You could buy a $99 HDDVD player that
> upconverts SD DVDs better than most upconverting SD players, and it
> plays real HiDef stuff too. And you get 5 free movies with it.

It's worth noting you don't get to pick any 5 movies, you're limited to a
selection of one each from the following catagories:

Aeon Flux [PG-13]
Babel [R]
The Italian Job[PG-13]

Category B
The Hulk [PG-13]
Pitch Black [NR]
The Thing [R]

Category C
Charlie & The Choclate Factory [PG]
Swordfish [PG]
Full Metal Jacket (original release) [R]

Category D
Firewall [PG-13]
The Frighteners [NR]
U2: Rattle and Hum [PG-13]

Category E
Black Rain [R]
Darkman [R]
Troy [R]

> If you bought those 5 movies at the cheapest price new I've seen ($15),
> then those are worth $75, so the player really is costing you $27. BUT,
> some stores that were selling the $99 players, were also giving away two
> free movies at time of purchase. If you bought there, then your player
> actually paid you to buy it....

That's Best Buy. What makes their offer of 2 extra HD DVDs so attractive is
you can pick anything they have in stock.

> Of course, you could just spend $400 on a BD player...

And get a far better selection of movies in HD, not to mention a better
player overall as the HD-A2 is a now discontinued low end model that doesn't
even output 1080p.

But a bargain is a bargain. No doubt about that. Doesn't sound like HD has
much of a future if Microsoft/Toshiba are basically dumping players hoping
to somehow recoup money on the strength of future disc sales. Problem is,
there's not a whole helluva lot in the pipeline worth buying through early
next year thus far on the release calender.

T.B.

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