Just an fyi for anyone who has been sitting on the fence, at that price, who cares if the format dies in three years? Check walmart.com for details (its down right now...)
This explains why they did not start carrying the $199 player. Looks like I will go HD-DVD after all.
Apparently BB also has the player on sale for $99 right now as long as their supplies last...head out folks. A side note, the 5 free HD-DVD offer works with these as well. So its like getting the player for $25....
It is confirmed for tomorrow, just not sure what time. BB has it onsale, I called two stores and they both confirmed it, though there was only 1 left between the two of them... On Walmart.com its on the "secret Friday" sale flash add in the middle top of the page, just click on it...
It had to be an upconverting player, not HD-DVD as Samsung is currently entrenched in the Blu-Ray camp...
Just got mine!! I called my local WM last night and they said midnight it would be on sale so I went and when they rang it up it said "NO SALE 12:00A - 6:00A". They said to come back at 6am vs the printed 8am so I did and there were only two other people there. The store had six A2s on the floor and the sales guy said he had "prolly 30 more in the back!" I wasn't so sure so I came in at 5:15am just in case. Snagged Transformers too! Can't want to get home from work tonight to plug it all up. edit: Store was in Duluth, GA off Pleasant Hill Rd.
Actually the A2 doesn't scale to 1080p, just 720p/1080i, though with anything less than 50" the difference is inconsequential, over that, you better have good eyes to tell the difference. As long as the TV is HD, you will get a much nicer picture than with standard or even upconverted DVDs....
so who got the deal from walmart ? i was there this am and there were like 20 boxes it will also UP the regular DVD as well
Picked mine up at 8am this morning. About 10 of us there waiting for them to bring them out. Probably had 50 total available.
Hard to tell who is going to win. Both sides are building alies... At this point, the consumer wins because price wars between the two are good for us.
Blu-Ray is selling more discs currently due to the PS3. However, Transformers, which came out on HD-DVD was the best selling HD (either format) disc to date and with the prices dropping rapidly for the HD DVD hardware, I wouldn't bet against it. I have the XBOX 360 add on, which is a pretty good player actually. We may see this become a moot point in the next few years as more and more content becomes "on demand" and bandwidth continue to increase...
You do know that any 1080i source will scale to 1080p by the TV right? Without any loss in PQ. Anywho my 4 year old TV does 1366x768 and considering all major HDTV channels are either 720p or 1080i, it's perfect for that. Gaming and HD-DVD or Blu-Ray are the ONLY native 1080p sources. Class dismissed.
I hooked up my unit last night and it works great. Watched a std. DVD and it definately helped the picture. Can't wait to go get a HD-DVD to really see the difference.
Additionally, the 1080i source has all the same "information" as a 1080p, just interlaced. I thought OTA could also be broadcast in 1080p? I know its not, but I thought it could be
Don't the TV studios have to switch out their gear to do 1080p? Cameras, pre and post production equipment? Most sports stations are doing the 720p today but I could see them switching at some point. The real deal is that 1080p has more info and Sat and Cable companies can't send that info to you without compressing it. It all won't fit in their "pipe". BKiller, get Transformers on HD-DVD..it was AWESOME!
the bandwidth required to broadcast in 1080p would be outrageous. there is NO netword (in the USA anyways) that has near the capabilities, yet... and sure if you have a 1080p tv then EVERYTHING gets scaled to 1080p. thats why your analog channels look like shit.
I'm not doubting you in any way....but, what about Discovery HD, who has recently changed their name to HDT, (High Definition Theater) and they are also calling themselves ckub 1080 and saying everything is being broadcast in 1080p. Is it being scaled down to 1080i from Comcast/Cox/Time Warner, etc??
No one is sending 1080p........yet. Discovery is doing 1080i which a 1080p TV can scale to 1080p without any picture quality loss.
its not a big deal as the human eye can't tell a difference between 1080i and 1080p so i don't foresee many companies switching: http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/07/24/ask-hdbeat-how-can-i-tell-the-difference-between-1080i-and-1080/