Comments on: Amazon Drops Price of HD DVD Player to $99, Upconvert DVD w/ Free Movies?

By: Best Buy Giving $10 Million in Gift Cards to HD DVD Buyers | Bob Caswell

Best Buy Giving $10 Million in Gift Cards to HD DVD Buyers | Bob Caswell — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:03:48 +0000

[...] remember that HD DVD players work very well as upconvert DVD players. Plus, most of my movies work as regular DVDs as well. So I think I’ll be hanging on to HD DVD [...]

By: Blu-ray Movies Now Affordable. Players? Not So Much. | TechConsumer

Blu-ray Movies Now Affordable. Players? Not So Much. | TechConsumer — Thu, 29 May 2008 09:52:54 +0000

[...] want a PS3. And I’m now used to the next generation of DVD players being priced in the $100 to $200 range thanks to HD DVD. If Sony’s plan is really to increase Blu-ray market share to 50% by the end of the year (that [...]

By: Best Buy Giving $10 Million in Gift Cards to HD DVD Buyers | TechConsumer

Best Buy Giving $10 Million in Gift Cards to HD DVD Buyers | TechConsumer — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:04:30 +0000

[...] remember that HD DVD players work very well as upconvert DVD players. Plus, most of my movies work as regular DVDs as well. So I think I’ll be hanging on to HD DVD [...]

By: Bob Caswell

Bob Caswell — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:31:10 +0000

Luke, it looks like that promotion is now over. The player sold through Amazon (via the link in the post above) just comes with two movies now…

By: Luke

Luke — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:04:43 +0000

Where is the website that is giving you 10 free DVDs with the purchase of the Toshiba HD-DVD player?

By: Paul Ellis

Paul Ellis — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:52:56 +0000

I agree that DVDs will give Blu-ray a pretty good fight. This isn’t like VHS vs. DVD where no matter what equipment you have the DVD clearly looks better. Many people still don’t have HDTVs, and even if the do have one it is probably 42″ or smaller. From 10 feet away on those size screens most/many people can’t tell the difference between a good up-converted DVD and Blu-ray/HD-DVD. I can, but many people can’t. And even if they can, how much better is it going to be? The marginal increase in the viewing experience may be too small to matter.

By: Bob Caswell

Bob Caswell — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 03:44:03 +0000

Chupacabra,

Interesting semantic argument. True, it would have been more correct if it read “high-definition like picture.” But then again, your use of “totally” as part of “totally false” was about as inaccurate. After all, it’s not “totally false” that DVD players are competition for Blu-ray… Careful when you make a semantic argument; it can come back on you.

By: Chupacabra

Chupacabra — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 03:14:40 +0000

“The competition for Blu-ray players is the latest generation of DVD players that can generate a high-definition picture from a standard-definition disc”

This is totally false. There is no “latest generation of DVD players” that can generate a high-definition picture from an SD disc. They can upconvert the 480 lines to 1080 lines, but so can your TV.

No matter how you slice it, you’re still stuck with 480 lines of original resolution. You can’t make something out of nothing, and while upconverting standard DVDs can make them look slightly better, they are in no way, shape, or form anywhere near HD quality. Not even close.

By: Bob Caswell

Bob Caswell — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:49:02 +0000

Kevin,

I don’t know the exact ratios, but many HD DVDs are actually dual format and work as regular DVDs as well. I think about half of my freebies (from when I went for this deal) are this way. And that was just on accident (I didn’t make sure to pick only the dual discs).

By: Paul Ellis

Paul Ellis — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:22:01 +0000

Also, if you are looking for 1080p up-converting the next tier model is only $30 more.