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Not going down without a fight!
It looks like either Toshiba is trying to clear out inventory or they have decided that they are going to cause the Blu-ray camp as much trouble as possible with their latest round of price cuts. With all of the news surrounding Warner’s defection from the HD DVD camp compounded by taking New Line and HBO with them, it seems that the Toshiba is employing a low price strategy in an attempt to continue to keep customer interest.
The latest round of price cuts takes the HD-A3 down into the $130 range, bundled with “300” and “The Bourne Identity.” Of course, purchasers also get to pick five free movies from the current HD DVD ‘five free movies’ promotion.
Retailers that have already gotent the jump on the new pricing include Amazon and Tiger Direct. Several reports indicate that Sam’s Club and Costco may also have the HD-A3 for a few dollars less at the $128 mark, but we have been unable to confirm this at our local Sam’s Club and Costco stores.
While the HD-A3 is restricted to 1080i output, the HD-A30, which offers the 1080p output, is only going for about $40 more and it is worth considering if you really want the 1080p output.
Given all of the recent announcements, we still remain cautious about recommending HD DVD players at this time. Our suggestion continues to remain that if you are going to buy the player strictly as a primary player to play conventional DVDs, and the fact that it can also play HD DVD is secondary on your list, then at these cut rate prices it might be worth considering. You might also want to take into consideration that if Blu-ray is declared the winner, you might be able to pick up a variety of cheap HD DVDs in the future.
Still, in the end, until Toshiba, Universal, and Paramount are more clear about where they are going with their support of HD DVD, we just cannot recommend HD DVD as the high definition movie format of choice any more.
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Toshiba slashes prices on HD DVD again!
Not going down without a fight!
It looks like either Toshiba is trying to clear out inventory or they have decided that they are going to cause the Blu-ray camp as much trouble as possible with their latest round of price cuts. With all of the news surrounding Warner’s defection from the HD DVD camp compounded by taking New Line and HBO with them, it seems that the Toshiba is employing a low price strategy in an attempt to continue to keep customer interest.
The latest round of price cuts takes the HD-A3 down into the $130 range, bundled with “300” and “The Bourne Identity.” Of course, purchasers also get to pick five free movies from the current HD DVD ‘five free movies’ promotion.
Retailers that have already gotent the jump on the new pricing include Amazon and Tiger Direct. Several reports indicate that Sam’s Club and Costco may also have the HD-A3 for a few dollars less at the $128 mark, but we have been unable to confirm this at our local Sam’s Club and Costco stores.
While the HD-A3 is restricted to 1080i output, the HD-A30, which offers the 1080p output, is only going for about $40 more and it is worth considering if you really want the 1080p output.
Given all of the recent announcements, we still remain cautious about recommending HD DVD players at this time. Our suggestion continues to remain that if you are going to buy the player strictly as a primary player to play conventional DVDs, and the fact that it can also play HD DVD is secondary on your list, then at these cut rate prices it might be worth considering. You might also want to take into consideration that if Blu-ray is declared the winner, you might be able to pick up a variety of cheap HD DVDs in the future.
Still, in the end, until Toshiba, Universal, and Paramount are more clear about where they are going with their support of HD DVD, we just cannot recommend HD DVD as the high definition movie format of choice any more.