OMFG!!! - $98.87 for Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player at Wal-Mart - Sunday Nov. 4 is supposedly the last day

[Eug]

Wal-Mart is now getting its shipments of the Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player in, and has priced them at $198.

They would be eligible for the 5-free HD DVD movie mail-in deal, but I'm not sure if they also include two free movies in the box or not.

EDIT:

Pic of HD-A2s in-store

EDIT again:

O.M.F.G.W.T.F.B.B.Q.

On Friday, November 2 at 8:00 am, the Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player is $98.87 at Wal-Mart

Link

Screengrab


EDIT yet again:

If you guys want to get in on this deal, I believe today (Sunday, Nov, 4) may be the last day of the $98.87 Wal-Mart Toshiba HD-A2 deal.

That's assuming your Wal-Mart has any left of course. It should be noted though that a couple of stores claimed they were getting more stock in. YMMV.


For more HD-DVD Deals, please see The Official HD-DVD Thread.
(locked and/or modified with the permission of Eug)
-Schadenfroh

 

[Eug]

Reports are trickling in...

Originally this was supposed to be for the beginning of November, but lots of people are reporting that their local Wal-Mart stores already have them in stock at that price (even though the price isn't reflected on their website yet).

There are no free movies in the box, but it qualifies for the 5-free HD DVD mail-in deal.

 

[Desslok]

Were you shaking when you took that pic?

 

[sep]

Originally posted by: Desslok
Were you shaking when you took that pic?

He was thinking at that time "Oh my gosh, I gotta post this on Anandtech first!" as he rushed by to get home an post. : )

Good Find Eug!!!

 

[Eug]

I didn't take the pic.

It was posted on the net.

I live in Canada. We had a similar sale for this specific model a couple of weeks ago here, but it was at Future Shop (which is owned by Best Buy). So far nothing like this at Wal-Mart in Canada AFAIK.

 

[Basilisk]

'Wish they were offering the HD-A20 at that price! Alas, my first LCD-TV is 1080P, so it's harder to settle for 720P players. O woe is me....

 

[austin316]

what is the better player? this or the 360 add-on?

 

[Shinare]

Originally posted by: Basilisk
'Wish they were offering the HD-A20 at that price! Alas, my first LCD-TV is 1080P, so it's harder to settle for 720P players. O woe is me....

Specs say for output resolution:

1080i, 720p, 480i, 480p


I assume that means that it will output 1080i.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: austin316
what is the better player? this or the 360 add-on?

Depends on which model 360 you have and your TV.

360 with HDMI = Just as good as this player.

360 with no HDMI = not as good. You are limited to 1080i unless your TV has a VGA hookup. Even then the colors aren't quite the same as when you HDMI. It has gotten better though.

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: Basilisk
'Wish they were offering the HD-A20 at that price! Alas, my first LCD-TV is 1080P, so it's harder to settle for 720P players. O woe is me....

The 1080p thing is all marketing hype. Movies are only 24fps, 1080i is 60. 1080i60 has enough bandwidth to send 1080p24 content without any loss in quality. Frames get duplicated by the player to fill the 60fps. If the TV deinterlaces properly you don't see any artifacting. Google "2:3 pulldown".

 

[kki000]

Originally posted by: Basilisk
'Wish they were offering the HD-A20 at that price! Alas, my first LCD-TV is 1080P, so it's harder to settle for 720P players. O woe is me....

Unless your lcd takes in 1080p/24 you are better off with just 1080i.
1080p60 is not very useful and in these players simply a line doubled version of 1080i.
So to get 1080p60, it first deinterlaces 1080p24 to 1080i and converts it to 1080p60....

Unless your tv is absolutely horrible at deinterlacing 1080i, (converts it to 540p) then you are much better off with just the 1080i signal from a player like this.

 

[kki000]

Originally posted by: austin316
what is the better player? this or the 360 add-on?

The tosh is the better player. No way to get the high resolution audio out of the xbox player, whether its connected to an xb or htpc.

Even if you didnt care about the audio and owned a htpc or xb ready to go, at this price the standalone machine is still much better (imho).

 

[Basilisk]

Originally posted by: Shinare
:
I assume that means that it will output 1080i.

And you think 1080i = 1080P?! I've read [endlessly] that 1080i is visually the equivalent of 720P. That's quite fine, and -should- satisfy me as my 1080P set's only 42" -- I chose 1080P just for its use as a PC-monitor. I'd never doubted the A2 was compatible at the 1080i level, if that's all you were advising of.


Well,, the urge to match the signal to the set is pretty strong, so I'll probably hold out for a 1080P; the next TV may even be large-enough to justify 1080P for viewing. The good news is that the T' HD-A20, 1080P, is down to $300 on Amazon; the bad news is that the A30 and A35 have just been released... at higher prices, of course, and with better features (HDMI1.3 with DeepColor)!


On Amazon, I read an interesting HD-A20 owner-review (from England); I'll extract a paragraph (w/o permission). Most of it is a bit OT, being comparisons to BlueRay, but his comments on WalMart are interesting (emboldened portion is my doing):

I have watched the Blue Ray vs HD DVD struggle from the sidelines. At the moment, Blue Ray seems to be out in front. However, I would summarise my doubts about that format into as follows:
- There are some very poor reports about the quality and playback of some early Blue Ray machines so far. What I have seen in reviews is pretty poor to put it mildly.... HD DVD on the other hand seems to be getting the thumbs up from both professional reviewers and consumers. That said I have viewed playback on both formats and would struggle to find a difference.
- Blue Ray has more storage data space on its disks than HD and has been labelled the superior format as a result. However, this also makes it the more expensive format, and despite recent price cutting, is still more expensive than HD price wise for both machines and disks. Despite having a slightly smaller storage capacity than Blue Ray, the HD disk can still store much more data than a normal DVD and being a cheaper format than Blue Ray, will give it one hell of an advantage as prices are slashed. Indeed, this is now starting to happen. In a price cutting war, these cheaper overheads could well be the difference between success and failure.
- Blue Ray disks do not seem to have the "extras" that you can find on HD Disks. Blue Ray will apparently have this problem until problems with the format are ironed out.
- It would seem that Walmart have signalled their intention to back HD by Christmas this year in their stores and with up to 40% of the US DVD market, this has devasting implications for Blu-Ray. Linking with the above, Toshiba have licenced the HD DVD format to Chinese producers who will it would seem be making 2 million HD DVD players for Walmart.
- Lastly while the major studios are either split on each format or like Warner Bros, backing both formats, a certain company called Microsoft has backed HD against Blue Ray. Indeed, the latest Xbox machines all have HD DVD player capability.

So... HD-A2's may be from a new manufacturer under the licensing agreement he mentions... and while it's hard to imagine they were not -already- manufactured in China, any change of manufacturers brings with it a risk of increased problems as a new assembly line has its bugs shaken out. A brief Googling on my part couldn't find the trade news of that deal, but I presume he's correct.

Ol' BlueRay may have taken a swift knee to the mid-section if WalMart's applying that much pressure favoring HD!

 

[Genx87]

Are there any makor differences between an A2 and A3 that is worth the wait and extra cost?

I have a Toshiba 52 Inch 720p DLP.

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: Basilisk

Originally posted by: Shinare
:
I assume that means that it will output 1080i.

And you think 1080i = 1080P?! I've read [endlessly] that 1080i is visually the equivalent of 720P. That's quite fine, and -should- satisfy me as my 1080P set's only 42" -- I chose 1080P just for its use as a PC-monitor. I'd never doubted the A2 was compatible at the 1080i level, if that's all you were advising of.

This couldn't be farther from the truth. Are you sure you weren't reading about broadcast TV? HD movies are completely different. They are only 24fps. Broadcast TV is 60fps. HD movies look just as good at 1080i on a 1080 set as they do at 1080p.

 

[Eug]

Some quick facts/comments:

1) The HD-A2 is a 1080i player, not a 720p player (although it supports 720p too of course).

2) Source material on HD DVD is generally 1080p24. Thus obviously 1080i has more than enough bandwidth to include ALL the information from a 1080p24 disc.

3) In other words, 1080p60, 1080p24, and 1080i60 output are all theoretically identical in terms of the real data they contain, when it pertains to hi-def movies.

4) However, some TVs extract the original signal from 1080i60 better than others. So while 1080i60 is perfectly fine if your TV is a good one, having 1080p24 support makes sure the TV gets the right info in the right place every time (assuming your TV supports 1080p24 in the first place).

5) Being able to support 1080p24 is kind of pointless if your TV can't display at a frequency that is 24 Hz or a multiple of 24 Hz. (My TV supports 1080p24 inputs, but can only display at 60 Hz anyway, so I got an HD-A2 for it. OTOH, my projector supports 1080p24 inputs and can display at 720p24 too, so it may make sense to get a 1080p24 player for it.)

6) Some displays that can output a 24/48/72/120 Hz image can only do so when fed a 24 Hz input. My projector is one of them. ie. Although it is fully capable of outputting at 24 Hz, it won't do it if it gets a 1080p60 or a 1080i60 signal.

7) What may be more important is the reported superiority of DVD upscaling in the A20 and A30 (or A35 and XA2). The A2 has OK upscaling (as in better than many upscaling DVD players), but it's not top tier. The A20 and A30 are supposed to be significantly better at DVD upscaling with some material.

Oh and most people say there is no advantage of the A3 over the A2, other than it's a bit smaller.

 

[kki000]

And you think 1080i = 1080P?! I've read [endlessly] that 1080i is visually the equivalent of 720P. That's quite fine, and -should- satisfy me as my 1080P set's only 42" -- I chose 1080P just for its use as a PC-monitor. I'd never doubted the A2 was compatible at the 1080i level, if that's all you were advising of.

In some cases, 1080i will be better for your set than 1080p.
Secrets Article on 1080p

Because a p24 signal can be perfectly "folded" into an i60 carrier2.

Again, please list the type of tv you have. Depending on the type of input it can take and how it handles 1080i signals, 1080p24 might or might not be relevant to you AT ALL.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: Eug
Reports are trickling in...

Originally this was supposed to be for the beginning of November, but lots of people are reporting that their local Wal-Mart stores already have them in stock at that price (even though the price isn't reflected on their website yet).

There are no free movies in the box, but it qualifies for the 5-free HD DVD mail-in deal.

Well, this is stupid: Some Wal-Mart stores are taking their A2 displays down again... because they're not supposed to be selling them until Nov. 3.

OTOH, some people have been able to purchase the A2 today for $198 at other Wal-Mart stores.

 

[RossMAN]

I wish I had jumped on last months deal which offered an extra 3 movies for $11 more

 

[conehead433]

Confirmed that the HD-A2 is $198 at my WM. I'm waiting for BF because I think there will be some great deals on HD DVD players. Hard to pass up the XBOX 360 add on player currently at BB. I went this evening to my nearest BB and was disappointed to find them out of stock even though they showed to have it on hand when I checked online. An associate went to the back to look for them but couldn't find any. I honestly think the store is hiding them to avoid giving away so many HD DVDs. Bet they magically show up Sunday after the sale is over. Additionally they wouldn't give me a rain check on the deal or let me go ahead and pay for the drive, take the movies and pick up the drive when they came in, or have the drive shipped to me. Doesn't matter much, I was going to have to build a new computer to be able to use the drive at all. A standalone will save me some money.

 

[mrrman]

I have the same player and love it...got my 5 free movies to...sold my X1 to get this unit because I wanted the HDMI ports...I paid $219....still a great deal

 

[mcmilljb]

I went to my WM to check on this tonight. I hunted around for a couple of minutes to find them. The guy said I could not buy one yet. Of course if I really wanted one, I would just find someone in the morning to sell it to me. He told me he could not sell it because it is a post Thanksgiving Day Deal(way too early to be denying purchases for BF). I'm assuming that the Black Friday Deal might be even better than this one, so if you do not need a tv, I would pick up one of these. Also Amazon has this player for $220.88. You could probably find a coupon and get it for about the same price and without tax.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: mcmilljb
I went to my WM to check on this tonight. I hunted around for a couple of minutes to find them. The guy said I could not buy one yet. Of course if I really wanted one, I would just find someone in the morning to sell it to me. He told me he could not sell it because it is a post Thanksgiving Day Deal(way too early to be denying purchases for BF). I'm assuming that the Black Friday Deal might be even better than this one, so if you do not need a tv, I would pick up one of these. Also Amazon has this player for $220.88. You could probably find a coupon and get it for about the same price and without tax.

??? My understanding is that American Thanksgiving is Nov. 22. (I'm in Canada so we've already had our Thanksgiving.)

The deal is supposed to start Nov. 3 (but like I said, some people have already been able to purchase it at the Nov. 3 price).

P.S. Here are some comments from Wal-Mart about the deal:

?We reduced our HD DVD Toshiba player, the generation-two, to $198 earlier in the week,? Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O?Brien confirmed. ?It?s happening now, and that?s really all I can tell you. We don?t give any information on what we?re planning to do for the holidays. We know HD DVD and Blu-ray are going to be popular items this holiday season for some of our customers. ? They will be more popular this year than they were in previous years.?

O?Brien said rumors that each Wal-Mart store would stock only 18 units of the Toshiba player were false. ?There are no limited quantities for stores or purchases.?

 

[Savarak]

Originally posted by: mrrman
I have the same player and love it...got my 5 free movies to...sold my X1 to get this unit because I wanted the HDMI ports...I paid $219....still a great deal

How long did it take you to get your 5 free movies?

 

[TheAdvocate]

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: Basilisk
'Wish they were offering the HD-A20 at that price! Alas, my first LCD-TV is 1080P, so it's harder to settle for 720P players. O woe is me....

The 1080p thing is all marketing hype. Movies are only 24fps, 1080i is 60. 1080i60 has enough bandwidth to send 1080p24 content without any loss in quality. Frames get duplicated by the player to fill the 60fps. If the TV deinterlaces properly you don't see any artifacting. Google "2:3 pulldown".

This is something that Toshiba has never been able to explain to the public, going back to their Regza line of 1080p displays that "only had 1080i inputs". The TVs got slammed, absolutely needlessly. The display was 1080p, for exactly the reason you said. But idiocy won over, and now they support "real" 1080p, and Toshiba dumped some of the better features of that older set (which I luckily own).

I've never seen supposedly smart people so thoroughly sucked in by slick, but meaningless marketing.