The entry-level Toshiba HD DVD player was available from a variety of retailers (including Amazon) for less than $400. I paid $364 for mine.

The Toshiba HD-A2 is coming out in a couple of weeks and is currently $499 at Amazon (with 3 free HD DVDs). I fully expect you'll be able to find that under $400 with a bit of hunting as well.


For me, the choice was simple. HD DVD has fantastic picture/sound quality, very reasonably priced hardware, and it upconverts my existing (large) DVD collection... making it look better than I've ever seen it before. Even if they stopped making HD DVDs tomorrow, which isn't even a remote possibility, I'd still be using this as my primary player. It has better picture quality than any DVD player I've ever used, and better sound quality than any CD player I've ever owned.

I haven't 'given up on DVD'... I've supplemented it. It isn't either/or.

http://www.blam1.com/LaserDisc/FAQ/

The last LD titles were released around 99-00. I know The Phantom Menace was one of the last ones, as was Sleepy Hollow. I can't recall the last title exactly.

As others have noted, it never became mass-market (as was intended), but it became a fairly strong niche product, it's where Criterion got their start.

Yes, let's. DVD is not being replaced, that's precisely my point, and why Laserdisc is relevant. Laserdisc may have lasted close to 20 years (but I'm with the folks who doubt your late-'70s estimation for the birth of LD -- I think you're confusing CED with LD), but in all that time, many people didn't even know Laserdisc existed, and when it disappeared, VHS was still going strong. It may have taken a long time, but it most certainly tanked. VHS started to wither away as soon as DVDs hit the shelves, which is something Laserdisc was never able to do.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Laserdisc, and even Beta for that matter. I just realize that formats are not made by videophiles, so the chances of either HD format replacing DVD (which is what this thread is about) are pretty slim. If the Laserdisc analogy bothers you that much, how about this:

I predict that both formats will tank just like SACD and DVD-Audio, but it's always nice to have the best possible quality.

Okay, then the players are within my price range, so if there was a single format I'd probably take the plunge. But I'm not investing even $100 on an HD-DVD player when it may end up being the next Betamax, that was my point. The format war is the one thing really holding me back; the other stuff is more incidental.

I had a VHS deck in 1977.

And, while it took a while longer for me to actual purchase a laserdisc player, I rented a player and the Discovision LD of Battlestar Galactica (and others) for the holidays in 1978.


Your dates (or your memory?) is faulty.

I've yet to see anyon talk about selling off their collection and going HD or Blu-Ray. Even those that have adopted one of the two new formats are keeping their collections and only upgrading if necessary.

What I've seen the vast majority say, however (and that includes non-tech geeks that come into my store) is that they are going to (a) sit back and wait for a winner in the Blu-Ray / HD war and (b) check to see if it's THAT good of an upgrade in tech to merit the insanely stupid cost of the DVD's.

I still love my DVD's AND I have interest in the HD formats.

I'd say of all the DVD's I own that are available on HD/BD, I might replace 1/3. That impulse buy of something like Pitch Black for $10 doesn't need to be turned into a ~$23 upgrade. It's stuff like Batman, Superman, King Kong, V For Vendetta, etc that I will upgrade without regret.

It was never my intention at the beginning to own so many DVD's. I always thought the number would stay around 200-300 for me. But the cheap prices kept me buying stuff I probably should just be renting, as I will likely only watch many of them once.

I see HD/BD as a way to get my collection back the way I intended it to be, which is just cream of the crop movies (to me) that will definitely see repeat viewings. I know I have SD titles I have not watched yet which are now available in HD/BD. In these cases, if I had the gear, I might just rent the high-res version, or just watch SD I already own.

As I've said before (and received much disdain for), DVD is still very watchable, especially with great calibration and upconversion. Of course HD will look better, but it's not going to trip some flag in my head that tells me I can no longer watch DVD for fear of vomiting at the absolute horrible picture quality which was just peachy for years.

Movies like Star Wars will quite possibly not be available for years on HD/BD. No way I'm going to stop watching them even when I do get into the next gen stuff.

I honestly don't mind shelling out bucks for both format's players and discs. Hell, it wouldn't even bother me too much if I had both formats, and wound up with discs from the loser format that would eventually be replaced.

But there is still the absolute possibility that both formats will fail. And if hardware/software support dries up for both formats, then I would feel like I wasted my time and money, as there would inevitably be a new HD format launched in the aftermath.

As of right now my plans are to pick up a Tosh HD-XA2 and either the Sony or Panasonic BD player as soon as I see a sale on them in the new year. Based on current and announced future releases, I could see buying about 30 HD DVD's and about 20 BD's upfront. In the case of WB and Paramount, I would most likely buy the HD DVD version for the audio differences, unless reviews stated superiority for the BD version.

Also, for those thinking about the HD-A2 since it will be the same price point as the HD-A1, be advised they are dropping the analog 5.1 outputs from that player. My understanding is outside of an HDMI-equipped receiver, the analog 5.1 outputs are the best way to take advantage of the next gen audio.

I have an old-fashioned analog HD-ready set with no HDCP inputs. What would be the point of adding a Blu-Ray unless I bought a new TV?

I haven't given on DVD; to the contrary, I've bought nearly 100 discs in the last six months.

To my knowledge, all current HD and BD players output full 1080i via component. I've heard mixed reviews about how well the Samsung does this. This biggest threat there is the studios invoking the ICT flag which would forcibly downrez a title to 480 over component. However I can't see HD DVD studios doing this, as I believe the Xbox 360's only method of HD connection is component via the console, and using ICT would effectively kill the HD DVD add-on drive's purpose.


I have one DVI-HDCP input on my display, but I prefer the components. I will definitely be using them for HD until I get a new display with HDMI or circumstances force me to use the DVI.

No way am I giving up on DVD, I've put too much effort and time into massing my small yet nice collection, (around 250 titles). I'll just take HD in stride, that is after I actually get an HDTV.

I'm with you -

I chose HD-DVD and have about 15 now but my 6,000+ SD titles aren't going anywhere.

The lack of title availability argument is moot too since eventually everything will make its way to HD

This is only true if HD reaches the same mass market as DVD has - many titles are only out on DVd because the sheer mass of potential buyers makes it worth releasing them even though they may only sell to a few percent of DVD player owners.

With two formats the studios and manufactuers have saddled themselves with a massive ball and chain.

The public are likely to adopt a "wait and see" policy - they will wait until there is a single format that is a clear winner. And many will then wait until there is a really good range of films to play on it. The second is reliant on the first.

Thing is, the average viewer cares a lot less about quality than the studios would like to think he/she does. You'd have thought they would have realised this from the way that a lot of their shoddy, second rate DVD releases sell so well.

I mean, how many of the studios (and particularly the big ones) can honestly say that their DVD releases look as good as they possibly can? A lot of DVD releases today by no means utilise the DVD format to it's best advantage and often use poor quality, unrestored masters to boot.

You could make a lot of releases look much better simply by using the best masters, and taking care over authoring, encoding etc.

The studios, of course, would much rather we spent money on new hardware etc, and bought their films over yet again, rather than their spending their own money taking due care and achieving the best they can with existing hardware.

I agree, hence another reason why these formats will be here for the long haul...

We´re all guessing about the outcome of either HD-DVD & BluRay´s fate. Who will win? Will they last for a long time or surpassed by a whole new format? No one knows what will happen.

However, there is only one fact: Only time will tell.

No. Not interested

I'm an "early adopter" of HD-DVD and am not giving up on my SD DVD collection. Hell, I still buy LDs to get movies not available on DVD or for exclusive content or that are just plain cheap. As a movie fan, I'll keep buying SD DVDs for the same reasons.

I already had the A/V equipment including the HDTV, receiver, speakers and with the low cost of the HD-A1 player, jumping in wasn't too painful. Add to that, the fact that the HD-A1 is a fantastic upscaling player for SD DVDs improving the viewing experience of my currently owned titles it was a no-brainer for me.

The price of the software isn't too out of whack with most titles available new, shipped to my door for under $20. I've bought many for just over $15 using Google check-out or at Fry's sales. I'm trying to be selective in what I buy and somehow still have 35 titles, although some are soon destined for the trade pile.

While everyone seems to be focused on the improved video quality of the format, I'm greatly enjoying the improved audio quality. The highly compressed audio on SD DVDs to make room for better video has always been a big issue for me. The fuller, richer more enveloping audio on many of the HD DVDs really helps me enjoy the movies more.

The only real negatives for me are

1) HD-A1 doesn't play my other region SD DVDs
2) Selection of movies is still very limited. I want more cult, art-house and indie films.
3) Stupid format war. Fortunately, Warner Brother's releases HD DVD titles and I can make due without many of the blockbuster Fox titles.

I'm an early adopter of HD-DVD as well. I typically purchase DVDs only from Fox, Disney and Sony (As they are not releasing HD-DVD). I also cut down on buying DVDs tremendously, getting only must haves (i.e. Pirates, Spider-man, Pixar, Focus Features).

I'll needlessly join the already booming chorus and voice my distaste at the notion of replacing my regular DVDs with a new format that might fail. I poured a lot of my time, energy and heart into my current collection, and I have no interest in adopting a new format until:

1. A clear winner in the HD-DVD/Blu-ray war emerges
2. I buy a Hi-Def TV

Maybe I'm misunderstanding this, but it seems like a glaring misconception about what we're talking about here. A TV doesn't have to be terribly old to have no component inputs. In fact, when those did start appearing, sets that were equipped with them were often advertised as "HD-ready". Maybe I'm further behind the curve than I thought, but sorry, having only component inputs isn't the stumbling block for most of us... or is it just me?

Any HDTV no matter how old should have component inputs and will be able to receive a 1080i signal for Blu-ray and HD DVD. The ICT won't happen until 2012 and by then those old HDTVs will more than likely be upgraded.

Having HDMI is a non issue. I have HDMI and don't even use it with my HD DVD player most of the time as I need it more for my upconverting Denon DVD player. HDCP is needed for upconverting DVDs, but not for HD DVD and Blu-ray which honestly makes zero sense.

Mike,

My reply was in reply to the question about not having HDCP inputs, which I took as either HDMI or DVI-HDCP. I agree that right now having to use component should not be a stumbling block. In fact, I would likely use them over my DVI-HDCP input, since I feel my set has more accurate black reproduction via component than the DVI port.


If it is indeed true no ICT would be used for another 5-6 years, that would be great. I'd like to get at least a couple more years out of my display, which is only 3 years old. Also my receiver is only a year old and has no HDMI. I'm guessing sometime in mid to late 2008, unless other forces intervene, I will probably wind up getting a new display or projector with HDMI as well as a new receiver to fully handle the new audio.

I'm not really impressed yet and finacially unable to buy either one. Also, waiting to find out which one will win, if either one does. Currently, there's nothing wrong with DVD and most of what I watch, art house (Criterion, Kino), cult (Synapse, Blue Underground), and classics aren't avaible yet and probably won't be for a few years.

I really don't want to fork over money to buy a new player and the $30ish discs, when the selection is highly lackluster. I love Batman Begins, V for Vendetta, Saw, ect, but to "replace" them just for a "bit" of better video quality seems pointless.

Most of what I've said seems to be common for non-HD converts. Don't be mislead, i love watching HD programming, but don't think much of HD-dvd/Blu-Ray let to buy. Extras, which are big watches for me, seems uninteresting so far on these formats (i know there's little to improve upon but c'mon, most don't have anything). I'm excited for either one of these formats to finally win over, but really it comes down to, not the film buffs or tech heads, but the common joe, and the common joe form my perspective its change formats anytime soon.

Have I given up on DVD? No, but I would say that I have stopped buying it temporarily.

Right now, HD-DVD is a fad for me. Because I've been buying and enjoying titles in HD, I haven't bought any standard DVDs in the past couple of months, and I expect that to continue for a little while longer. For gamers with more than one game console, it's like when you buy a new console, you want to get into that and feed it with content, so you only buy games for that console for a while. Then, later you might go back and pick up some titles for your other consoles you may have missed.

There are still lots of titles that can never be released in HD, and others that will take a long time. I will go back and buy more DVDs to have alongside the HD-DVDs, but HD-DVD is getting my attention and money now.

I still havent gone HD but am planning to in the next year or so when 1080p displays come down in price a bit.

I'm in no hurry to go High Def for DVDs though and when I do, I dont think ill buy a dedicated player but instead will either get a HD DVD add on for a xbox 360 or buy a PS3.

I haven't committed to either format or gaming system yet as i'm waiting for all the kinks to be worked out before forking over lots of cash.

And you're incorrect, look at the link I posted, it's from the Laserdisc FAQ that has been around for years.

I still think the reason LD didn't catch on a little better was that VHS came out with the ability to record fairly early. That's also what gave it an edge over Beta. And I feel that the reason DVD caught on so well was the special features and immediate availability at sell through pricing. VHS were often priced at $90 or more because only rental places were buying them.

I do think your prediction about both formats tanking has some merit though. The format war will cripple both their chances, and thinking about how often we hear about somebody in Japan or India coming up with a new way to store gigs and terabytes of data on a potato chip, it seems like a no-brainer that another format could come in and knock them all to side.