I used to be 100% pro BD as well.

The point is, right now, for $500 (less than the price of a 1st generation DVD player), you can get an amazing player that will improve the picture of your SD DVDs, play CDs with excellent clarity, and, oh yeah, play HD DVDs. Notice on Amazon the player is actually listed as an upconverting DVD player? It's routinely in the top 10 of player sales at Amazon. Top 10, where the other players in the top 10 are all $200 or under.

Even when I bought my HD DVD player, I was still concerned that HD DVD might die out. But now, with studios and companies (including WB, Paramount, Universal, Microsoft, Intel, and HP) sinking $150 million to promote HD, I'm not so worried. At worst right now we can expect a not so peaceful co-existance between the two formats. And there will be dual-format players down the line. So investing in HD DVD is not such a bad proposition at this point.

So don't worry about the BD train, because right now it's like two guys on a push-cart trying to outrun a bullet train.

I think that once real product was available, most people interested in the best available picture really swung from BD to HD. I long said that BD had two strikes out the gate- price and no "DVD" in the name. I was one of the few that would admit that HD had anything going for it; even fewer were the true backers of the format.

That has really changed, and to the credit of most aside from a few like Blitz, people have stood by the pledge to get the best picture possible.

Whoever posted that link to the Continental site offering it for 363 bucks and change shipped, damn you! You finally made me cave in and take the plunge.

On a more serious note, thanks for the find. That's a great price, especially since it also upconverts SD-DVDs.

A few questions I have for anyone who already owns the HD-A1. What cables does it come with? Is there an HDMI cable included? If so, is it a good quality cable or some El Cheapo brand? And what's the length of the cable?

Yes, it comes with an HDMI cable....its decent quality....no need to buy another unless its too short...I think its 3 ft, but not sure.

With the HDMI 1.3 spec recently radified, you might want to wait at least until PS3 comes out in November if you're leaning towards BD. This way you can get full DTS-HD and Dolby Tru-HD. Of course you'll have to upgrade your receiver but at least this way you won't have to rebuy the player.

I agree....I would avoid the first crop of BD players, for this reason AND due to the extremely high pricetag.

If your gonna go BD, wait for the reviews of the PS3 or a 2nd gen player.

If money isnt a big deal and hdmi 1.3 isnt either, I bet the pioneer and panasonic players (coming out in the next couple months) will be better than the sammy or sony (just my guess).

If it's 3 feet, then I'll definitely need another one. I don't even know if 6 feet will be long enough.

Now I just need to decide which titles to get first. I've heard great things about Serenity's transfer. And it doesn't hurt that the movie rocked.

To be honest, I havent seen a poor transfer on hd-dvd yet....I heard that the Fugitive is not that great, but I havent watched my copy yet. All my others are great.

Ditto. Made a qualifying purchase ("Million Dollar Baby" HD-DVD) at B&N, and in about 2 months or less, I'll have my player, so I hope.

Yep, thank DigitalFreakNYC, it was his thread to begin with, I just posted the link. I've already purchased about 7 great deals off there and I'm planning on getting one of their 1080p Samsung DLP sets soon.

I wouldn't necessarily expect the PS3 to do this correctly.

You didnt hear? The PS3 is the second coming. It will be beyond high definition. ;)

It's the one gaming system to rule them all!

How long is it supposed to take for Continental/Brainstorm Logistics to ship the HD-A1? The website didn't seem to give any indication.

My HD-A1 took about 2 weeks from when I ordered it to arrive. I know it ships out of NJ so it may also depend on your location

taken from another thread :D :

I highly recommend Serenity as the film to pop your HD cherry. Pick up that and Blazing Saddles and you have two reference discs ready to go.

I already ordered Serenity, The Bourne Supremacy, and Legal Wreckin from Amazon(their 10% off deal sounds nice). I'll probably pick up Apollo 13 and Blazing Saddles next since I've heard great things about both discs(and both are great flicks).

Legal Wreckin? What is that?

The Bourne Supremacy looks really good, and it has the IME (although it's called something else on Universal discs).

That would be what I call Lethal Weapon. Mad Magazine nicknamed it that in their parody back in '87. And if I recall correctly, Riggs and Murtaugh were Buggs and Martyr. If you think about it, the entire series is about those two guys legally wrecking things.

Ah ha. Cute.

..and here I was thinking it was some bad Engrish.