bretski

...wondering when Amazon is going to do a big price drop.

kmac2878

What's the difference between the one above and these two?

$11.58: HDMI to HDMI CL2 Rated (For In-Wall Installation) Cable (24AWG) w/ net jacket- 6ft (Gold Plated)

$16.99: HDMI Silver-Plated Copper CL2 Rated (For In-Wall Installation) Cable (24AWG) - 6ft (Gold Plated)

chanster

Unless you really are going to do in wall installation, don't get either one of those cables.. they are much coarser and thicker than regular HDMI cables (which are akin to ethernet cables)..

Damed

The one I linked is a lighter gage, standard cable.

The 1st one you linked is heavier gage, for in-wall installs an high interference areas (near high voltage power, etc).

Both mine and your first link use tin conductors.

The one in your second link is the same as the first, but uses silver conductors.

kmac2878

So if I order this, I should be fine...I don't need anything else...I have a 1080i Sony HDTV from a few years back...

Damed

Provided your Sony has at least 1 free HDMI input, yes.

kmac2878

Yup...have an HDMI input reserved for an HD DVD player.

Okay, I'm convinced...I'm going to buy the following cable from monoprice.com:
HDMI Cable male to male 28AWG - 6ft w/Ferrite Cores (Gold Plated)

Thanks for the help!

hotsexyboi

I would love to buy that but can't afford it right now but hopefully one day I will. Also can't believe how cheap their HD DVDs are..wow!

dgmayor

My Co-worker went to the Knightdale Walmart at 7:30 and there was nobody there. The guy went in the back and hauled them out and sold him 2 (one for him and one for me) without a hassle (And before 8). Saved my wife from having to fight people in Cary

danicus007

I work right behind the Cary Wal-Mart off Crescent Green. My co-worker said he got there at 8am and the line was pretty long. He didn't get one...said he was three people away from getting one. I tried Briercreek and Glenwood with no luck this morning. I did however get the A3 at Best Buy for $150 with 9 free HD-DVDs since I had $55 in Reward Zone certs.

PopcornTreeCt

I think this is gonna be pretty big for HD-DVD. People that I never thought were interested in movies are talking about this deal.

argh923

I'm surprised, as I said in the other thread, that all these people were shut out. Bought mine around 2:30 this afternoon, and there were 20+ left. Transformers is now my first HD-DVD, after swearing I'd never upgrade.

deto

i went to walmart at about 7:30 this morning and was the only person there. i got the first one. the cashier asked me why i was buying an hd dvd player, i replied, because i already have a blu ray player.

Bcolon

I went to the Wal Mart in Bowling Green Ohio this morning and they had over 20 in stock. The guy was just putting them out. I couldn't resist. I bought one and am now bi. Unfortunately they did not have 12 Monkleys or Back draft. I picked up Clerks 2 and Top Gun for my first two HD DVD's. I went to Best Buy later and pricematched Target online and got Transformers and The Shining (on Blu Ray). It is great to know that I can get any movie I want now, but it kind of feels like I cheated on my wife!!

jonw9

I was at the Landing Wal=Mart this evening and asked if they had any A2s. The guy told me yes, that they had to pull them off of the shelf for a recall. It seemed odd so I asked another worker in the area, and was told again he was notified to pull them all. He said they didn't sell any!

They also had a big display full of the ~$15 HD-DVDs up front, I guess if people coun;t get the player, they didn't want the movies.

DVD Polizei

And then the employees buy them at $99 with their discount later this evening.

Locally, I checked at the Walmarts, and they were completely wiped out of A2's. Clerks said they only had around 13-15 anyway. Movies were all gone as well as soon as the stores opened this morning.

chris_sc77

Can someone please help me really quickly with a few questions i got...
OK my wal-mart still has a bunch of these $98 HD-DVD players. I dont have an HD TV set...It will still play fine on a normal TV right?
Ok second Q: If i buy this from Wal-mart will I still get the 5 free HD-DVD titles? If so how can i do this?



(Sorry i know these are stupid questions but i was not planning on buying anything HD until I saw that they had The Alexander: The Final Cut DVD and it had 2 exclusive commentaries and a 75 minute documentary exclusive to the HD version. I am using this sale as a template to either go HD which i almost dont want to do at all or just say F*ck you to all DVD's because I am pissed about already buying 3 different 2-disk reg. edition DVD's of Alexander and still not having all the extras.)

jonw9

I believe the A2 has component out, so even though you won't be taking part of the HD part, you will still be able to view the movies.

jeffrey r

So apparently I'm a legend in these parts.

I ordered the HD-A2 yesterday morning from Best Buy for in-store pickup, and amazingly enough, got the confirmation e-mail shortly thereafter that it was available for pickup. Due to work and other obligations, I couldn't get their last night, so I figured I had no shot that this thing would still be there today, whether it would be given away to another customer, snagged by an employee, whatever.

So I went in tonight to pick it up, grabbed two HD-DVD's to get the 2 free, and asked a couple of employees near the Magnolia store where I go to pick up an item for in-store pickup. They say what are you picking up. I say a DVD player. They say what DVD player. I say the HD-A2. They get this big smile on their face, and say, you're the one...They'd gotten tons of calls for it, and I snagged the only one. Kind of funny.

Anyway, I had the customer service rep do a return and re-buy so I could get the 2 free HD-DVD's. She had no idea about it, but it worked fine. So the HD-A2, plus the new Full Metal Jacket and TMNT, plus the 5 free with rebate for $100. Gotta love it.

bretski

Your questions aren't stupid. Yes, you can play SD and HD DVDs on a regular TV. You'll just be limited to 480i resolution. Once you do upgrade to an HDTV, you'll be ready to roll.

The 5 free movies are via mail-in rebate. The rebate form can be downloaded here:

http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/hddvd/da...Rebate_R08.pdf

Cusm

I just got back from the Moore WM and they had about 4 left. I also picked up the A3 at BB since I had RZ certs to use and ended up with 4 movies for about 50 bucks more than I would have paid for the player alone at WM. They only had 2 $15 movies - Clerks 2 and Lucky # Sleven; they had one end cap with both BR and HD movies and 2 rows of HD and 4 of BR - I hope that changes soon.


Anyone know how long the $15 sale is going on? I may try another one or 2 tomorrow.

vasb

As much I was hoping to stay out of HD until a single format existed, this deal was too good to pass up.

I ordered an A2 through Best Buy, but received an e-mail saying it was on backorder. Afraid they would cancel my order, I went to WalMart and bought an A2. Now Best Buy sent me an e-mail saying they will honor my order but will have to offer an A3 instead of an A2. My question is which should I keep?

I have a Onkyo 505 so I can't use HDMI for audio (feel like an idiot for buying a receiver that only passes through HDMI) and will be using optical. From what I've gathered the A2 is acutually better for sound quality using optical cables. Is this true? What exactly is the difference? Is there any way for me to take advantage of lossless with either of these players, or would I need the higher end models with internal decoding and analog outs?

I want to keep the A3 because it is the next generation and comes with 2 extra DVDs, but if the A2 really offers much improved audio quality, I'll stick with it. Also, some people seem to say the build quality on the A2 is better.

As you can tell, I'm very new to HD. Any help/advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

davidlynchfan

damn ebay seller and how you weren't able to get one...


ugh! i swear it ain't my auction though.

Damed

Both the HDA2 and the HDA3 do the high def audio - but ONLY through HDMI.

So, if you don't have a receiver that supports HDMI, you've got to go optical.

HD-A2 takes the high def audio and downsamples it to full 1.5mbps DTS stream for optical out.
HD-A3 take the high def audio and downsamples it to 640kbps Dolby Digital for optical out

So, for your CURRENT setup, the A2 would be better (strictly from an audio standpoint). However, if you plan on getting a new receiver in the foreseeable future, then the A3 might look better, as a newer model (longer support life) and 2 extra HD DVDs.

Drexl

I would add though, that sometimes the pop-up menus on Warner titles can be hard to read in SD, especially if a difficult font was chosen (Corpse Bride for instance).

I went ahead and got one of these tonight. I called and they had plenty of them, so I figured I might as well get one. At the very least, I'll have a backup player in case my A1 goes out. I wasn't planning on getting a second player for either format until the war is over (unless needed), but at this price I couldn't resist.

For those who have used both, would using the A2 be worth it if it means giving up the analog outs? I don't have an HDMI receiver yet, so I was going to continue with the A1 until then, but if the A2 is better in other areas I may switch.